Does the Renters' Rights Act change the EICR duty?

Two different sets of rules are easy to mix up because both are talked about as landlord law.

The electrical inspection duty is the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, as amended. For a specified tenancy in England, the landlord must have the electrical installation inspected and tested by a qualified person before the tenancy begins, and then at intervals of no more than 5 years, or sooner if the latest report requires an earlier date.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 is a different statute. It comes into force on days appointed by commencement regulations, not because a web address contains 2026. This page was checked against legislation.gov.uk on 3 October 2026.

Chapter 1 of Part 1, except section 25(3), came into force on 1 May 2026 for private assured tenancies. That commencement was read as SI 2026/421. It covers the change to assured periodic tenancies and the end of section 21 for those tenancies.

A change to periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026 is not a new electrical inspection interval. That commencement does not replace the electrical inspection duty. A landlord who now has a periodic private tenancy still follows the electrical safety regulations for the inspection and the report.

A category 1 hazard penalty power, commenced on 22 June 2026 by SI 2026/638, is also a housing-enforcement power. It is not an EICR fine.

Nothing in the 1 May 2026 commencement removes the inspection, the report, or the need to read what that report asks for next. The practical list is unchanged by the tenancy reform.

• Have the installation inspected and tested by a qualified person before the tenancy begins.
• Use the next date written on the latest report. Do not replace that date with a round five-year slogan.
• Read the observations. An unsatisfactory label is not a substitute for the lines underneath it.
• If the report requires further investigative or remedial work, arrange that work. The tenancy reform does not close those observations.
• Keep the report. A later question about a new tenant, or about work done since the inspection, starts from that document.

Current, on 3 October 2026: the electrical safety regulations as amended, and the private-tenancy reforms that SI 2026/421 brought into force on 1 May 2026.

Parliamentary approval of the draft 2026 electrical-safety amendment was completed on 20 October 2026. Approval, formally making the instrument and its coming into force are separate events. The published draft specifies commencement on 30 November 2026; it is not a duty already in force today. Check the final made legislation and its saving provisions before changing a compliance process.

Further commencement of the 2025 Act can still be appointed. This page should be read again on 30 November 2026. Until then, do not describe a future provision as a rule you can already use.

• Before a new tenancy starts, check whether an existing valid report meets the applicable requirements and give the new tenant the required copy. Government guidance does not require a new inspection solely because the tenant changes where the existing report qualifies. Do not infer a new duty from the proposed amendment.
• If tenants are already in occupation, keep the standards met and deal with work the current report requires.
• If someone tells you the Renters' Rights Act has replaced the EICR, ask which commencement instrument says so. The instruments read for this page do not.

Whether an existing report can be used for a new tenancy is set out under a new EICR for a new tenant. Arranging the inspection is the landlord EICR service.