What Happens if Your EICR Expires? The April 2026 Landlord Deadline Explained

Millions of EICRs Are Expiring in Spring 2026. Is Yours One of Them?

If your EICR expires, you cannot legally let your property, your insurance may be voided, and you risk a £40,000 fine. Picture this: a council enforcement officer contacts you and requests a copy of the Electrical Installation Condition Report for one of your properties. You have seven days to supply it. You check your files and realise the report expired three months ago.

That is not a hypothetical. It is a scenario playing out across England right now and one that will become far more common as the spring 2026 renewal wave builds.

Here is what an expired EICR exposes you to: a fine of up to £40,000 per property, potential complications with your insurance, difficulties in any possession proceedings, and friction at the worst possible moment if you try to sell or remortgage. Each of those is covered in full below.

What an EICR actually is

An Electrical Installation Condition Report is a formal assessment of the fixed electrical installation in a rental property the consumer unit (fuse board), wiring, earthing, sockets, and light fittings carried out by a qualified electrician. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, private landlords in England must have this inspection carried out at intervals of no more than five years, provide a copy to each tenant, and supply one to the local authority within seven days of a written request.

The Regulations apply to most standard assured and assured shorthold tenancies in England. Schedule 1 sets out specific excluded categories including accommodation shared with the landlord or a family member, long leases of seven years or more, student halls of residence, hostels, refuges, care homes, and hospitals. If your properties are standard private lets, you are almost certainly within scope.

What actually happens when an EICR expires

Fine of up to £40,000 — per property

Local councils enforce the Regulations and can issue a civil penalty notice for non-compliance. As of 1 November 2025, that maximum penalty was raised from £30,000 to £40,000, confirmed in the amending Regulations (SI 2025/1043), which substituted the previous cap in Regulation 11(2)(b). Councils consider factors such as the severity of the breach and the landlord's portfolio size when determining the actual figure but the ceiling has risen, and enforcement activity is expected to increase as the spring renewal wave makes non-compliant properties more visible.

For a landlord with five properties, each carrying a lapsed report, the theoretical exposure is £200,000 before remedial works, legal costs, or insurance complications are factored in.

How a lapsed EICR can affect your landlord insurance

Many standard landlord insurance policies include compliance conditions, and a lapsed EICR may affect your cover if an electrical incident occurs at the property. Whether a claim is declined will depend on your specific policy wording and the circumstances of the incident but this is a risk worth taking seriously. Electrical faults are among the leading causes of house fires in the UK, and some insurers have explicitly stated that non-compliance with the Electrical Safety Regulations can result in fines, invalidate insurance, or cause delays and complications in claims.

Possession proceedings — the nuanced picture

This area requires precision. The EICR is not currently a prescribed document under the Deregulation Act 2015 unlike the EPC, Gas Safety Certificate, and How to Rent guide so a missing or expired EICR does not automatically invalidate a Section 21 notice on its face. Be cautious of any source that states otherwise without qualification.

What a lapsed EICR does do is give the local authority clear grounds to issue a remedial notice and a notice of that kind, arriving while possession proceedings are active, can create significant complications. The timing makes this more pressing than usual. The Renters' Rights Act received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, and Section 21 is currently scheduled for abolition on 1 May 2026. Landlords weighing whether to serve a Section 21 before that window closes while also carrying a lapsed EICR are creating an unnecessary vulnerability at a critical moment.

Friction when selling or remortgaging

Lenders and conveyancers routinely request compliance documentation during remortgage and sale due diligence. An expired or missing EICR can stall a sale, generate a pre-completion condition requiring an urgent inspection, or delay a remortgage offer at a point when you have very little leverage.

A landlord in the East Midlands managing six buy-to-let properties who attempts to refinance a portfolio deal in May 2026 only to discover three EICRs lapsed in April will face an uncomfortable conversation with their lender's legal team. That is an avoidable situation.

The Spring 2026 Electrician Shortage

The Regulations came into force on 1 June 2020. They applied to new specified tenancies from 1 July 2020, and to all existing specified tenancies from 1 April 2021. Because that 2021 deadline brought the entire existing stock of private tenancies into scope at once, a large proportion of the first mandatory EICRs fall due around spring 2026. Renewal dates will vary depending on the actual inspection date stated in each report and where an electrician has recommended a shorter interval, that earlier date takes precedence.

The problem is compounded by a structural skills shortage that has been building for years. According to the JTL Electrical Workforce Model published in October 2025 drawing on ONS Annual Population Survey data England's electrical workforce declined by 26.2% between 2018 and 2024, falling from 214,200 to approximately 158,000 qualified electricians. Skills England has estimated that an additional 12,000 electricians will be needed by 2030 to meet national infrastructure demands, while JTL's own modelling suggests England needs more than 10,500 apprenticeship starts annually just to stabilise the existing workforce.

