I failed my EICR: what to do next in London

The front page states the overall assessment. The observation schedule states what was found. C1 means the inspector judged danger to be present. C2 means potentially dangerous, with urgent remedial action required. C3 means improvement recommended. FI means further investigation is advised.

Under the current A4:2026 EICR format, an FI observation is advisory and does not by itself make the overall assessment unsatisfactory. If the report is unsatisfactory, look for the C1 and C2 items. They are the ones that explain that result.

Deal with C1 items as making-safe work. C2 items are the urgent remedial list. FI items need the investigation the observation describes, which may be access that was not available on the day. C3 items are improvements. They are not the same queue.

Do not assume two similar descriptions share a code. The number and the wording have to be read together. The fuller code guide is separate from this decision.

Use the classification code guide if you need the codes explained. Stay on this page for the order of work.

• List the observation numbers. Do not work from the word failed.
• Separate danger present, potentially dangerous, improvement, and further investigation.
• Make safe anything the inspector has coded as danger present before planning the rest.
• Where an item is FI, arrange the investigation it describes before asking for a firm repair price.
• Agree the remedial scope against those observation numbers.
• Have the agreed work done, then keep the test or certificate that belongs to that work.
• Read the recommended next inspection date. It can be sooner than five years.

Where the observation is FI, the extent of the remedial work may not be knowable until that investigation has been done. Opening a floor, a loft or a locked cupboard can be the work the report could not finish.

The contractor should test the circuits that were worked on and issue the certificate that matches that work. An Electrical Installation Certificate or a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate describes new or altered work. It does not rewrite the old condition report.

For a specified tenancy in England, regulation 3(4) applies where the report indicates the landlord is or may be in breach of the duty to keep the electrical safety standards met, and the report requires further investigative or remedial work. A qualified person then carries out that work within 28 days, or any shorter period the report states, from the inspection and test. An unsatisfactory label or a code letter does not by itself start that period.