New place, new agent, no EICR anywhere... does the old certificate still count?

I get a version of the same call most months, usually a week or two after completion. A landlord's just bought a rental in Slough, and they've been through the solicitor's pack (gas certificate there, EPC there, deposit paperwork all present) and the EICR just isn't. The old agent says the seller had it. The seller says the agent had it. And there's a tenant sitting in the house who's legally owed a copy of a document nobody can find. I've written before about whether a landlord needs an EICR at all... this one is about what happens to the certificate when the property or the agent changes hands.

How long an EICR actually lasts

An EICR, the fixed-wiring inspection every rented home in England needs, is valid for a maximum of five years, unless the report itself sets a shorter date. Some do. If the inspector finds an installation that's ageing or borderline, they can specify a three-year retest instead, and that shorter date is the one that counts. So the first job is finding the actual report and reading the recommended next-inspection date off it... not assuming five years from memory.

Does the certificate move with the property?

Yes... and this is where people tie themselves in knots. The EICR relates to the installation, not to whoever owns the building. An in-date report doesn't suddenly become invalid the day you complete the purchase or switch agent. What does change is the duty. The moment you become the landlord, the legal responsibility to keep that installation compliant is yours, inherited warts and all. A valid certificate from the previous owner carries over... but so do their missed deadlines and any dodgy remedials. It all becomes your problem.

If you can't produce it, you haven't got it

The regulations don't just say you must have an EICR... they say you must be able to hand it over. You've got 28 days to give a copy to an existing tenant, you must give it to a new tenant before they move in, and if the council asks in writing you've got 7 days to produce it. Miss those and the penalty runs up to £40,000 per breach (raised from £30,000 in May 2026).

So a certificate you can't find is, in practice, a certificate you don't have. If the paperwork's lost in a solicitor's file or a former agent's inbox and genuinely can't be recovered, the safe move is a fresh inspection and a clean start.

Older stock fails more often... budget for it

One more thing worth planning for: the age of what you're buying. In the older terraces around Uxbridge and Hayes I still find rubber-sheathed cable running off a tired fuse board, with earthing that gives up halfway round the house... and those fail an EICR far more often than the newer estates out towards Bracknell or Maidenhead. If you're buying older stock, don't assume a clean report. Set some money aside for remedials: a consumer unit upgrade, extra RCD protection, or bonding to bring it up to standard.

Not sure where you stand?

If you've inherited a property and can't lay hands on a current EICR, the honest answer is usually the simplest one: get it inspected and start the clock cleanly, so you know exactly what you've taken on.

I'm a NAPIT-registered electrician based in Slough, covering Windsor, Maidenhead, Uxbridge and across the Thames Valley, and I test rentals for landlords most weeks. For a free, no-obligation quote, take a look at my inspection and testing service and get in touch.