The practical consequence: a portfolio landlord waiting until mid-March to book inspections across multiple properties may simply be unable to secure appointments before their certificates lapse. No grace period is written into the Regulations the moment a report expires without a renewal in place, the breach begins.

What to do — three practical steps

Step 1: Check your actual EICR expiry date

Find the exact inspection date on your current EICR certificate, as the five-year clock starts from then. Pull the inspection date from each EICR document itself not from memory, not from your letting agent's system, and not from the tenancy start date. The next inspection is due by the date set out in the report, and in any event no later than five years from the date the inspection was carried out. If the report specifies a shorter interval for any reason, that earlier date is your deadline. If you cannot locate a report for any property, treat it as unverified and book an inspection immediately.

Step 2: Book a registered electrician without delay

Always use an electrician registered with an approved scheme, and ensure any required remedial works are completed within 28 days.

Use an electrician registered with NICEIC, NAPIT, or Elecsa. Not all electricians are qualified to carry out EICRs; each scheme provides a searchable directory.

When the inspection is complete, check the outcome codes carefully:

• Satisfactory: You are compliant.
• Unsatisfactory (C1, C2, or FI codes): Remedial work is required. This work must be completed within 28 days (or sooner if specified for urgent issues).

The electrician completing the remedial work must provide written confirmation that it has been carried out. This is a legal requirement, not optional paperwork, and forms part of your compliance record.

Step 3: Supply the report to your tenant within 28 days

You must provide a copy of the completed EICR to your tenants within 28 days, and keep documented proof of delivery.

Once the inspection is complete (and written confirmation of any remedial work is received), you must meet the following deadlines:

• Provide a copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection.
• Provide a copy to local authorities within 7 days of a written request.

Keeping a record of delivery — a read receipt, signed acknowledgement, or similar — is not an explicit statutory requirement, but it is strongly recommended as evidential best practice. If a council or court ever asks you to demonstrate compliance, documented proof of delivery is the difference between a straightforward response and a difficult one.

If you hold gas appliances at the same property, your Gas Safety Certificate operates on an annual renewal cycle with a similar supply obligation. Reviewing both at the same time is sensible, as the compliance logic is identical to your annual gas safety certificate (CP12) renewal.

Storing and Proving Your Compliance Records

Renewing your EICR is the legal minimum. When a council inspector, insurer, or court requests evidence, they are not asking whether you believe you are compliant. They want the document itself, confirmation it was supplied to the tenant, the date of supply, and where an unsatisfactory result was issued written confirmation that remedial works were completed.

Pulling that together from a folder of PDFs, a WhatsApp thread with your electrician, and a spreadsheet last updated in 2023 is exactly the kind of pressure you do not want when the clock is already running.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does an expired EICR stop me serving a valid Section 21 notice?

Not directly — the EICR is not listed as a prescribed document under the Deregulation Act 2015, so a missing or expired report does not automatically invalidate a Section 21 notice in the same way a missing gas safety certificate or How to Rent guide does. However, if the tenant or their representative raises non-compliance with the Electrical Safety Regulations as a defence, or if the local authority issues a remedial notice, this can significantly complicate possession proceedings. Once Section 21 is abolished currently scheduled for spring 2026 this distinction becomes less relevant, as possession will rely on specified grounds under the Renters' Rights Act.

How long does an EICR inspection take?

For a standard one- or two-bedroom property, expect two to four hours. Larger properties, HMOs, or properties with older wiring (particularly pre-1970s installations) typically take longer sometimes a full day. The inspector will also need unimpeded access to the consumer unit and all rooms, so factor in tenant coordination time when booking.

What happens if my EICR comes back unsatisfactory?

An unsatisfactory report means the inspector has identified one or more Code 1 (Danger Present) or Code 2 (Potentially Dangerous) observations. You are legally required to have all C1 and C2 items remediated within 28 days of receiving the report (or sooner if specified). Once remedial works are complete, you need written confirmation from the electrician that the installation has been brought up to standard, and you must provide this to your tenant and, if requested, to the local authority. You cannot simply commission a new inspection and hope for a better result the remediation must be documented.

Do HMOs need an EICR as well?

Yes. HMOs fall within scope of the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 and require a valid EICR at five-yearly intervals, in the same way as standard single-let properties. Licensed HMOs also have separate obligations under their licence conditions, which may impose additional or more frequent inspection requirements check your licence terms. If your HMO licence renewal is coming up, councils will typically require sight of a current EICR as part of that process.

Last reviewed: 24 February 2026  •  Next review recommended: 1 August 2026