After a water leak in a flat, do you need an EICR?

If water is reaching a consumer unit, a socket, or a light, stop using that part where you can do so without touching it. Do not open a wet board, and do not dry live equipment with a cloth. If there is burning, exposed metal, or a device that will not stay on, get urgent help.

A periodic EICR is not an emergency water-damage test. It is an inspection of an installation that can be examined. Soaking, a ceiling that is still dripping, or a board that is wet is a reason to make safe and to dry, not a reason to force a full test that day.

• A small local leak

  One accessory that got splashed may need that circuit checked once it is dry. That is not automatically a whole-flat EICR.

• Water through a ceiling

  If the leak crossed several rooms or reached the board, a broader inspection is a reasonable question. The report still describes only what was in scope.

• A stack of flats

  Water from the flat above can affect your installation and theirs. The EICR of one flat does not describe the flat upstairs.

• Still wet

  Testing a soaked installation can be unsafe and unrepresentative. Say so. A limitation is honest. It is not a pass.

Once it is safe to look, the useful note is factual. Say where the water entered, which rooms it reached, whether the consumer unit was wet, whether any circuit is still switched off, and whether the area has dried. Do not describe a code you have guessed.

A water leak does not by itself assign an EICR code. The code, if there is one, is the inspector's judgement of the condition that can be seen and tested: damaged accessories, moisture where it should not be, or a device that no longer operates as it should.

Under the current A4:2026 EICR format, an FI observation is advisory and does not by itself make the overall assessment unsatisfactory. Further investigation is appropriate when the wet area could not be confirmed, not because the word leak appeared in a message.

There is no universal repair price. Drying, replacing an accessory, or opening a ceiling follows what was found.

Arrange a condition inspection, once it is safe to inspect, through EICR testing. If you already have observations, use remedial work.