Landlord duties
Who is responsible for the EICR, the landlord or the tenant?
Where the rented-housing rules apply, the landlord organises the inspection. The tenant is not given that duty because someone has to open the door. Access, a copy of the report, and later repair work are separate questions, and none of them is a ruling about who pays for a leasehold repair.
Reviewed 5 October 2026 by George Opsenica (Director, Codeex Maintenance Ltd) and George Opsenica (Director, Codeex Maintenance Ltd). General guidance, not a reading of your own report and not legal advice.
What each reviewer checked
- George Opsenica: Source review of the exact interval sentence, the landlord-organises sentence, the regulation 3(4) sentence, and the standalone sentence that a missing copy is not proof that no inspection happened. This is not legal advice. Recheck on 30 November 2026.
- George Opsenica: Owner presentation of this current page. This is not a technical classification and it is not legal advice.
Four questions that are not the same
| Question | Where the duty sits | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| Who organises the inspection | The landlord of a specified tenancy, where that duty applies. | Not transferred to the tenant because a key is needed. |
| Who needs to allow access | The occupier, on a practical basis, so the installation can be seen. | Access is cooperation. It is not the statutory duty. |
| Who receives a copy | The regulations set who must be given the report. Read the current instrument for the recipient. | A tenant asking for a copy is not the same question as who books the visit. |
| Who deals with further work | Where regulation 3(4) applies, a qualified person carries out the further investigative or remedial work. | That follow-up is not a penalty on the tenant. |
The landlord organises the inspection
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.
If you are the landlord of a rented flat, the duty to have that flat's installation inspected is still yours to organise. That sentence does not decide who pays for a repair inside a leasehold building. The leasehold page is the one that separates the flat from the common parts.
The duty is not handed to the tenant because access is difficult. A refused visit is a practical problem. It is not a reason to describe the tenant as the person who must commission the report.
What the tenant is actually being asked to do
The inspector needs to see the installation that is in scope: rooms, the consumer unit, and any cupboard the report is meant to include. Someone who lives there usually holds the key. Asking for that access is ordinary. It does not rewrite regulation 3.
Give a realistic time, say which areas are locked, and do not expect the tenant to remove a consumer-unit cover or to test live equipment. If access fails, record what could not be seen. A limitation is a gap in the report. It is not a penalty on the occupier, and this page does not invent one.
Before the visit
Agree a time when the board and the rooms in scope can be reached.
On the day
Isolation will interrupt power. Fridges, alarms and routers need a plan.
If a room is missed
The report should say so. A missed room is not a completed inspection of that room.
After the visit
Keep the report. Further work, if the report requires it, is still organised by the landlord where the duty applies.
Copies and further work stay with the duty
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.
A copy of the report is part of the information the regulations deal with. This page does not invent an extra tenant fine for losing a PDF. A missing copy is not proof that no inspection happened.
Arrange the inspection through the landlord EICR service. Who might pay for a repair in a leasehold flat is a different article: leasehold flats and who pays.
Related pages
Arrange the inspection you are responsible for
If the home is a specified tenancy, the landlord still organises the visit. Tell us about access. We do not transfer that duty to the tenant.
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