Everything you need to know: EICR, smoke and CO alarms, appliance safety (PAT), EV-ready properties. Written by a NAPIT-approved 2391-qualified contractor for landlords who’d rather get it right than get fined.
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Part P
BS 7671Tip: press Cmd+P (Mac) or Ctrl+P (Windows) to print or save this guide as a PDF for your compliance file.
These are the rules that sit between a landlord and a tenanted property in England. They tightened sharply between 2020 and 2022, and most non-compliance happens because nothing visibly changed in the wiring, only the paperwork around it did.
Penalties for non-compliance. Local authorities can serve remedial notices, impose financial penalties of up to £40,000 per breach, and arrange remedial works themselves with costs recovered from the landlord. Check your buildings and contents insurance policy too: an insurer may ask for a valid EICR after a fire or claim.
The Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is the document the local authority will ask for first. Everything else in this guide flows from it.
Defect codes, what each one means and how fast it must be fixed:
Risk of injury exists. Make safe at inspection or isolate. Remediate within 28 days.
Could become dangerous. Remediate within 28 days. Renders the report Unsatisfactory.
No statutory deadline. Does not affect the Satisfactory outcome. Plan into next maintenance window.
A potential defect that cannot be fully assessed without opening up. Investigate within 28 days.
Typical circuit counts by property type:
| Property type | Typical circuits |
|---|---|
| 1-bed flat (single-phase) | 6 - 9 |
| 3-bed semi (single-phase) | 9 - 14 |
| 5-bed period property | 14 - 22 |
| Three-phase commercial | Varies |
The price of an EICR depends on the size of the installation and the number of circuits, and we confirm it in writing before we start. More detail on the EICR service page and our 2026 landlord EICR explainer.
The law (Smoke and CO Alarm Regulations 2015, amended 2022) requires a working smoke alarm on every storey with living accommodation and a CO alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance except a gas cooker, checked on the day a new tenancy starts. It does not specify mains or battery alarms; government guidance recommends alarms that comply with BS 5839-6. The standard we fit for new and replacement installs is BS 5839-6 Grade D, mains-powered with a tamper-resistant backup, interlinked across the dwelling.
The law in England: the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations require a smoke alarm on every storey and CO alarms where needed, but do not specify mains or battery alarms.
Responsibility: the landlord installs and replaces; the tenant carries out the routine button-test. Test every alarm at the start of every new tenancy and log it, unwitnessed alarms are one of the easiest fail points in an inspection.
PAT testing isn’t named in the Electrical Safety Standards Regulations, but the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 both require landlord-supplied appliances to be safe. Annual portable-appliance testing is the recognised, defensible way to evidence that.
Cost: depends on the number of appliances, and we confirm the price before we start. We bring a calibrated PAT tester, label every appliance with a pass/fail sticker showing the test date; a PDF item register and certificate are available at extra cost. PAT testing service page →
More on what affects the price on our EV chargers page and the 2026 EV charger cost guide.
Compliance is what you can prove on the day a local authority asks. The Regulations specify exact deadlines for each piece of paperwork.
Every certificate we issue is delivered as a searchable PDF the day of the test, with a paper copy posted by NAPIT within 30 days for your hard file.
New circuits, consumer-unit replacements and work in special locations are notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations in dwellings.
More on why scheme membership matters: Why NAPIT · Qualifications explained.
The most-frequent compliance failures we see on first inspection of a portfolio property:
Send the address and a couple of photos, firm quote back the same working day. No charge to come and look at a portfolio property first.
Priced on the number of circuits and confirmed in writing. No day-rate uncertainty, you know the cap before we open the consumer unit.
PDF on the day, paper copy posted by NAPIT within 30 days for your hard compliance file. Building Regulations Compliance Certificate where Part P applies.
10+ tenancies in a portfolio, per-property discount applied across the schedule. Common for letting agents and small private landlords with several BTLs.
Coverage: Wells, Shepton Mallet, Bath (BANES), Frome, Midsomer Norton, Street and surrounding affluent villages. Somerset and BANES only, we don’t travel further than a 40-minute drive from Glastonbury.
Send the property address and we’ll come back the same day with a firm written quote, EICR, alarms, PAT, EV-ready. No obligation.
Direct Dan Stevens, Director: 07889 334849