EICR Cost London 2026: Price by Property Size

The Electrical Installation Condition Report — an EICR — is the single most common compliance document we issue at Emergency Repairs London. Every privately rented home in England has needed one every five years since the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 came into force, and the volume of inspections across the 32 London boroughs runs into the tens of thousands a year. The 2025 review of the 2020 Regulations confirmed the five-year cycle and the £30,000 maximum penalty, so the framework you booked your last EICR under is still the framework that applies in 2026.

What has changed is the price spread between the cheapest and most expensive jobs. A one-bed flat with six circuits and a single RCD is a 90-minute inspection with a short write-up; a five-bed house with an EV charger, a heat pump, an electric cooker and a high-integrity consumer unit is half a day on site plus a substantial certificate. This page sets out our 2026 fixed-price guide by property size, explains the four cost drivers that put a job at the top or bottom of its band, and covers the legal consequences of an unsatisfactory result.

What an EICR Is and Why It Is Required

An EICR is a periodic inspection of a fixed electrical installation against the requirements of BS 7671:2018+A2:2022 — the 18th Edition of the Wiring Regulations. The engineer performs dead tests (continuity of protective conductors, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance at the origin) and live tests (RCD operation, earth fault loop impedance at every accessible final-circuit point, prospective fault current at the origin) and records the results on the model EICR form set out in Appendix 6 of BS 7671. Each circuit gets a row in the schedule of test results; each observation gets a classification code (C1, C2, C3 or FI).

The legal trigger for a rented domestic EICR is the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. Regulation 3(1) requires the landlord to ensure that the electrical safety standards (the standards for electrical installations in the eighteenth edition of the Wiring Regulations) are met. Regulation 3(2) requires the landlord to ensure every electrical installation is inspected and tested at intervals of no more than five years. Regulation 3(3) requires the landlord to obtain a written report from the inspecting person. Regulations 4 and 5 set out the delivery obligations to tenants and to the local authority. The whole regime sits alongside the wider landlord compliance picture — gas safety, smoke and CO alarms, EPC — which we cover in our landlord compliance hub for London.

What Actually Drives the Cost

An EICR is priced from the work, not from the postcode. Four factors do almost all the work in setting the price.

Circuit count

Every final circuit needs its own row in the schedule of test results — continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance, RCD response time where applicable. A typical one-bed flat has six circuits: lighting, sockets, immersion (if any), cooker, shower (if any), and a smoke alarm supply. A four-bed house with an EV charger and an induction hob can run to fourteen or fifteen. The per-circuit time on a dense terminations board does not scale down — every circuit gets tested whether the property has six or sixteen.

RCD group count and high-integrity boards

A single-RCD board (one RCD protecting every final circuit) is the quickest configuration to test. A split-load board with two RCD groups doubles the live-test work at the consumer unit. A high-integrity board with individual RCBOs per circuit — increasingly common since the 2022 amendment to BS 7671 made RCD protection mandatory for almost every final circuit — adds a per-circuit live test that did not exist on older two-pole boards. The good news is that a high-integrity board is safer; the cost news is that the inspection takes longer.

Accessibility

An EICR requires sample testing at accessible final-circuit points — typically the furthest socket on each ring, the furthest light fitting on each lighting circuit, and any dedicated outlets (cooker, shower, EV). A flat with all sockets at adult-reach height and a freestanding cooker is straightforward. A house with sockets behind heavy furniture, a wall-mounted cooker behind a hob, or a loft-space junction box for the lighting circuit takes substantially longer because the engineer is moving furniture, isolating circuits to open accessories, and re-energising for each sample.

Age of installation and scheme of testing

An installation under fifteen years old typically gets a full periodic inspection — every circuit dead-tested, a representative sample live-tested. An installation over twenty-five years old, with rubber-insulated cables or a rewireable fuse board, may justify a more limited sampled inspection because full periodic testing risks damaging brittle insulation. The scheme of testing is agreed with the duty holder at the start of the visit and recorded on the certificate; a sampled inspection is cheaper on the day but the engineer will typically recommend a full rewire or a fuse board upgrade as a C2 observation, which carries the same 28-day clock as any other C2.

ERL 2026 Price Guide by Property Size

Our published 2026 pricing for a standard EICR in any of the 32 London boroughs, all-inclusive of test, certificate within 48 hours, and travel within the M25:

