Straight answers to the compliance questions we get asked most — plus a bit of practical troubleshooting help.
If you're a landlord in England, an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is a legal requirement at least every 5 years, or sooner if a new tenancy starts before that 5-year point (Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector Regulations 2020). Owner-occupied homes have no legal deadline, but a 10-yearly check is the standard recommendation under BS 7671. Commercial and industrial premises are typically inspected every 5 years, or more often for higher-risk environments — annually for swimming pools, every 3 months on construction sites.
The quickest way to check is to look at the "Recommended date of next inspection" field on your last certificate. If you can't find a previous EICR, or the date has already passed, it's overdue — book one to get a current, dated certificate and a clear next-due date going forward.
There's no single fixed legal interval for PAT testing — the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 simply require you to keep equipment safe, and the right frequency depends on the appliance type and how hard it's used. As a rough guide: handheld power tools on a construction site are checked every 3 months, kitchen and catering equipment every 6–12 months, and office IT equipment every 2–4 years. Extension leads and multi-way adaptors are worth checking annually wherever they're used.
Check the coloured pass label on the plug — it should show a test date and a retest-due date. If there's no label at all, or you're not sure when the last check happened, that's usually a sign it's time to book a visit and get a proper testing schedule in place.
Most smoke and heat alarms have a working life of around 10 years from their manufacture date — printed on a label inside the unit or battery compartment. After that point the sensor becomes less reliable even if the alarm still responds when you press the test button, so it should be replaced rather than left in place.
In between replacements: test every alarm monthly using the test button, replace batteries at least once a year (unless it's a sealed 10-year lithium alarm, which doesn't need battery changes), and gently vacuum the casing every few months so dust doesn't dull the sensor. Landlords in England must have a working smoke alarm on every storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a solid fuel appliance — checked at the start of each new tenancy under the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2022.
A tripping circuit breaker or RCD is doing exactly what it's designed to do — cutting the power before an overload, fault or shock risk becomes dangerous. Treat repeated tripping as a warning sign rather than just an inconvenience.
The most common causes are an overloaded circuit (too many high-draw appliances running on one circuit at once), a single faulty appliance, dampness in an outdoor fitting or cable (common after wet weather), or ageing wiring insulation breaking down. A simple first step: unplug everything on the affected circuit, reset the breaker once, then plug appliances back in one at a time — if the trip returns as soon as one particular item is plugged back in, you've found your culprit.
If it trips again immediately on reset, or you notice burning smells, warm sockets or scorch marks, stop using that circuit and don't keep resetting it — get a qualified electrician out. Recurring trips with no obvious cause are also exactly the kind of thing an EICR is designed to catch, so if it's happened more than once or twice, it's worth booking an inspection rather than living with the reset-and-hope routine.
We aim to come back to every enquiry within one working day with a clear, fixed-price quote. Once you're ready to go ahead, we schedule around your business — including evenings, weekends and out-of-hours visits — to keep disruption to a minimum.
Yes — many of our landlord, letting agency and facilities management clients have us managing a rolling schedule across several properties or sites at once. You get a single point of contact, one consolidated view of what's due and when, and proactive reminders ahead of every renewal date so nothing gets missed.