EICR has thrown a complete spanner in the works?

I'm an electrician and a landlord. An EICR is a very extensive inspection and test and generally takes me most of the day to do and then over an hour to produce the report later. Unfortunately people look for cheap quotes and I have to say that if you are paying £150 or less you are likely to get someone who is going to skimp on the work - or worse case scenario make the whole thing up and charge a fortune for "remedial work". It's been described in the industry as "a race to the bottom". I have performed an EICR in a property where the customer had just received what was obviously a completely fraudulent certificate, obviously cut and pasted from elsewhere where sections had the wrong address and 3 different dates spanning 2 years. The C1 and C2 codes listed should have been either C3 (improvement recommended but not essential) or should have been a tick (pass). The "essential" remedial work ran into thousands. The customer told me the electrician had spent 30 minutes only onsite at the fuseboard and then left. There is a common misconception that a plastic fuseboard is automatically a "fail" (C1 or C2) I normally give it a C3 depending on its condition and other factors. I make a note that it is compliant with an earlier version of the wiring regs in force at the time of the installation. There is a publication used by many good electricians "EICR Codebreakers", published by NAPIT and available for around £20, which could give you a good idea of whether your electrician is a rogue, which sounds very likely! Remember C3 can be ignored but C1 and C2 can't. I'd suggest get the book and then ask your electrician to reconsider the codes. If you get nowhere it will probably save money paying more and getting an honest professional to do the EICR properly.

Reply to the comment left by Jontyv at 15/04/2021 - 14:55
Hi Jontyv,
I think this is what a lot of us have experienced.
Like all trades, there are good and bad and the knack is finding a good reputable trades person in any industry.
You have highlighted either people trying to make money or a lack of training/understanding.
The average rate I have seen is £150 + VAT
We can only assume we get a service if the person is accredited to one of the official EICR test bodies. As you have highlighted, even then that is no sign of quality.
I have no issue paying for a EICR every 5 years, but even then the rules are vague. I had one person tell me an EICR is required every tenant change, so that could be twice a year.
This is the issue landlords are finding

Reply to the comment left by Sanjeev Markanday at 15/04/2021 - 12:32
Reply to Sanjeeve, Gatwick/Crawley. TES Compliance Limited. 01293 912318.

Observed quoted fees for the EICR ranging from circa £120+VAT, but no reference to size of property, as a larger property with multiple circuits will take much longer than a 1 bed flat with minimal circuits, thus should expect to pay more.

I had 4 done at £500 each with consumer units and another at £1700 for partial rewire = £3700 for 5 days work! I suspect the electricition lives in a mansion!

I had heard so many bad stories about EICR that before hiring an electrician for my flat, I sent out photos of my fusebox with basic info such as age of flat etc to different electricians and asked their opinion on it. Out of 9 contacted, 8 wanted to do the job straightaway, were friendly but didn't want to engage in any discussion beforehand. Only one of them spent half an hour on phone telling me how age of fusebox and absence of rcd is not automatic failure, what he checks for, how he does it and what can fail it. He quoted pricey £250 for my studio flat, much more than others but I went for him. The man spent 2 full hours opening up each and socket, light and basically anything that was accessible and passed it in the end. There were no issues. Though it was expensive, it was nothing compared to what some of my others landlord friends have spent. Also I feel reassured that he has actually checked the flat as thoroughly as he could.

I've had the same issues. My background in electrical engineering enables me to question and engage with electricians. One property recently I questioned many things (before the electrician knew my background) to then find they didn't exist. Original electrician would not refund the inspection fee.

Reply to the comment left by rita chawla at 15/04/2021 - 18:24
I am very surprised that a lack of RCD is not a fail. Would expect that as a minimum.

WHo is actually checking up that these are actually done...?
We have made a start, but the current backlog means we wont have ours all certificated for ages..
Maybe the Covid-police will be changed to the EICR-police as the Pandemic winds down...? All you need is a clipboard and twenty minutes' training I suppose...

Julie,

You should definitely report the original electricians findings to the NICEIC - consumer complaints - providing a copy of your EICR report and reference number. I had to do this after our 'managing agents' sent them to our rented property. I had an 'unsatisfactory' report overturned due to incorrect codes being used for 'defects' not connected with new EICR regulations. Hired our own recommended electrician and had the works correctly reclassified as 'advisory works' completed at a fraction of the original quote by rogue electrician.

It's unfortunate that some electricians do think they can pull the wool over some landlords eyes and get away with creating fictitious reports. But there are a lot of good electricians out there too.