Should I get a new EICR after flooding in a Caversham property?

It is strongly advisable. Water can damage cables, sockets and the consumer unit, and an inspection after a flood is the sensible way to confirm the installation is still safe.

Caversham, Berkshire

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

Caversham, north of the Thames, is part of Reading Borough, so landlords here answer to the same council as central Reading but with a different housing stock to inspect.

What is different in Caversham

Because Caversham falls within Reading Borough, Reading Borough Council is the authority that can request your electrical safety report and enforce the 2020 regulations here. That catches out landlords who assume a separate parish council or Oxfordshire is involved; it is not.

Caversham has a mix of Victorian villas, interwar semis and later infill, along with homes close to the river. Riverside properties are worth particular care: water damage from flooding is one of the clearest reasons to bring an inspection forward rather than waiting out the five years.

Larger period houses here are sometimes let as a whole to families and sometimes split into flats. If a property has been divided, each flat's installation is inspected and each tenancy needs its own copy of the report.

Local housing authority: Reading Borough 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.