Answer library
Surveyors routinely recommend a specialist electrical inspection because a general survey does not include testing. The recommendation is not a diagnosis — it means the condition is unknown. An EICR or a pre-purchase electrical inspection turns that unknown into a costed list, which is useful whether you proceed, renegotiate, or budget the work for after completion.
5 questions in this topic. General UK guidance, not advice about a specific property.
Surveyors routinely recommend a specialist electrical inspection because a general survey does not include testing. The recommendation is not a diagnosis — it means the condition is unknown.
An EICR or a pre-purchase electrical inspection turns that unknown into a costed list, which is useful whether you proceed, renegotiate, or budget the work for after completion.
Before exchange is more useful, because findings can affect the price or the decision — but it needs the vendor's agreement for access and for the power to be switched off during testing, which is not always given in an occupied house.
If pre-purchase access is refused, a straightforward option is a visual assessment before exchange and a full EICR immediately after completion, when the property is empty and testing is easy.
Conveyancers usually ask for certificates covering any notifiable electrical work done since 2005 — typically a consumer unit change, a new circuit, or a rewire — plus the Building Regulations compliance certificate for it.
Where the paperwork is missing, the common routes are a retrospective inspection, a regularisation application to building control, or an indemnity policy. Your solicitor should advise which is appropriate; an EICR is the usual way to evidence current condition.
A new build should come with an Electrical Installation Certificate and the Building Regulations paperwork from the developer. Ask for those first — you are entitled to them.
An independent inspection is still sometimes commissioned during a snagging period or near the end of a warranty, particularly where there have been recurring faults.
The age of the building says little; the age of the installation is what matters. Look for a modern consumer unit, RCD protection, main bonding to gas and water, plenty of sockets, and modern cable colours at the board.
Signs of an older installation — rewireable fuses, round-pin sockets, black rubber or fabric-covered cable, no earth at light switches — all point towards significant work, and are worth having assessed before you commit.