Electrical installation condition report?

Reply to the comment left by Phill Holland at 01/06/2023 - 10:34
If you are renting out a property , it has to have an up to date SATISFACTORY e.I.c.r . Whether you have only just bought it , or had it for yrs . Councils went mad on zone 2 bathroom lights, smoke alarms up and down , carbon monoxide detectors . And rightly so . I’m still going in privately owned homes now . Electrics have not been checked for 25 years plus ! It only becomes apparent when they get new works done , or property starts experiencing electrical problems. They come home , plug in , it works it’s OK . I’d recommend testing every 5 yrs

Reply to the comment left by Kevin Walsh at 01/06/2023 - 10:53
Hate to say it but that is normal in many countries.

Used to have to argue the toss re monoxide alarms, until regulations changed recently, that there was no legal requirement to have unless burning solid fuel. Did CH engineers believe me, nope. So used to have the legislation photocopied on a sheet of paper.

I had a property with an extention which the previous owner had built himself. I bought it and rented it to a tenant and after 8 years the EICR rules came in so I tried to get a certificate. The electrician pretty much condemed everything as it DID need a rewire. More to the point the people that had built the extention actually plastered the wires into the wall with no metal trunking to protect them, they also save on wire by running the wires diagonally across the wall (plastered in). I had to ask the tenant to move to another property of mine. lI would have cost me a fortune to rewire (they were lath and plaster walls as well) and the extention (which had the kitchen) would have to be gutted and wired up correctly. I sold it !!, another landlord bought it and tenants were in the property within weeks and I know no electrical work had been done, so how did he manage to get an EICR.

Hello
Dubious EICRs do exist but it can work both ways in that the original one was lax and allowed unacceptable faults.

Finding a reliable electrician is the key.

Also watch out for tenants damaging the circuits or the distribution board. We have often seen tenants amending the circuits but now we occasionally find damaged distribution board covers. Such items now need to be thoroughly documented in the Inventory and Period Inspection

After the first few (and learning from experience) , whenever we bought a property we always got a rewire/EICR before it was rented and before it became law to do so. We knew then there would be no more Sunday callouts/3am panic calls because something had tripped. What we did find when our tried and trusted sparks was out for a health problem, was that others tried to to take the pi$$. For example - a property that had had a total rewire and refurb, new Joe walks in a year later when tenant had an appliance tripping the whole board and tries to condemn whole system. Bear in mind that property had had full certified rewire 1 yr before by a leccy who also teaches at local trade college. Even others say he goes over and above on how tight he sticks to regs. Again, another property that had been fully rewired before EICR became part of landlord regs, when it came up again for inspection leccy gave 1yr until inspection date instead of the standard required 5yrs. Different sparks from the the previous mentioned, but speaking to other landlords many are trying to pull a fast one and marking EICRs for 1yr next inspection when there is no need. When told we were going to report them, gave us another free inspection with the full 5yrs at the end. If you've done everything by the book, and remedied what was listed on EICR don't be scared to call them out! They know sparks are in demand and are taking advantage!

If you don’t think the EICR report is incorrect there is nothing to stop you from getting another EICR.
As long it passes the original EICR report faults will be negated.

I found a decent Guy eventually, but it was not easy. I obviously never told the Electricians that I was an Electrician myself until I got their report. There were several that never got paid, I told them I was happy to go to Court over their fraudulent reports and they went away with their tail between their legs.

This is not restricted to Electricians, Heating Engineers are as bad. I had a Boiler condemned, it was only 6 years old, turned out to be a faulty Thermocouple £14.00.

My advice is, get a second opinion if you are unsure of the report.

If you give Trades People too much power, they generally abuse it.

Reply to the comment left by Robert Shread at 01/06/2023 - 13:21
Exactly what I did. I was told I needed a new fuse box and all sorts but I'd done my research. Told them to take me to court over their 'unfit for purpose ' report. Even their governing body agreed with me.
The second test by another person confirmed that the report was rubbish. He did another eicr and the remedial work saving me hundreds. Obviously he's my 'go to ' electrician now .
I dread to think how many LL have been conned out of hundreds possibly thousands.
If you have any suspicions get a second opinion.

Reply to the comment left by Robert Shread at 01/06/2023 - 09:52
Can't agree more.
To make the matters worse: it turned out that the electrician made all my EICRs valid for 2 years instead of 5 years. When I challenged him he said he would extend to full term if he would definitely get the jobs to do the re-wiring of my properties in future. LoL.
Wish to see those 'professionals' to be named and shamed!

Reply to the comment left by Jas Y&Y leaseholder at 04/06/2023 - 00:33
The same electrician marked the EICR report valid for 3 years for my flat in pristine condition (completely renovated 5/6 years ago), instead of 5 years. Are they allowed to shorten EICR validity at will? Is there a regulatory body to file complaints on electricians?