Which Electrical Certificate Do You Actually Need?

There are three electrical documents you are likely to be handed in the UK, and they are not interchangeable. An Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) certifies new work. A Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate certifies a small change to an existing circuit. An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is not a certificate at all, it is an inspection of what is already there.

Get the wrong one and you can fail a mortgage check, a tenancy sign-off or a building control notification. We see it often enough that it is worth spelling out properly. Here is what each document is for, who can issue it, and what should be written on it before you accept it.

The short answer

• Had new circuits installed, a rewire, or a new consumer unit? You want an Electrical Installation Certificate.
• Had a socket added to an existing circuit, or a light swapped? A Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate is correct.
• Want to know the condition of the wiring already in the property? That is an EICR, and it is a report, not a pass certificate.

The confusion usually comes from the word "certificate". People ask for an "electrical safety certificate" and mean an EICR. Landlords do it, estate agents do it, and plenty of electricians go along with it rather than argue. It matters, because the three documents record completely different things.

Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC)

An EIC is issued when new electrical work has been designed, built, inspected and tested. A full rewire. A new consumer unit. A new circuit run out to a garden office. An extension wired from scratch.

The certificate carries three signatures or declarations covering design, construction, and inspection and testing. On a small domestic job that is often the same person signing all three. It also carries the schedule of circuits and the schedule of test results, which is the part people skip and shouldn't. Those numbers are the evidence the installation was actually tested rather than just looked at.

An EIC covers only the work that was done. It is not a statement that the rest of your wiring is sound. If your electrician fits a new consumer unit and hands you an EIC, that certifies the board and the circuits connected to it. It says nothing about the condition of the cables buried in your walls.

Electrical Safety First makes this point directly, noting that the certificate for a new consumer unit "doesn't allow detailed reporting on the existing installation". So a five-year-old EIC for a board change does not replace an EICR.

When you legally need one

In England, certain electrical work in dwellings is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations. That includes new circuits and consumer unit replacements. The work has to be notified to building control, either by your electrician self-certifying through a competent person scheme, or by you applying to building control directly and paying for the inspection.

The rules are set out in Approved Document P. We have written a fuller explanation in our guide to what electrical work needs building regs sign-off, including the jobs that are not notifiable.

The practical version: if the job was notifiable, you should end up with both an EIC and a Building Regulations compliance certificate, which arrives separately in the post from the scheme provider. Keep both. A buyer's solicitor will ask.

Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate

Usually shortened to a "minor works certificate". This one covers additions and alterations that do not involve running a new circuit.

Adding a socket to an existing ring. Moving a light switch. Replacing a damaged accessory. Swapping a light fitting where the wiring stays as it is. Each minor works certificate covers work on a single circuit, which is why a job touching three circuits generates three certificates, not one.

That single-circuit limit is the bit people get wrong. Electrical Safety First describes the minor works certificate as the document used "where remedial action was only necessary on a single circuit", with an EIC used instead where the work spanned more than one.

Minor works still requires testing. Earth continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance, RCD operation where one is fitted. If someone adds a socket for you and leaves without getting a tester out of the van, you have not had the job done properly, however tidy the socket looks. Our sockets and switches work always ends with a certificate, even for a single outlet.

Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)

An EICR is an inspection of an existing installation. Nothing is being certified. The electrician is recording what they found and coding anything that falls short.

Observations get a code. C1 means danger present, immediate action required. C2 means potentially dangerous, urgent remedial action required. C3 is an improvement recommendation, and does not on its own make a report unsatisfactory. FI means further investigation is needed. We go through all four in detail in our guide to what C1, C2, C3 and FI actually mean.

The report comes back satisfactory or unsatisfactory. There is no pass mark to negotiate. Any C1 or C2 makes it unsatisfactory, and the fix is remedial work, not a second opinion.

Here is the part that trips people up. Once the remedial work is done, you do not get an amended EICR. You get a certificate for the repair work, minor works or an EIC depending on scope, alongside the original report. Electrical Safety First is explicit that an EICR "should only be used for reporting on the condition of an existing installation, and not for certifying the replacement of a consumer unit or other remedial works".

