A flat is a separate electrical installation from the block it sits in, and the two are inspected separately. The landlord of a rented flat in England must hold a satisfactory EICR under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, and that report covers the flat only. The communal areas, the lateral mains from the intake room and the landlord's lighting are the freeholder's or managing agent's installation and need their own report, normally on a five-year cycle. Getting the boundary right on paper, and the limitations honest, is what separates a report that stands up from one that gets challenged later.
- One installation, one EICR: each flat gets its own report and the communal installation gets another. Never combine them.
- The flat's EICR starts at the flat's own origin, usually the consumer unit or a local isolator, not at the intake room.
- Communal areas are inspected under the freeholder's duties, not the private-rented-sector regulations, but the five-year interval is the accepted norm.
- Record what you could not access, in the extent and limitations, before you touch a single reading.
- Shared services, borrowed neutrals between flats and rising mains are where most coding disputes start, so know the rules before you code.
What does the landlord's EICR on a flat actually cover?
The 2020 Regulations require the landlord to ensure the electrical safety standards are met for "the electrical installation in the residential premises". GOV.UK's guidance for landlords confirms this means the fixed wiring in the tenant's dwelling: the consumer unit, the circuits, the socket-outlets, the light fittings, the fixed showers and cooker connections. It does not include portable appliances and it does not include the common parts that the tenant walks through to get to the front door.
So the flat's EICR begins at the origin of the flat's installation. In most purpose-built blocks that is either a consumer unit inside the flat, a switch-fuse or isolator on the landing, or a meter cupboard on the tenant's floor. The supply from the intake room to that point, including any rising or lateral mains, belongs to the block's installation and is reported on separately.
That does not let you ignore it. IET Guidance Note 3 is clear that the inspector must record the supply characteristics at the origin and must satisfy themselves that the earthing arrangement is adequate for the installation being inspected. If the block's earthing is suspect, the flat's installation is affected by it. You still record what you find and recommend investigation, even though the fix sits with a different party.
Who is responsible for the communal areas and shared supplies?
Responsibility for the common parts falls on whoever controls them. That is the freeholder in a traditional leasehold block, the right-to-manage company where leaseholders have taken over, or the managing agent acting on the freeholder's behalf. Their duties come from several directions at once:
| Duty | Source | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Keep installations for supply of electricity in repair and proper working order | Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.11 | Applies to the landlord's own installation serving the dwellings |
| Maintain electrical systems so as to prevent danger | Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, reg 4 | Applies wherever anyone is employed, including cleaners and contractors |
| Fire risk assessment of the common parts | Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 | Electrical installation is a listed ignition source; the assessor expects to see a current EICR |
| Five-yearly or change-of-occupancy inspection | 2020 Regulations (England) | Applies to each let flat, not the common parts |
| Periodic inspection recommended | BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 Chapter 65 and IET GN3 | GN3 Table 3.2 suggests 5 years for domestic and 5 years for common parts of flats |
Electrical Safety First's guidance for managing agents makes the same point: there is no single regulation that says "communal EICR every five years", but a competent managing agent who cannot produce one will struggle to show they discharged the duties above. NICEIC's technical helpline has said the same for years. In practice, five years is the interval nearly every block works to, with more frequent checks where there is vandalism, damp or a history of faults.
How do you define the extent and limitations on a flat?
Before you pick up the tester, agree in writing with the person ordering the report where the inspection starts and stops. On a flat EICR the standard wording covers three things.
First, the origin. State whether it is the flat's consumer unit, a landlord's isolator on the landing, or the meter position, and say which of those you could access. Second, the excluded parts: "Communal areas, landlord's supply, rising mains, lateral mains and intake equipment not included; these form a separate installation." Third, the operational limitations: whether you could isolate, which circuits the tenant refused to have switched off, and whether concealed cables in walls, floors and the ceiling void were inspected.
GN3 Section 3.8 stresses that limitations agreed in advance are legitimate, but limitations discovered on the day must be recorded as such and explained. A limitation that hides a hazard is not a limitation, it is a defect in the report. If you could not open the consumer unit because it is a sealed landlord's enclosure, say so, and consider whether that on its own justifies an FI for the missing information. Our guide on EICR Sampling and Limitations Explained: Extent, LIM and N/V covers the wording in more detail.
What supply characteristics do you record when the intake is locked?
The intake room in a block is often locked, sometimes controlled by the distributor and sometimes by the managing agent, and you may be on site with no key. You still have to fill in the supply characteristics box.
Measure Ze at the flat's origin. On a TN-C-S block, that reading will include the lateral main and any rising main back to the intake, so it is really an external impedance at the origin of the flat rather than at the service head. That is acceptable, and GN3 accepts measurement at the origin of the installation under inspection, but note it: "Ze measured at flat origin; intake not accessible." Measure PFC at the same point and record the higher of the earth-fault and short-circuit values.
