Does an EICR cover a garage or outbuilding?

If it is supplied from the property's fixed installation and let with it, it should be included. Tell the inspector about every outbuilding when you book.

Crowthorne, Berkshire

Landlord EICRs in Crowthorne: the five-year rule, locally

Crowthorne is a village rather than a town, but the private rented sector electrical safety rules apply here exactly as they do in Bracknell or Reading.

What is different in Crowthorne

Crowthorne is part of Bracknell Forest, so Bracknell Forest Council is the authority for electrical safety in rented homes. A landlord letting here deals with the same council as one letting in central Bracknell.

The village has a mix of Victorian and Edwardian houses, interwar homes and later estates. Older detached houses have often been extended over the years, sometimes with the electrics of an extension added onto an older installation. An inspection should cover the whole property, including outbuildings and garages wired from the house.

Crowthorne has fewer letting agents on its high street than larger towns, so more lets here are managed by landlords themselves. If that is you, the deadlines are yours to track: the report every five years, the tenant copy within 28 days and the council copy within seven days of a request.

Local housing authority: Bracknell Forest Council (opens in a new tab)

The rule, in brief

If you let a home in England on a tenancy covered by the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, the fixed wiring must be inspected and tested by a qualified and competent person at least every five years. The result is an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). Existing tenants get a copy within 28 days of the inspection, new tenants before they move in, and the council within 7 days if it asks for one. Owner-occupiers have no legal duty, but Electrical Safety First recommends an inspection at least every ten years, and whenever you buy a home.

Source: Electrical Safety First (opens in a new tab) / GOV.UK (opens in a new tab)

When do you need an EICR? — the full answer

Related safety advice

Signs your consumer unit needs replacing

A consumer unit, or fuse box, is worth having checked by a registered electrician if it still has rewirable fuses, has no RCD protection, shows scorch marks, smells of burning, crackles, feels hot, or trips repeatedly. Age on its own is not proof it is unsafe: an EICR is how you find out whether it needs replacing. Replacing one is notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations in England, so it is a job for a registered electrician rather than a DIY one.

Source: Electrical Safety First (opens in a new tab)

What Part P means for your electrical job

Part P of the Building Regulations covers electrical safety in homes in England. All electrical work has to meet it, but only some jobs are notifiable: installing a new circuit, replacing a consumer unit, and adding to or altering circuits in a special location such as a room with a bath or shower. Notifiable work is either done by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme, who certifies it and notifies building control, or notified to the council's building control before it starts.