So a full compliance pack after a failed EICR is usually two or three documents. The original report showing what was wrong, the certificate covering what was fixed, and often a short confirmation that the coded items have been cleared.

If you are a landlord

Private landlords in England have to have the installation inspected and tested at intervals of no more than 5 years, under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. The same regulation sets the paperwork deadlines: 28 days to give the report to existing tenants, before occupation for a new tenant, and 7 days to the local housing authority if they ask in writing.

Our guide to the landlord electrical safety certificate requirements covers the penalties and the edge cases. If you need the inspection itself, that is our EICR service.

What a valid document should have on it

Whichever of the three you are handed, check these before you file it:

• The contractor's details and scheme registration number. You can check a NICEIC or other scheme number online. An unregistered number is a red flag.
• The address of the installation, written correctly, including the flat number.
• The date of the inspection or work, and for an EICR, the recommended date of the next inspection.
• Schedules attached. A certificate with no schedule of test results is not finished. Page two matters more than page one.
• A signature, and on an EIC, all three declarations completed.
• The extent and limitations, on an EICR. This says what was and was not inspected. A report that inspected 10% of accessories is a much weaker document than one that inspected 100%, and the difference is written on the form.

That last one is worth reading properly. A cheap EICR is often cheap because the sampling was minimal, and the limitations box is where that gets disclosed.

Common situations, and which document applies

• Selling your house and the buyer's solicitor asks for electrical paperwork: an EICR gives them the current condition. If you have had work done, include the EIC or minor works certificates too. See do I need an EICR to sell my house.
• New kitchen with new circuits for the oven and hob: EIC, and the work is notifiable.
• Two extra sockets in the living room, same circuit: minor works certificate.
• Consumer unit upgrade: EIC plus Part P notification. Our consumer unit upgrade service handles the notification.
• Buy to let, five years since the last inspection: EICR, then certificates for anything that needs fixing.
• Insurance company asking for proof the wiring is safe: EICR. An old EIC will not satisfy them.

Frequently asked questions

Is an electrical safety certificate the same as an EICR?

In everyday use, yes, most people saying "electrical safety certificate" mean an EICR. Strictly it is a report rather than a certificate, and if you ask a letting agent or a solicitor for an "electrical safety certificate" it is worth confirming they mean the condition report and not a certificate for past work.

How long does an electrical installation certificate last?

An EIC does not expire. It permanently records that a specific piece of work met the standard on the day it was done. What has a shelf life is the EICR, because the condition of an installation changes. For a rented home that interval is a maximum of five years, and for an owner-occupied house the usual recommendation is ten.

Can I get a certificate for work someone else did?

Not honestly, no. An electrician can only certify work they designed, installed or supervised, because they are signing to say it was built and tested correctly. What we can do is inspect and test what is there and issue an EICR, which records its condition. That is the right route when a previous trade disappeared without leaving paperwork.

Do I need a certificate for changing a light fitting?

Swapping a like-for-like fitting on an existing circuit is not notifiable work, but a minor works certificate is still the correct record and any competent electrician will issue one. It takes a few minutes and it is the only proof the circuit was tested afterwards.

What happens if I have lost my certificates?

Ask the original contractor first, most keep records for several years and will reissue a copy. If the work was notified under Part P, the scheme provider holds a record and can supply the building regulations certificate. If the contractor has gone, an EICR is the practical fallback, since it documents the current condition regardless of who did the work.

Does a new consumer unit mean I do not need an EICR?

No. The EIC for the board covers the board and its circuits, not the wiring throughout the property. If you are a landlord, the five-year EICR duty applies regardless of how new the consumer unit is.

Not sure which document you have been given, or whether it says what it should? Send us a photo of the front page. If you need the inspection itself, see our EICR and electrical certificates service or call us on 020 3653 2600 and we will tell you straight which certificate the job needs before we start.