An unsatisfactory EICR means the inspector recorded at least one C1 (danger present) or C2 (potentially dangerous) observation. On the BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 model report, the only current form since A2 and A3 were withdrawn on 15 October 2026, FI no longer produces an unsatisfactory result: the form states that "an unsatisfactory assessment indicates that dangerous (code C1) and/or potentially dangerous (code C2) conditions have been identified", and C3 and FI are advisory. For a rented home in England, Regulation 3(4) of the 2020 Regulations gives the landlord 28 days from the inspection to have the required work done, and the maximum civil penalty is now £40,000. This guide covers what you do on the day, what the client must do, and which certificate proves the fix.
- Under A4:2026 only C1 and C2 make the report unsatisfactory. C3 and FI are advisory and do not change the overall assessment, which is a change from the A2 form.
- A C1 is made safe on discovery where practicable; if it cannot be, isolate and notify the owner or user in writing as a matter of urgency (A4 form Note 13).
- England rented homes: required work within 28 days of the inspection or sooner if the report says so; written confirmation to tenants and the council within 28 days of completion; penalty up to £40,000 since 1 November 2025.
- The fix is proved with a Minor Works certificate or EIC cross-referenced to each observation, not by reissuing the EICR as satisfactory.
- A fresh EICR is for extensive work, a client who insists, or a report you are not prepared to stand behind.
What makes an EICR unsatisfactory in 2026?
Section E of the A4 model EICR asks for the general condition of the installation in terms of electrical safety and an overall assessment of SATISFACTORY or UNSATISFACTORY. The footnote and Note 12 for the person producing the report are explicit: the assessment is unsatisfactory where any observation carries a C1 or C2 code. Note 15 says a C3 is advisory and remedial work on it does not change the assessment, and the Section E wording extends the same advisory status to FI. The code definitions printed in Section K are "C1 – Danger present. Risk of injury. Immediate remedial action is necessary", "C2 – Potentially dangerous - urgent remedial action is necessary", "C3 – Improvement recommended" and "FI – Further investigation is advised".
That last one is the change that catches people out. On the A2 form FI meant "further investigation required without delay" and made the report unsatisfactory. IET Wiring Matters 110 (July 2026) explains that C3 and FI have been decoupled from C1 and C2 and that where FI is used "it does not result in an unsatisfactory outcome". It also says FI should rarely be needed: an inspection is "not a fault-finding exercise", so an unidentified circuit is a non-compliance with Regulation 514.8.1 and gets a code, and a low insulation resistance reading against Table 64 of Regulation 643.3.2 gets a code too. Finding the cause is remedial work, not inspection. Section K now groups observations into "C1 and C2" and "C3 and FI" so the recipient can see at a glance what has to happen. The full coding method with examples is in the EICR observation codes guide and the wording rules in how to write EICR observations.
Two consequences for you as inspector. First, if you believe something could be a C1 or C2 but cannot confirm it within the agreed extent and limitations (Section D, Regulation 651), say so in the observation text and consider recommending a shorter period for the investigation, because the England regulations hang on what the report "requires" (more on that below). Second, if a letting agent tells you an FI "fails" the report, they are reading the A2 form; the A4 form says otherwise, and you can point them to Note 12.
What should the inspector do on the day?
C1: make safe, then notify in writing
Note 13 of the A4 model form sets the sequence: "Danger present" items should be made safe on discovery where practicable; if that is not possible, the owner or user must be notified in writing as a matter of urgency. NICEIC's guidance on the prevention of dangerous situations, framed around Regulation 4 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, expects the contractor to make the situation safe before leaving site, with examples of fitting blanks to a consumer unit with missing covers and isolating a circuit with an unenclosed connector block and enclosing it to Regulation 526.5. Where the fix is beyond the scope of the visit, isolate the affected circuit, label it, and tell the person ordering the report and, in a rented property, the occupier, on the day. A dated text or email is enough; the point is a written record with a time on it.
NICEIC-registered firms have an Electrical Danger Notification form for this; other schemes have equivalents. Whichever you use, it should describe the dangerous condition, record the immediate action taken to remove or reduce the danger, and record the advice given to remedy the deficiency as a matter of urgency. It goes to the person responsible for the safety of the installation, which for a let property is the landlord or their agent, not the tenant alone.
Electrical Safety First's Best Practice Guide 4 (Issue 7.4, August 2026) adds a useful point: a C1 that has been made permanently safe during the inspection need not be classified at all. A missing blank that you fit, or a loose live connection that you remake, is recorded as a remark with what was done, not as an open C1 that the landlord then has to chase. BPG4 also says an observation should "detail what the situation is, not what is necessary to put it right"; the remedy belongs in the quote, not the report.
