How often does an EICR need doing?

For privately rented homes in England the answer is law: at least every five years, under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector Regulations 2020, with a copy of the report to tenants and, on request, to the council. Scotland's repairing standard for private tenancies works to the same five-year rhythm. For everything else the answer is the date on the last report: the inspector recommends the interval to the next inspection, and commonly used starting points are ten years for an owner-occupied home, five for a business, and change of occupancy for either.

Who actually decides the interval

The inspector does. The intervals the trade quotes are conventions from industry guidance, not statute. The recommendation on the report is a judgement about this installation: its age, condition, use and environment. A tired 1970s installation on its original board might sensibly get three years; a recently rewired house gets the full ten. The recommended date goes on the front of the report, and it is the date that matters afterwards, which makes it a date worth tracking, because the client will not.

The common cases

Situation	Interval	Status
Private rented home, England	5 years or change of tenancy terms per the report	Legal requirement
Private tenancy, Scotland	5 years	Legal requirement
Owner-occupied home	10 years, or on change of occupancy	Guidance
Commercial premises	5 years, or per the report	Guidance, but insurers and licences often demand it
Caravans, pools, marinas and other special installations	Shorter, commonly 1 to 3 years	Guidance per installation type
Buying or selling a property	On the transaction	Convention, often lender- or buyer-driven

Two honest caveats. First, "guidance" does not mean optional in practice: an employer's duties under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 are law even though no interval is written into them, and a periodic inspection is how most businesses evidence compliance. Second, licensing regimes, HMOs above all, attach their own inspection conditions, and the licence terms win.

What resets the clock

A new EICR resets it, obviously. So, for the circuits it covers, does new certified work, but an EIC for a consumer unit change does not stand in for a condition report on the rest of the installation, and remedial work fixing a C2 does not extend the report it was found on. The next-inspection date stands until a new inspection moves it.

The business hiding inside the interval

Every report you issue carries a date on which the same client needs the same work again: five or ten years out for inspections, twelve months for the annual cases. Almost nobody diarises it, so the next inspection goes to whoever the client happens to call. This is the cheapest repeat work in the trade to win: it is yours by default if anything reminds you. Pascal tracks the renewal date on every certificate it issues and surfaces the ones falling due, so the reminder, the quote and the booking come off the record you already hold rather than a spreadsheet somebody stopped updating in March.