An EICR in 2026 typically costs £100–£180 for a one- or two-bed flat, £150–£250 for an ordinary 2–3 bed semi or terrace, £200–£320 for a larger detached house, and £300–£500 or more for an HMO or licensed rental, where every room usually needs testing individually rather than the property as a whole. That's the fee for the inspection and the report itself — an electrician testing every circuit, checking earthing and bonding, and recording the condition of the consumer unit.
But the figure that decides whether this ends up costing a lot more isn't on any price list. It's what the report finds. An EICR that comes back satisfactory costs exactly what you paid for the test. One that comes back unsatisfactory — and a meaningful share of the older housing stock I survey does — triggers remedial work that's quoted and charged separately, on top.
I'm a building surveyor and energy assessor, not an electrician: I don't carry out EICRs or issue the certificate myself, a registered electrician does that. What follows is 2026 pricing cross-checked against current UK trade sources, the legal duty landlords are under — recently extended to social housing too — what a C1, C2, C3 or FI finding actually means when the report lands on your doormat, and what I'd want to see in a fair quote.
The short answer
Figures below were checked on 16 August 2026 against Checkatrade, MyBuilder and several independent electricians' 2026 published price lists, cross-referenced against each other. As with the rest of this series, London and the South East, Dom’s patch included, commonly run 20–30% above the national figures quoted here.
| Property | Typical cost (2026) | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 bed flat | £100–£180 | Inspection & test of every circuit, RCD/RCBO testing, written report with C1/C2/C3/FI codes |
| 2–3 bed semi or terrace | £150–£250 | As above; more circuits and points, consumer unit condition assessed |
| 4-bed detached | £200–£320 | Higher circuit count, larger installation, longer test time |
| HMO / licensed rental | £300–£500+ | More rigorous per-room testing; often a separate licence condition of its own |
Two figures worth having alongside that table. If the report comes back unsatisfactory, a re-test once the remedial work is done — needed to convert it into a satisfactory certificate — typically costs £50–£100. And the remedial work itself, priced separately from the inspection, ranges from a straightforward main bonding upgrade at £120–£200, through adding RCBO protection to a circuit at £120–£160, up to a full consumer unit replacement at £450–£800 — covered in more detail below.
What drives the price
Circuit count and property size. Pricing scales with the number of circuits an electrician has to isolate and test individually, which tracks property size and bedroom count fairly closely.
Access. A straightforward installation with an accessible consumer unit and no boxed-in wiring tests faster than one with cable buried under floors or behind fitted furniture.
Age and type of the installation. Older wiring, non-standard extensions to the circuit layout, or evidence of DIY additions all add time on site, because the electrician has to trace and understand what's actually there before testing it safely.
HMO or rental licensing requirements. Licensed HMOs are usually tested to a more rigorous per-room standard, which is reflected in the higher end of the range above.
Region. London and the South East trend 20–30% above the national figures quoted here, in line with most trades in this series.
The landlord's legal duty
Since the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, every private landlord in England has had a legal duty to have the electrical installation in a rented property inspected and tested at least every 5 years, or sooner if the previous report specifies a shorter interval. It applied to new tenancies from 1 July 2020 and to all existing tenancies from 1 April 2021. A copy of the report has to go to the tenant before they move in, to an existing tenant within 28 days of the test being carried out, and to the local authority within 7 days if it's requested. A local housing authority satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a landlord has breached the duty can impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000, and can arrange remedial work itself and recover the cost from the landlord.
That duty was extended in 2025 to cover registered providers of social housing as well, under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) (Amendment) (Extension to the Social Rented Sector) Regulations 2025. New social tenancies fall under the same 5-year duty from 1 November 2025, and existing social tenancies had to be inspected by 1 May 2026 — a deadline that's already passed, so any social landlord who hasn't had that done is already out of time. Social landlords are also required to carry out in-service inspection and testing of any electrical equipment they supply as part of the tenancy.
Owner-occupiers are under no equivalent legal duty. It's still worth commissioning an EICR roughly every 10 years, or whenever you're buying a house with wiring you can't confidently date — the visual checks in a building survey can flag an old fuse board or cable that looks its age, but only a proper test tells you whether circuits are actually safe under load.
