Buyer EICR London — 7-Step Pre-Completion Checklist

Under the Electrical Safety Standards Regulations 2020, every let property in England must hold a valid EICR (max 5 years old). If the property has been let, demand the most recent EICR by email — not at viewing.

If they refuse to share it, treat that as a finding. Either they don't have one (failure to comply, suggests other compliance gaps), or they have one with serious C2s they don't want surfaced.

If the property has been owner-occupied, there's no legal requirement to hold an EICR. But ask anyway — homeowners doing rewires usually retain the cert and a clean recent EICR is reassuring.

Even if the seller provides a clean EICR, commission your own. The seller's EICR was paid for by the seller — it's not biased per se, but it doesn't have your interests in mind. A £99 spend now can save £6,000 in undisclosed remedials.

Time it after the survey but before exchange — typically week 4–6 of a 10-week conveyancing process. Findings give you renegotiation room while you still have leverage to walk.

Book a NICEIC or NAPIT Approved Contractor independent of any agent recommendation. Conflicts of interest exist — the agent's preferred electrician is not always the inspector you want.

Log into NICEIC online or NAPIT verify. Type in the certificate number and the engineer's name. The cert should come up as live, with the correct address and date.

Fake EICRs are common in the lower end of the market — bought for £30 cash by sellers wanting to clear a council licence. The verification check takes 30 seconds and is the single best fraud filter.

If the cert won't verify, treat the property as having no valid EICR. Demand a fresh one or commission your own. This alone has saved buyers £8,000+ in undisclosed remedials we've seen.

C1 (danger present) — must be remedied immediately. In a buyer context, this is leverage to negotiate £500–£2,000 off the price or a delay to completion until fixed.

C2 (potentially dangerous) — must be remedied within 28 days for let properties. For buyers, this is the main negotiation lever. Average C2 remedial across London 2026: £180–£500 per item.

C3 (improvement recommended) — not a fail, no legal obligation. Useful as soft leverage on the asking price, especially if the C3 list is long (suggesting an old installation).

FI (further investigation) — usually means hidden cabling or a junction that can't be verified. Treat as a yellow flag and either commission the further investigation or build a £400 contingency into your offer.

A C2 on missing RCD protection for sockets serving an outside area: £180–£280 to add an RCD or replace with RCBOs. Common London finding.

A C2 on missing supplementary bonding in the bathroom: £150–£250 if accessible, £400+ if floor needs lifting.

Old plastic consumer unit (now Type AC, often coded C3 with note recommending C2 in HMOs): full replacement with Type A metal-clad RCBO board £620–£950 in London 2026.

Multiple C3s on the same installation suggest an older fuse board that should be replaced now rather than item-by-item — budget £900 and move on.

Send the EICR + your written remedial cost estimate to your solicitor within 48 hours of receiving the report. Solicitor forwards to seller's solicitor with a request to reduce the agreed price by the remedial total.

Sellers in London 2026 with multiple offers usually push back. Compromise often lands at 50–70% of remedial cost — still meaningful, and you save the time and risk of doing the work post-completion.

If the seller refuses any reduction, ask them to undertake the works pre-completion with a £500 retention until you verify the cert. They almost always prefer the retention.

Even with a clean buyer EICR, schedule a fresh one 12 months after moving in if you've made any changes (new EV charger, kitchen rewire, extension). A fresh EICR resets your 5-year clock under ESS 2020.

If you plan to let the property eventually, file the buyer EICR with your records. It is the legally valid EICR for the next 5 years from issue date, assuming no material changes.

Budget £99 for an EICR refresh every 5 years and £550-1,200 for a fuse board upgrade once during ownership. Properties built before 2008 will need a fuse board upgrade in the next 10 years regardless of any current EICR finding.