C2: explain it, scope it, quote it separately
Walk the client through each C2 and say roughly what the fix involves, but keep the inspection fee and the remedial quote as separate documents. The split matters because only C1 and C2 items are required work; C3 items are recommendations the client can take or leave. A quote that lumps a plastic consumer unit upgrade (C3 at most, "NC only" under BPG4 7.4 unless it sits under a wooden staircase or on an escape route) in with a missing main bonding conductor (C2) muddies the 28-day duty and makes you look like you are selling. Scoping and pricing remedials is covered in electrician invoicing and quoting basics.
The next-inspection date still goes in
Section F of the A4 form reads "Subject to the necessary remedial action being taken, I/We recommend that the installation is further inspected and tested by" a date, with reasons, per Note 20. An unsatisfactory report still carries a recommended interval. It is conditional on the remedial work, and it is the date the England regulations treat as the next due inspection under Regulation 3(2). Intervals by premises type are in how often is an EICR required.
What must a landlord in England do, and by when?
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 were renamed the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 by S.I. 2025/1043, in force from 1 November 2025 (1 May 2026 for pre-December-2025 social tenancies). Regulation 3 sets the clock:
| Step | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Landlord obtains the full report, including next-inspection date | After the inspection | Reg 3(3)(a) |
| Copy of the report to each existing tenant | Within 28 days of the inspection | Reg 3(3)(b) |
| Copy to the local housing authority | Within 7 days of its written request | Reg 3(3)(c) |
| Report requires further investigative or remedial work: qualified person carries it out | Within 28 days of the inspection, or any shorter period the report specifies | Reg 3(4) |
| Written confirmation from a qualified person that the work is done and either the standards are met or further work is required | On completion | Reg 3(5)(a) |
| Confirmation plus the report to each existing tenant and to the local housing authority | Within 28 days of completing the work | Reg 3(5)(b), (c) |
| Further work identified by the investigation | Repeat the 28-day cycle | Reg 3(6) |
| Copy to a new tenant before occupation; to a prospective tenant within 28 days of a written request | As stated | Reg 3(3)(e) |
Note what the regulation actually says: the 28 days run from the inspection date, not from the day the landlord receives the report, so an inspector who sits on a report for a fortnight has eaten half the landlord's window. And the trigger in Regulation 3(4) is a report that indicates a potential breach of the standards and "requires" further investigative or remedial work. Under A4 that is any C1 or C2. An FI is "advised", not required, so a report with FI items and nothing worse is satisfactory and does not of itself start the statutory clock, which is why you should code what you can see rather than defer it, and why a genuine FI should say in plain words what you suspect and how urgently it should be looked at.
If the landlord does nothing, the local housing authority must serve a remedial notice within 21 days of deciding it has reasonable grounds (Regulation 4(3)); the landlord has 28 days to comply or 21 days to make written representations. Where the latest report indicates urgent remedial action is required and the landlord has not acted, the authority can bypass the notice route, arrange the work itself with the tenant's consent (Regulation 10) and recover its costs (Regulation 8). The civil penalty cap rose from £30,000 to £40,000 per breach under S.I. 2025/1043. The landlord-side detail for England, including HMOs, is in landlord EICR regulations England; Scotland's Repairing Standard and the Welsh 2022 regulations run on different rules and are covered in EICR landlord requirements Scotland and Wales.
Social landlords now sit under the same Part 2 duties, with two extra dates: tenancies granted before 1 December 2025 need their first inspection before 1 November 2026, and landlord-supplied electrical equipment must be checked before each tenancy and at least every five years, with any remedial work or replacement done "as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 28 days after the check" (Regulation 3C). That is a large volume of first-time EICRs on older stock in the next few weeks, and a proportion of them will be unsatisfactory.
Owner-occupiers and commercial clients have no statutory deadline from an EICR. For a workplace, Regulation 4(2) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (maintain systems to prevent danger so far as reasonably practicable) is what an inspector or insurer will point to, and an unremedied C1 or C2 is hard to defend against it.
Which certificate proves the remedial work?
Regulation 3(5) asks for written confirmation from a qualified person, and does not name a form. Members on the IET EngX forum, discussing exactly this, settled on the same answer: a Minor Works certificate or EIC for the work, kept with the original EICR, satisfies the confirmation and, read together, shows the standards are met. One member suggested adding a short statement to the EICR itself confirming the listed defects have been remedied; others preferred a separate remedial schedule so the original report is not altered. Either way, map each certificate to the observation it clears.
