Buying
Who arranges an EICR when a property is being bought
Buying a property does not itself create the private-rented inspection duty. A buyer or seller can choose to commission an EICR while a sale is underway. Our buyer guide explains the inspection and access arrangements; this page explains who may arrange it. Neither page is conveyancing advice or says that one party must pay.
Reviewed 5 October 2026 by Michael (Technical Supervisor) and George Opsenica (Director, Codeex Maintenance Ltd). General guidance, not a reading of your own report and not legal advice.
Review details
- Michael: electrical guidance within the recorded review scope.
- George Opsenica: service information and presentation.
- George Opsenica: service information and presentation.
What each party can choose to do
Buyer
A buyer can ask for an inspection before exchange. That is a choice about the installation, not a duty created by the contract.
Seller
A seller can commission a report and show it. An existing report describes the day it was inspected. It does not become the buyer's certificate.
Solicitor or conveyancer
They may ask what electrical papers exist. This page does not say they must order an EICR.
Lender or surveyor
A survey note is not an EICR. If a lender asks for a report, that request is the lender's, not a rule stated here.
Landlord after completion
If the buyer will let the home on a specified tenancy, the rented-housing duty is a later question. It is not created by the purchase itself.
Nobody, yet
The sale can proceed without this firm inspecting anything. Absence of an EICR in the pack is not described here as a failed purchase.
Papers that may already exist, and a buyer who still commissions one
| Paper | What it can tell you | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|
| An existing EICR | The condition on the inspection date printed on it | Become the buyer's own report |
| An installation certificate | The new work that certificate covers | Describe the rest of the installation |
| A survey comment | That the surveyor noticed something | Replace an EICR |
| Nothing electrical | That the pack does not contain this report | Fail the purchase, on this page |
A buyer can still commission one
A buyer can ask for an inspection before exchange even when the seller has not offered a report. That remains a choice. A seller can commission one and show it. A solicitor or conveyancer may ask which papers exist. This page does not say any of them must. It does not say who pays, and it does not read the contract.
If the buyer will live in the home, the homeowner page is the service. If the buyer will later let it on a specified tenancy, that duty starts from the tenancy, not from the purchase. A property purchase does not by itself create the private-rented inspection duty.
Keep this separate from the buyer article
The buyer article answers when an inspection helps before completion, and what the report can and cannot say about that day. This article answers who might instruct it. Do not use either page as a statement that one party is legally required to pay.
An Electrical Installation Condition Report describes an existing installation at the time of the inspection. It does not certify work the seller intends to finish before completion, and it does not bind the buyer's solicitor.
When a buyer wants a report, start from an EICR before completion or the homeowner EICR page.
Related pages
A purchase is not the rented duty
Buyer, seller and solicitor can choose to ask. None of them is given a universal legal must on this page.
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