Typical figures give you a sanity check. A flat on a TN-C-S supply close to the intake will normally show Ze well under the 0.35 Ω maximum declared by distributors, often 0.1 to 0.2 Ω. A flat at the top of a ten-storey rising main can easily read 0.4 to 0.6 Ω, which is still fine provided the Zs for every circuit is within the maximum values in Maximum Zs Values BS 7671: Tables, 80% Rule and Ze. If the Ze at the flat is higher than the value declared for the block by the distributor, the difference is the rising and lateral mains, and a large difference is worth a note to the managing agent even though it is outside your extent.
For TN-S blocks, which are still common in 1960s and 1970s local authority stock, check the earthing conductor really is connected to the cable sheath at the intake if you can see it, and treat a high Ze with more suspicion because the sheath may be corroded or have been replaced with a plastic-sheathed cable somewhere along the route. Where measurement is impossible, enquiry to the distributor is allowed, but write "by enquiry" in the box.
What are the most common observations on flats?
A block of flats produces a fairly predictable set of findings, and the codes are frequently argued over. This is how most inspectors approach them, consistent with the Electrical Safety First Best Practice Guide 4 on classification codes.
| Finding | Typical code | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| No RCD protection to socket-outlets in a flat wired before 2008 | C3 | Regulation 411.3.3 not met; potentially dangerous only if other factors present |
| No RCD protection and cables buried less than 50 mm without mechanical protection | C2 | Two missing safeguards together, per BPG4 |
| Borrowed neutral between flat lighting and the landlord's landing light | C2 | Neutral remains live when the flat's MCB is off; Regulation 314.4 and 462.1.201 |
| No main protective bonding to gas or water inside the flat, extraneous parts present | C2 | Regulation 411.3.1.2; treat as C3 only if the pipe is plastic all the way in |
| Consumer unit with combustible enclosure inside the flat | C3 | 421.1.201 applies to new work; existing units are C3 in most cases |
| Intake cupboard used for storing prams and bikes | Observation, not coded | Outside the flat's extent; report it to the managing agent in writing |
| Flat isolator unlabelled among a bank of six on the landing | C3 | Regulation 514.1.1; label it or recommend labelling |
| Flat cannot be isolated at all without shutting down neighbours | C2 | No individual means of isolation, 462.1.201; safe working impossible |
Borrowed neutrals deserve a special mention because they are so common in older blocks where the landing light was originally fed from one flat's lighting circuit. Testing for them is quick: with the flat's lighting MCB off, check for voltage on the neutral at the landing switch and check insulation resistance between the two circuits' neutrals. A shared neutral that leaves a conductor live when its own protective device is off is a C2 in almost every published interpretation, because it creates an unexpected live conductor for anyone working on the circuit.
How do communal area EICRs differ from a flat EICR?
The communal report has a different origin, a different reader and a different set of typical findings. The origin is the intake room or the landlord's meter position, and the extent normally includes the lateral mains to each flat's isolator, the landlord's lighting, emergency lighting supplies, door entry systems, lift supplies, CCTV, communal heating plant and any external lighting.
It is usually a larger job than the sum of the flats. A ten-flat block might have a landlord's distribution board with twenty ways, a three-phase supply, several sub-mains in SWA to plant rooms and bin stores, and forty years of alterations. Our Three-Phase Testing Basics for Domestic Electricians guide covers the extra measurements on the landlord's three-phase board.
The findings also shift. Emergency lighting that has not been tested is a common one, and although the EICR does not certify emergency lighting to BS 5266, you should record the supply to it and recommend the separate test regime described in Emergency Lighting Certificate: BS 5266-1 Testing and Records. Missing fire barriers where cables pass through compartment floors are a fire risk observation and must go in the report even though they are not, strictly, an electrical installation defect, because Regulation 527.2 requires sealing of penetrations. Lateral mains with perished rubber insulation, sub-mains with no identifiable protective device, and door entry transformers hanging by their cables are the daily bread of communal inspections.
What does the letting agent or managing agent need from the report?
For the flat, the landlord needs a report that names the flat's address including the flat number, covers the whole of that flat's installation, states an overall Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory result, and gives the recommended date of the next inspection. Under the 2020 Regulations the landlord must give a copy to the tenant within 28 days, to the local authority within seven days if asked, and to a new tenant before they move in. Where the result is Unsatisfactory, the remedial work must be done within 28 days and written confirmation obtained from the electrician who did it.
For the communal report, the managing agent needs something they can hand to the fire risk assessor and file with the block's health and safety records. That means a clear extent, a list of every distribution board and sub-main covered, and observations with locations that a non-electrician can find. "Landing light, third floor east, no earth at fitting" is useful; "lighting circuit 3, no CPC" is not.
Both reports should record the name of the person who ordered them and the name of the person the report is issued to, because a flat EICR ordered by a letting agent on behalf of an absent landlord still has the landlord as the duty holder. Our guide on Landlord EICRs in England: what the 2020 regulations require sets out the landlord's side of this in full.
How Certio helps
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