How Often Does a Commercial Property Need an EICR?

1. Installation condition: previous observations, unresolved defects, repairs and deterioration.
2. Building use: the activities taking place and their dependence on electrical supplies.
3. Environment: exposure to moisture, heat, dust, impact or other damaging conditions.
4. Changes: new tenants, alterations, additional equipment or a substantial change in demand.
5. Maintenance: routine checks, fault history and the quality of existing records.
6. Requirements: relevant duties, insurance conditions, lease obligations and organisational policies.

These factors are not interchangeable. An insurer's inspection condition needs to be understood on its own terms; it should not be described as a universal legal interval for every business.

Do not wait for the diary date where there is damage, recurring electrical trouble or evidence that the installation has changed. Discuss the appropriate investigation after flooding, a significant incident, undocumented alterations or a change of occupancy that introduces a different use.

A new lease does not itself tell you whether the inherited electrical records are adequate. Check what the previous report covered, whether its actions were completed and whether it matches the spaces and supplies now being occupied. An old report for a larger unit is not automatically a complete record for newly divided premises.

Maintain a register showing the property, installation or board covered, latest report, next review date, action owner and supporting documents. Separate inspection due dates from remedial deadlines. Otherwise a report with unresolved findings can appear complete merely because the next routine inspection has been scheduled.

For a portfolio, use a consistent register but retain a reasoned interval for each property. Group visits where that helps access and procurement without losing sight of individual buildings' needs.

Allow time for occupier notices, access permissions, shutdown planning and follow-up work. Request quotations against the same installation scope and limitations. A scheduled visit that cannot reach essential areas creates another booking and an incomplete record.

No single interval should be assumed for all commercial premises. Ask a competent inspector to establish the appropriate recommendation for the installation and check the requirements that apply to your building and activities.

Search the handover records and ask the owner or managing agent for the report and remedial evidence. If reliable records cannot be recovered, arrange an assessment of what inspection is needed. Do not invent a next due date from the age of the lease.

No. Continue managing faults, damage and alterations between inspections. A dated assessment is useful evidence of the installation examined; it does not replace ongoing care or the documentation needed for subsequent work.

See HSE's electricity and the law overview for the workplace legal framework. Read what an EICR covers before commissioning the next inspection.

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