• One-bed flat — £120 to £180. Typical: six circuits, single RCD board, accessible consumer unit. The lower end is a modern conversion with a six-way Hager or Wylex board; the upper end is an older flat with surface-mounted accessories and a part-boxed-in consumer unit.
• Two-bed flat or two-bed house — £160 to £220. Typical: eight circuits, split-load board, one shower circuit, one electric cooker. Two-bed maisonettes with a circuit running between floors sit at the upper end because the engineer is testing across a longer cable run.
• Three-bed house — £200 to £280. Typical: ten circuits, two RCD groups, separate ring circuits upstairs and downstairs, dedicated cooker and shower circuits. The most common job we do — roughly one in three EICRs we book sits in this band.
• Four or five-bed house — £280 to £400. Typical: ten-plus circuits, high-integrity consumer unit with RCBOs, dedicated EV charger circuit, electric cooker or induction hob, sometimes a heat pump or PV array. The upper end of the band applies where there are two consumer units (main board plus garage or annex board) which need testing as separate installations and reported on linked certificates.
• HMO with five-plus occupants — £300 to £500. Typical: landlord-supply circuits plus per-unit sampling at the rate set by the borough licence schedule. We cover the HMO uplift in detail in the HMO surcharge section below.
• Small commercial unit — from £350. Typical: twenty circuits, three-phase supply, single distribution board, retail or light-industrial use. Anything with more than one DB or with specialist installations (commercial kitchen, machinery, fire-pump supply) is priced on application after a quick site visit.
• Full commercial building — price on application. Multi-floor offices, restaurants with three-phase kitchens, warehouses with motor circuits and PFC equipment — these are scoped on a per-board basis with a written quotation before we commit to a date.

All prices are exclusive of VAT and assume a single visit during normal working hours. Out-of-hours, weekend and emergency same-day inspections carry a surcharge that we agree at the point of booking — call 0207 046 1363 or WhatsApp 07456 975436 for a same-week slot.

What Is Included on the Day

Every ERL EICR includes the full sequence of dead and live tests required by BS 7671 Section 651:

• Dead tests — continuity of every protective conductor, continuity of ring final circuits at the consumer unit, insulation resistance at 500V between live conductors and earth on every circuit, polarity at the origin and at every sampled accessory.
• Live tests — earth fault loop impedance (Zs) at the origin and at every sampled final-circuit accessory, prospective fault current (Ipf) at the origin, RCD operating time at both half rated residual and rated residual current for every RCD, RCBO operating time per circuit on high-integrity boards.
• Certificate within 48 hours — the EICR is issued on the BS 7671 Appendix 6 model form, signed by the inspecting engineer, with the schedule of inspections and the schedule of test results attached. The PDF lands in the landlord's inbox within 48 working hours of the inspection. Hard copy on request.
• C1 made safe on site — any C1 observation (danger present, risk of injury) is made safe on the day before the engineer leaves the property, typically by isolating the affected circuit at the consumer unit and applying a circuit lockout.

C1, C2, C3 and FI Codes Explained

The four classification codes in the BS 7671 model EICR are the language the report uses to grade what the engineer found. Get the codes right and you understand the report; get them wrong and the 28-day clock catches you out.

• C1 — Danger present, risk of injury. Live parts accessible, missing earth conductor, gross polarity reversal. The engineer makes the installation safe on the day; the report is unsatisfactory until the C1 is remediated. C1 is rare on a well-maintained installation and common on a long-neglected one.
• C2 — Potentially dangerous. No immediate risk of injury but a fault condition that could become dangerous — for example a damaged ring circuit conductor still functional under normal load but liable to fail under fault, or a missing supplementary bond on a bathroom circuit. C2 triggers the 28-day remediation clock and makes the report unsatisfactory.
• C3 — Improvement recommended. Not dangerous, not potentially dangerous, but below current best practice — for example an older but still-compliant consumer unit, or a circuit that would benefit from RCD protection under the current edition of BS 7671. C3 does not make the report unsatisfactory and does not trigger any remediation clock.
• FI — Further investigation required. The engineer has observed something that may be C1 or C2 but cannot determine without intrusive investigation — typically a buried junction box or an inaccessible cable run. FI makes the report unsatisfactory and triggers the same 28-day clock as C1 and C2.

The 28-day clock starts on the date the report is issued, not on the date the work was inspected. Pay attention to the date in the header of the EICR PDF — that is the date the clock starts ticking.

Typical Cost of Remedial Work

Most unsatisfactory EICRs result from one or two specific defects rather than wholesale failure. Our 2026 fixed prices for the most common remedials, attended on a return visit:

• Replace a burnt or damaged socket outlet — £55 to £85. Includes the replacement accessory, fresh terminations, a Minor Works Certificate, and post-repair Zs and RCD tests on the affected circuit.
• Add an RCD to a bathroom or wet-zone circuit — £180 to £280. Typically achieved by replacing the existing MCB with an RCBO on a high-integrity board, or by installing a fused spur with RCD protection upstream of the affected circuit on a single-RCD board.
• Supplementary earth bond to gas or water service — £85 to £150. The single most common C2 we see on first inspection of older London housing stock. A 10mm² earth conductor from the main earth terminal to the incoming gas or water service, clipped on the service pipe within 600mm of the entry point.
• New 18th-edition consumer unit — £500 to £900. Replace the existing board with a new metal-clad high-integrity unit with individual RCBOs per circuit. Includes a fresh EIC (Electrical Installation Certificate) for the new board and a full set of test results. We cover the upgrade decision in detail on our fuse board upgrade London page.