| Remedial work | Certificate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Main or supplementary bonding installed | Minor Works | One MEIWC can cover bonding to gas and water at the same location; record the continuity result |
| Damaged or incorrectly connected accessory replaced | Minor Works | Several accessories on the same circuit on one certificate; Regulation 644.4.201 wants one MEIWC per circuit |
| RCBO fitted in place of an MCB in the existing board | Minor Works | Record Zs and the RCD test at IΔn; NICEIC treats a single-device swap as minor works |
| Consumer unit replaced | EIC with full schedules | Notifiable under Part P; see consumer unit replacement |
| New circuit installed to replace a dangerous one | EIC | Notifiable under Part P |
| Cable rerouted or section replaced on an existing circuit | Minor Works | Retest the whole circuit, not just the new length |
| Polarity corrected at an accessory or at the origin | Minor Works | Record the polarity confirmation and Zs |
| Borrowed neutral separated | Minor Works or EIC | EIC if a new circuit results; test both circuits — see borrowed neutrals |
| FI investigated, fault found and fixed | Certificate for the fix plus a note clearing the FI | Reference the EICR item number |
| FI investigated, no fault found | Written statement from the investigating electrician | Say what was tested, the readings, and why no danger exists |
| Work across many circuits plus a board change | Fresh EICR or an EIC with full schedules | A single satisfactory document is cleaner than a stack of MEIWCs |
When each form applies, and where the Minor Works certificate stops, is in Minor Works certificate: when to use it and EICR vs EIC. Remember the Wales difference for notifiability: kitchens and outdoor work are notifiable there, and the Building Regulations certificate from your scheme is part of the paper trail — see Part P notification.
A one-page remedial works schedule does most of the work. "EICR dated 2 October 2026, report 2026-0417. Item 2 (C2): main protective bonding to gas installation pipework absent. 10 mm² bonding conductor installed within 600 mm of the meter, continuity 0.03 Ω, MEIWC 2026-0431. Item 5 (C2): socket outlet rear of garage damaged, live parts accessible. Replaced, Zs 0.41 Ω, polarity confirmed, MEIWC 2026-0432." That is the written confirmation, the certificates are the evidence, and the agent does not have to guess which certificate answers which observation.
Do you need a re-inspection or a new EICR?
Not usually. The England regulations are satisfied by the written confirmation above, and the A4 model form has no box for turning an unsatisfactory report into a satisfactory one. GN3 does not describe reissuing a report, and the EngX consensus is blunt: you cannot reissue the EICR as satisfactory without retesting everything, because you do not know what else has changed since the inspection date. A report records the condition on the day; a certificate records the work you did afterwards.
A fresh EICR is the right call when the remedial work was extensive enough that a stack of certificates is harder to read than one report; when the original limitations were wide and the client wants the fuller picture; when a letting agent, insurer or council specifically asks for a satisfactory EICR rather than remedial certificates (some do, and arguing costs more than the retest); or when the original report is someone else's work and you are not prepared to endorse it. Price it as a new inspection, because that is what it is — the sampling and limitations guide explains why a second inspector may legitimately find things the first did not.
If you do produce a revised report after remedials, keep the original intact, date the revision, and list what changed and why. Never recode an observation to satisfactory without the work having been done and documented; your signature and your scheme registration are on it.
What if the client will not do the work?
You have done your job once the report is accurate, any C1 is made safe or notified in writing, and you have kept your copy with photographs and the notification. The six-year record-keeping expectation in the EAS applies to your records of the report. Decline any request to soften codes or change the assessment without the work; the unsatisfactory report you issued is the document a tribunal or coroner will see first.
For a private or social tenant in England, the route is the council's private sector housing team, which must serve a remedial notice, can arrange urgent work itself, and can impose the £40,000 penalty. Scottish tenants go to the First-tier Tribunal Housing and Property Chamber under the Repairing Standard; Welsh tenants have the fitness-for-habitation route under the 2022 regulations. Point them at the report and step back.
How should everything be filed?
The complete set for an unsatisfactory report that has been remedied is the original EICR with both schedules; the danger notification for any C1, with the date and time sent; the quote and instruction for the remedial work, which shows the 28-day process started; the Minor Works certificates or EIC with test results for every circuit worked on; the remedial works schedule mapping each observation to what was done; the Part P compliance certificate where the work was notifiable; proof of supply to the tenant and the council; and any council correspondence. Hand the lot to the next inspector, because Section C of the A4 form (Regulation 651.1) asks for the records available and the date of the last inspection. Retention periods and the GDPR angle are in electrical certificate retention and GDPR.
What about C3 and FI items on a satisfactory report?
Nothing is required, but they are not noise. A typical C3 list on older stock (no RCD protection on indoor sockets, missing circuit chart, non-metallic consumer unit) describes where the installation sits against BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 and tells the next inspector where to look. Several are candidate C2s if conditions change: a socket that starts feeding a garden pressure washer is the classic. An FI with a clear note on what to investigate and why is worth more to the landlord than a vague one; if you could not establish whether a low reading is a damp accessory or a damaged cable, say that, and the low insulation resistance troubleshooting guide covers the follow-up. A consumer unit change clears most C3s in one job, and its EIC resets the inspection clock.
How Certio helps
Certio produces the EICR, EIC, Minor Works certificate and PAT records on the BS 7671 model forms and turns them into branded PDFs. Photograph the consumer unit and the circuit schedule drafts itself; point the phone camera at a Megger MFT-X1 and the reading goes straight into the schedule of test results, or dictate it while your hands stay on the probes. Suggested observation wording with the regulation reference is there for you to check and confirm. The judgement stays yours; the typing goes. Starter is £4.99 a month, charged when you sign up.