If you rent out a property in Hastings, the law says the fixed wiring has to be inspected and tested at least every five years. That is what an EICR is. We are based in St Leonards, about two and a half miles from the middle of Hastings, so we cover TN34 and TN35 all week. Most of the work we do here is on the sort of stock the town is full of: Victorian and Edwardian terraces, flats carved out of big old houses, and HMOs where the wiring has been added to by several different people over the years. We test it, we write it up properly, and we tell you in plain English what needs doing.
What the law asks of Hastings landlords
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 apply to almost every private tenancy in Hastings. The fixed wiring has to be inspected and tested at intervals of no more than five years. You have to give a copy of the report to your existing tenants within 28 days, and to Hastings Borough Council within seven days if they ask for it. A new tenant should have it before they move in. Get it wrong and the local authority can fine you up to £30,000. Letting agents in the town usually want the certificate on file before they will market a property at all.
What we actually test
An EICR is a hands-on job, not a walk round with a clipboard. We turn the power off for part of the visit and test the circuits themselves: insulation resistance, continuity of earths, polarity, earth fault loop impedance and RCD trip times. We open up a sample of sockets, switches and light fittings, look inside the board, and check the main bonding to the gas and water. In converted flats around Hastings there is often a landlord's supply in the hall or stairwell as well, so tell us up front if the common parts belong to you. We need access to the meter, the board and the loft.
C1, C2, C3 and FI, what the codes mean
Every fault on the report gets a code. C1 means danger is present and someone could get a shock or a burn now, so we make it safe before we leave. C2 means potentially dangerous, which usually covers things like no earth at the lighting points or no RCD protection on the socket circuits. C3 is an improvement recommended, and a C3 on its own does not fail the report. FI means further investigation is needed because something did not add up on test. A report is only satisfactory if there is no C1, no C2 and no FI on it. Anything else is a fail, however tidy the board looks.
If the report comes back unsatisfactory
Unsatisfactory is not a disaster, it just starts a clock. The regulations give you 28 days to get the remedial work done, or less if the report itself says so, and then you send written confirmation to the tenant and to the council. We price the remedial work as a separate quote so you can see exactly what you are paying for, and you are free to take that quote to anybody. On older Hastings terraces the usual culprits are a fuse board with no RCD, borrowed neutrals between lighting circuits, and salt-damaged outside sockets on properties near the seafront.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How often does a rented property in Hastings need an EICR?
A: At intervals of no more than five years. That is the maximum, and if the person doing the inspection writes a shorter interval on the report then that shorter date is the one that counts. You do not need a fresh one for every new tenant, as long as the current report is still in date and you give the new tenant a copy before they move in. If you live in the house yourself there is no legal duty, though ten years is the usual advice.
Q: Will the power need to go off for the EICR?
A: Yes, for part of the visit. A proper EICR includes dead testing, which means the circuits have to be isolated to test them. We can usually split it so the whole property is not off in one go, but if there are tenants in, they need telling in advance. Freezers, fish tanks, medical equipment and people working from home are all worth mentioning when you book, because we can plan the order of the circuits around them.
Q: Do HMOs and flat conversions in Hastings need their own report?
A: Yes. HMOs have had a five year electrical testing requirement for longer than the rest of the rented sector, and the 2020 regulations apply on top of that. In a converted house, each self-contained flat needs its own report, and the landlord's supply in the hallway or stairwell needs covering too. That last one gets forgotten. Fire alarms and emergency lighting in an HMO are separate checks with their own certificates, so do not assume an EICR covers them.
Q: What does an EICR cost for a Hastings property?
A: It depends on the size of the installation, not the size of the house. A one bedroom flat with four circuits is a very different job from a three storey HMO with two boards and a landlord's supply. We price it after a couple of questions: how many bedrooms, how many fuse boards, and whether anyone is living there. Send us a photo of the board and we can usually give you a firm figure without needing to visit. Call 07850 741209.