Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) in Shrewsbury

Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 make an EICR mandatory for every private rented property in England from 1 April 2021. The report must be renewed at least every 5 years, or sooner if the findings call for an earlier check. Landlords must give a copy to existing tenants within 28 days, and new tenants should receive it before they move in. If the installation is unsafe, the local authority can act, and the penalty can reach £30,000 for each breach.

Shrewsbury's rental stock spans older terraces, converted buildings and newer homes on developments such as Darwin's Edge, Five Oaks and the Persimmon scheme off Thrower Road near Meole Brace. That mix matters because the town has 11.5% of homes built before the 1940s, another 4% by 1949, and a median build year of 1979, so a landlord may be letting a property with wiring that has seen several eras of work. We also see newer estates where the electrical load is different, especially where solar panels, EV charging points or heat recovery systems are part of the design. Our inspections account for that spread, not just the age on paper.

Pressure on rented homes is easiest to see in the local market data. home.co.uk shows 489 recently sold properties in Shrewsbury, while the area also has active new-build schemes that will add more homes to the lettings pool, including 226 homes at Thrower Road with 91 affordable homes and five acres of open space. Bellway's Darwin's Edge includes homes from £252,000, £315,000 and up to £489,995, and Anwyl's Five Oaks in Bicton Heath lists homes from £269,995 to £529,995. That kind of price spread shows how mixed the housing stock is, which is exactly why a landlord's electrical testing needs to be thorough.

Our electricians treat C1 and C2 findings as urgent. The regulations expect remedial work or further investigation to start within 28 days, and the landlord should keep evidence that the issue has been dealt with. If the report is unsatisfactory, the property is not in a fit state for the next tenancy decision until the risk has been removed or controlled. Local authority officers can request the report and ask for proof that action has been taken.

A failed result does not mean the whole property is unsafe, but it does mean some part of the installation has fallen below the required standard. In a Shrewsbury house with an older consumer unit, a converted loft and a new kitchen added later, one defective circuit can still fail the whole report. We often see problems with missing bonding, damaged sockets, overloaded accessories or poor workmanship from earlier alterations. Once repairs are complete, we retest the affected parts and issue confirmation so the record is complete.

Our EICR prices in Shrewsbury start from £120, and the final quote depends on the size of the property, the number of circuits and the age of the installation. A flat near Pride Hill is usually faster to test than a larger house in Bicton Heath with extra circuits, a garage supply or outbuildings. Older homes around Frankwell or the medieval centre can also take longer because mixed wiring history needs more careful testing. The more complex the layout, the more time the inspection takes.

The price includes the full visual inspection, dead testing, live testing and the written report with observation codes. If we find C1 or C2 defects, we quote separately for the repairs, because remedial work depends on what the fault turns out to be and which circuits are affected. Report turnaround is handled promptly after the inspection, and urgent findings are explained straight away so there is no delay in acting on them. For landlords with multiple properties, that clear split between testing and repair costs makes planning much simpler.