Where the remedial work itself triggers a notifiable alteration under Part P of the Building Regulations — typically a consumer unit replacement or any work in a special location (bathroom, kitchen) — the certificate covers the Part P notification at no extra charge. Our general electrical work service handles the wider repairs and alterations that fall outside the EICR remit.

Why HMO EICRs Cost More

The pricing gap between a single-family let and a licensed HMO of the same footprint is structural, not opportunistic. An HMO EICR has to satisfy two parallel inspection requirements:

• Landlord-supply circuits — communal corridor and stair lighting, the emergency lighting power supply, the fire alarm panel supply, smoke vent and AOV power, communal sockets and any landlord-owned appliances. These are inspected as a single installation under the landlord's distribution board.
• Per-unit sampling inside each let unit — the borough HMO licence schedule sets the sampling rate. First-issue licences typically require 100% sampling (every let unit fully tested); renewal licences typically drop to a 20% to 50% sample, rotated so that every unit gets a full inspection within two licence cycles.

The result is a longer site visit, more dead and live tests, more terminations to open, and a longer write-up — the engineer issues a single combined report covering the landlord installation and each sampled unit. Our HMO compliance checks service rolls the EICR into the wider licensing inspection alongside the fire-risk assessment and gas safety certificate, which keeps the total cost lower than booking each item separately.

What Happens If the Report Is Unsatisfactory

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 give the landlord a specific sequence to follow when a report comes back unsatisfactory.

1. 28 days from the date of report. The landlord has 28 days from the date the EICR is issued to complete all remedial work identified by C1, C2 and FI observations. C3 observations do not trigger the clock.
2. Written confirmation from a qualified electrician. The remediating electrician issues a written confirmation that the work has been done and that the installation now meets the electrical safety standards. In practice this is a Minor Works Certificate or an Electrical Installation Certificate for the remediated circuits.
3. Send the confirmation to the tenant. Within 28 days of the work being completed, the landlord must give the written confirmation to each tenant resident at the property.
4. Send the confirmation to the local housing authority. Within 28 days of the work being completed, the landlord must also give the written confirmation to the local housing authority.
5. Financial penalties for non-compliance. Failure to remediate within 28 days, or failure to provide the written confirmation, can result in a financial penalty of up to £30,000 per breach. Persistent breaches can stack.

The cleanest way to avoid the clock entirely is to schedule the EICR at least three months before any known expiry — that leaves room for remedial work to be commissioned, completed and certificated inside the original certificate's validity window.

Booking, Access and What to Prepare

An EICR booking with ERL is a single phone call or WhatsApp message. We confirm the property address, the number of bedrooms, the rough age of the consumer unit, and any known issues (RCD trips, persistent breaker trips, a buzzing accessory). From that we issue a fixed-price quote before the engineer leaves the office.

On the day, the property needs three things:

• Access to the consumer unit. If it is boxed in, behind a cupboard or under a stair, please clear access to the front of the board so the engineer can open the cover.
• Location of the main switch / cut-out. The engineer needs to isolate the supply at the main switch during dead tests. If the property has a separate cut-out chamber (basement, communal cupboard) please make sure that is accessible too.
• Access to every habitable room. Final-circuit sampling means at minimum opening one socket and one light fitting in each room. Locked rooms or rooms with tenant possessions across the sockets slow the visit down.

The inspection itself runs from about 90 minutes for a small flat to a full day for a large HMO. The certificate is in the landlord's inbox within 48 working hours. For urgent same-day or out-of-hours inspections — typically driven by a court hearing, a sale completion deadline or a council enforcement notice — our emergency electrician service handles the call-out.

Renewal and Change of Tenancy

Diary the renewal date five years from the date of inspection, not five years from the date the certificate was issued. The two dates differ when remedial work was carried out after the inspection — the inspection date is the one printed in the header of the BS 7671 Appendix 6 form. We send a reminder six months before the expiry to the email address on file, and a second reminder at three months.

Change of tenancy is the other common renewal trigger. The 2020 Regulations do not require a fresh EICR at every change of tenancy, but they do require the landlord to provide the most recent EICR to each new tenant before occupation. In practice many landlords commission a fresh EICR at every tenancy change as a clean baseline for the new agreement — particularly where the previous tenancy ran the full five years and the certificate is approaching expiry anyway.

For the wider compliance calendar — gas safety annual, EICR five-yearly, smoke and CO alarm checks, HMO licence renewal — our landlord compliance hub ties the dates together on a single page.

FAQs

The FAQ schema at the foot of this page covers: typical EICR cost in London in 2026, why HMO EICRs cost more than equivalent single-family lets, how long an EICR remains valid, what happens when the report is unsatisfactory, and whether short-term lets and Airbnb properties need an EICR.

Save the number now — 0207 046 1363 or WhatsApp 07456 975436. We hold same-week EICR slots across the 32 London boroughs and quote a fixed price before the engineer arrives.

John Alexander N. — Director, Emergency Repairs London