What a fail actually means
An EICR report isn't pass or fail in a binary sense — it's a list of observations, each coded, and the codes decide whether the overall report is "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory". C1 — danger present — means immediate risk of injury, fire or shock, and the electrician makes it safe there and then, before they leave. C2 — potentially dangerous — isn't an immediate emergency but needs remedying, and for a landlord that means within 28 days of the inspection, or sooner if the report says so. C3 — improvement recommended — is advisory only: the installation doesn't meet the very latest wiring regulations but isn't unsafe, and a C3 on its own doesn't fail the report. FI — further investigation — means something couldn't be fully assessed on the day and needs a follow-up before a result can be given. Any single C1, C2 or FI makes the whole report unsatisfactory; a report with C3s only stays satisfactory.
The findings I see most often behind an unsatisfactory result on the older rented housing I survey: no RCD protection on socket circuits, which is standard on anything wired post-2008 but routinely missing on older consumer units; inadequate or entirely missing main bonding to the incoming gas and water pipework; an old rewireable fuse box with no RCD protection at all, distinct from the cable behind the walls, which is exactly the split I go into in more detail in house rewiring cost; and, on genuinely old installations, no earth conductor present at all on some circuits. None of those necessarily mean a full rewire — a bonding upgrade or a modern consumer unit swap fixes most of them, which is why the remedial figures above sit so far below a rewire's price.
Whatever the finding, remedial work is quoted and charged separately from the EICR fee itself — the inspection tells you what's wrong, it doesn't fix it, and a landlord who treats the report as the end of the job rather than the start of one is the person who ends up explaining an unsatisfactory EICR to a local authority.
What I'd watch for in a quote
- NICEIC, NAPIT or ELECSA registration. Only a report from a properly qualified, registered electrician satisfies the legal duty — a cheap "pass" from someone unregistered is worthless if it's ever challenged.
- The circuit or point count stated, not one flat "any property" figure — that's what the price should genuinely scale with.
- Whether a re-test is included if the report comes back unsatisfactory, or whether that's a separate charge once remedial work is done.
- The actual written report, with every observation coded C1/C2/C3/FI, not just a verbal or one-line "it's fine" — you need the codes in writing to know what, if anything, needs acting on.
- No guaranteed same-day pass. An electrician who promises a satisfactory result before they've tested anything is telling you what you want to hear, not what's actually in the walls.
Questions I get asked
How often does a landlord need an EICR? At least every 5 years, or sooner if the previous report specifies a shorter interval. That's applied to all private tenancies in England since 2020 — new tenancies from 1 July 2020, existing tenancies from 1 April 2021 — and was extended to social housing from 1 November 2025, with existing social tenancies required to be inspected by 1 May 2026. Copies go to the tenant before they move in, to an existing tenant within 28 days of the test, and to the local authority within 7 days if requested.
What happens if my EICR comes back unsatisfactory? It means at least one C1, C2 or FI finding was recorded. A C1 is made safe by the electrician immediately. A C2 or FI has to be remedied within 28 days of the inspection, or sooner if stated. Once that's done, a re-test — typically £50–£100 — confirms the fix and issues a satisfactory report. For a landlord, missing that 28-day window is itself a breach of the Regulations.
Do homeowners need an EICR, or is it just for landlords? There's no legal duty on owner-occupiers. It's still worth one roughly every 10 years, or when buying a house with wiring you can't confidently date — a building survey can flag an old fuse board or cable that looks its age, but only a test tells you whether circuits are actually safe under load.
What's the difference between an EICR and a full rewire? An EICR is a test and a report, typically £100–£350, that tells you the condition of the existing installation. A rewire is the remedial work itself, if the report comes back badly enough — typically £4,500–£8,000 for an ordinary semi. Plenty of EICRs on older housing come back needing only a consumer unit swap or a bonding upgrade, not a full rewire — the report is what tells you which one you actually need.
If you're buying a house with wiring you can't date confidently, or a landlord wondering whether a fuse box that looks its age is a genuine issue, the visual checks in my building survey work flag exactly that — old consumer units, missing bonding, cable that looks its age — and tell you where a specialist EICR is worth commissioning before you spend on anything further. Call 07946 618203 or get in touch for a straight read before you commit.
Small print. This guide is general information, not advice on a specific property, and it doesn’t replace a proper EICR and a written quote for your own home. Prices were researched and correct to the best of my knowledge on 16 August 2026; costs move and vary by region and property. Always get at least three written quotes, and use a registered electrician for any test that has to satisfy a legal duty.