Can I still rent in London after a failed EICR?

On the report, the overall assessment is satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Landlords often call unsatisfactory a fail. That word is not a ban, and it is not a clearance. It records the inspector's overall result from the observations on the day.

Each observation has its own wording and, where the inspector has classified it, its own code. C2 means potentially dangerous, with urgent remedial action required. That sentence describes the code. It is not a rule that every similar-looking defect receives C2. An item marked for further investigation is not the same as an item the inspector has already classified as dangerous.

Do not treat an unsatisfactory label as permission to ignore the observations. The label also does not tell you the repair. The observation lines do.

The same word, unsatisfactory, lands on different arrangements. Read which installation the report actually covered before you decide what the letting can do.

• A self-contained flat is one dwelling. The observations belong to the installation inside that flat. A report limited to one flat does not describe the common parts of the block.
• A house let as one home is one dwelling with one household. The observations are still read one by one. A conclusion written for a flat does not transfer just because both buildings are in London.
• An HMO is a different arrangement: rooms may be let separately, and kitchens, bathrooms or escape routes may be shared. Read whether the report covers the room, the dwelling, or those shared parts. If it does not say, do not assume.
• A home you live in and do not let is outside the rented-housing duty. The observations can still describe a real condition. They are not, by themselves, a landlord enforcement question.

While a specified tenancy is occupied, the duty to keep the electrical safety standards met continues. An existing tenant does not turn an unsatisfactory report into a finished job. If the report requires further investigative or remedial work, that follow-up still has to be dealt with.

An unsatisfactory label or a code letter does not by itself start that period. The further-work duty, where it applies, depends on the report showing a breach or a possible breach and requiring further investigative or remedial work.

A proposed new tenancy is a separate decision. If nobody has moved in yet, do not treat the unsatisfactory report as cleared paperwork for that new tenancy. The inspection required before a tenancy begins is not answered by ignoring the observations you already have.

• The overall assessment, and the date of the inspection.
• Every observation: the code, the wording, and the circuit or location.
• Whether the report requires further investigative work, remedial work, or both.
• Any limitation. Parts that were not inspected are not described by a pass or a fail on the front page.
• The recommended date of the next inspection. It can be sooner than five years.
• Which address and which parts of the building the report names.

• Read the observation schedule before you talk about the letting.
• Decide whether this is a specified tenancy in England, and whether someone is already living there or the tenancy has not started.
• Arrange the investigation or the remedial work the report requires. Quote the observation lines, not only the word unsatisfactory.
• Keep the report, and keep the paperwork for any work that follows it.
• Do not market a new tenancy on the assumption that the label can be ignored.

A self-contained flat has a longer observation-by-observation reading on failed EICR and a flat. Shared houses are discussed on HMO electrical safety. Booking the inspection or the follow-up is the landlord EICR service.