An EICR is the closest thing a house's wiring gets to a full medical: hours of testing, a coded verdict, and a report that means everything to landlords, buyers and insurers and nothing to most people reading it. The codes are simpler than they look.
CAN Electrical Contractors Limited carries out EICRs across Leeds, and this is the plain-English version of what the inspection covers and what each finding actually asks of you.
What the inspection actually does
An Electrical Installation Condition Report examines the fixed wiring: the consumer unit, the circuits, their protection, earthing and bonding, and a sample of the points on each circuit, sockets, switches, lights, checked physically and electrically. Dead tests measure insulation and continuity with power off; live tests confirm disconnection times and device operation with power on.
That is why a proper EICR takes hours rather than minutes: circuits are isolated, accessories opened, readings taken and recorded. A certificate produced from a walk-round with a clipboard is a different product wearing the same name.
- Fixed wiring only: the installation, not your appliances.
- Dead tests and live tests, circuit by circuit.
- Hours of measurement, recorded against standards.
The codes in plain English
Findings carry one of four codes. C1 means danger present: something able to injure right now, and the inspector will make it safe before leaving or formally warn you in writing. C2 means potentially dangerous: not injuring anyone this minute, but plausibly could, and it fails the report. C3 means improvement recommended: safe enough to pass, but below current standards. FI means further investigation needed, which counts as a fail until answered.
The verdict follows mechanically: any C1, C2 or FI makes the report unsatisfactory; a report with only C3s is satisfactory. Nothing about the vocabulary is negotiable, which is precisely its value.
- C1: dangerous now, made safe immediately.
- C2: potentially dangerous, fails the report.
- C3: advisory only, still a pass.
- FI: unanswered question, fails until investigated.
Satisfactory, unsatisfactory and what follows
An unsatisfactory report is not a catastrophe; it is a work list with priorities attached. The C2s and FIs get fixed or investigated, the remedial work is certified, and the installation returns to satisfactory, usually without the drama the word fail suggests.
CAN Electrical Contractors Limited quotes remedials from its own reports with each item priced against its code, because a report that ends in a mystery invoice was not finished. C3 items are the household's choice: worthwhile modernisation, on your schedule rather than the report's.
Who needs one, and how often
Rented homes need an EICR by law, renewed on the report's stated interval and shared with tenants; the report is as much a part of letting as the tenancy agreement. Owner-occupiers need one at sensible moments: buying a house, after major work, every decade or so, or whenever a fuse board of obvious vintage starts raising questions.
The report's stated next-inspection date is the inspector's professional judgement of the installation's trajectory: a young installation earns a long interval, an ageing one a shorter leash. Diarise it and the whole subject goes quiet until the date arrives.
Related pages
Questions customers ask
How long does an EICR take?
Hours, scaling with the property and circuit count: isolation, opening accessories, dead and live testing and recording all take real time. Suspiciously quick certificates usually skipped the middle.
Does an unsatisfactory EICR mean the power gets cut off?
No. C1 dangers are made safe on the day; everything else becomes a prioritised remedial list. Unsatisfactory is a work list, not a condemnation.
Do I have to fix C3 items?
No: C3 is advisory and the report still passes. They are worthwhile improvements to schedule on your terms, not obligations.
An EICR is hours of measurement compressed into four codes and one verdict. Read it with this key and it stops being paperwork and starts being a map.
CAN Electrical Contractors Limited delivers EICRs in Leeds with the findings explained and the remedials priced plainly. The contact page books the inspection.
