EICR Testing in Sussex

Allow two to three hours for a typical one or two bed flat and three to four hours for a three bed house. Larger homes and HMOs take longer because there are more circuits and more accessories to sample. We test methodically rather than quickly: every circuit is dead tested and live tested, the board is opened and inspected, and a sample of sockets and switches comes off the wall. Your report is emailed within 48 hours of the visit.

An EICR is unsatisfactory if it contains any C1, C2 or FI observation. That is not a condemned house, it is a prioritised action list. Anything immediately dangerous is made safe before we leave, and a fixed price for the remaining remedial work follows within 24 hours of the report. Once the remedials are complete we certify the work, and the installation can be recorded as satisfactory. Our no scare tactics rule is in writing: every code we raise is photographed, located and explained, and we never invent defects to sell work.

Rented properties in England need a satisfactory EICR at least every five years, with a copy given to tenants within 28 days. For owner occupied homes the accepted guidance is every ten years, or whenever the property changes hands, which is why so many Sussex buyers commission one before exchange. Insurers increasingly ask for a current report on older properties, and every HMO licence application needs one. If your last report set a shorter interval, that date takes precedence.

Yes. We test HMOs across Sussex every week, from student lets to licensed shares in the larger towns, and we issue reports in the format your local council expects for licence applications and renewals. HMO EICRs start from £350 depending on the number of circuits. If the licensing team asks for clarification or evidence of remedial work, we deal with them directly and supply the paperwork at no extra charge.

If you are asking is my consumer unit safe, start with the warning signs: a warm or fishy smell near the board, breakers that trip for no obvious reason, scorch marks, buzzing, a wooden backboard or old rewirable fuses. None of those prove danger, and a tidy looking board can still hide failed insulation. The only honest answer comes from proper consumer unit testing, which is exactly what an EICR is: every circuit measured, every observation coded and photographed, from £175 across Sussex.

Two documents do the real work. Part P of the Building Regulations makes a consumer unit replacement notifiable, meaning Building Control must be told about the work, which we handle for every board we fit. BS 7671, the wiring regulations, sets the technical standard: RCD protection for the circuits and, since 2016, non-combustible metal enclosures on new domestic boards. Existing plastic boards are not banned, they are simply below current standards, which an EICR records as a C3.

An Electrical Installation Certificate, usually shortened to EIC. Whether you ask for a consumer unit certificate or a fuse box replacement certificate, the EIC is the document proving the new board was designed, installed and tested to BS 7671, and it is what solicitors, insurers and letting agents expect to see. Every board we fit includes the EIC and Part P notification to Building Control as standard, with certificates emailed within 48 hours.

Not automatically. Letting is the stricter case: you need a satisfactory EICR at least every five years, and if the board itself attracts a C1 or C2 the practical fix is usually replacement, from £425 with the EICR added for £99. Selling carries no legal requirement, but buyers increasingly commission their own surveys, so testing first keeps you ahead in the negotiation. If you are stuck on the question do I need a new consumer unit, let the test decide rather than a sales pitch.