Electrical safety reports (EICR) for landlords: costs, records and tax

acrenvo.com/guides/eicr-costs-and-records, last reviewed 20 October 2026

Tom is fictional, but plenty of landlords will know his position. He lets a flat in a converted Victorian house, and the last electrical report on it came back with two items marked for remedial work. He had them done within the month, and now he has three pieces of paper: the original report, the electrician’s invoice and a certificate for the work. He wants to know which of them he has to keep, who has to see them, and how the costs go into his records for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax. This guide works through those questions for landlords in England.

How often the electrical installation must be inspected

The rule comes from the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. GOV.UK’s guidance on them, last updated on 1 November 2025 and read again on 20 October 2026, puts it simply: “These regulations require all landlords to have the electrical installations in their properties inspected and tested by a qualified person at least every 5 years.”

That interval is the longest gap allowed, and the report can set a shorter one. Use the next-inspection date set by the qualified person on the report. If that date is unavailable, the tracker shows five years from the inspection only as the latest possible fallback and asks you to check the report. For Tom, that means the date written on his report is the one to plan around, even if it falls sooner than he expected.

A change of tenant does not restart the cycle. GOV.UK says: “There is no requirement to do a further inspection and testing before re-letting the premises.” The new tenant still needs a copy of the current report before moving in.

What a landlord must do with the report

Most of the duties are about who receives a copy, and when. GOV.UK says: “All landlords must:”

• Obtain a report (usually an Electrical Installation Condition Report - EICR) from the person conducting the inspection and test which gives the results and sets a date for the next inspection and test.
• Supply a copy of the report to the existing tenant within 28 days of the inspection and test.
• Supply a copy of the report to a new tenant before they occupy the premises.
• Supply a copy of the report to any prospective tenant within 28 days of receiving a request for it.
• Supply the local council with a copy of the report within 7 days of receiving a request for it.
• Retain a copy of the report until the next inspection and test is required or (if later than this) conducted, unless it is superseded by a more recent report.
• Supply a copy of the report to the inspector and tester who will undertake the next inspection and test.

Remedial work has its own deadline. The guidance says: “Where the report shows that remedial or further investigative work is necessary, complete this work within 28 days or any shorter period if specified as necessary in the report.” Once the work is done, there is another step: “Within 28 days of the completion of the remedial work or further investigative works, supply the tenant and the local council with the report, and written confirmation from the qualified person who carried out the works.”

Not every note on a report needs action, though. GOV.UK explains: “The C3 code does not indicate remedial work is required, but only that improvement is recommended.”

What an electrical safety report costs

No government source gives a price for an electrical installation condition report, or for the remedial work that may follow it, so the cost varies and we do not state one. The price is set by the electrician or firm that carries out the inspection, and we do not recommend or list electricians.

How the costs are treated for tax

GOV.UK’s guidance on working out rental income does not mention electrical safety reports by name. What it gives is a general rule: “You can deduct expenses from your rental income when you work out your taxable rental profit as long as they are wholly and exclusively for the purposes of renting out the property.” Among its examples of costs you can deduct is “general maintenance and repairs to the property”.

The remedial work needs a little more thought, because it can fall on either side of the line between a repair and an improvement. GOV.UK does not say how it treats electrical work in particular. Its general rules start with repairs: “Allowable expenses include the costs of maintenance and repairs to the property (but not ‘capital’ improvements).” and “A repair restores an asset to its original condition, sometimes by replacing parts of it.” Then it describes capital spending: “Expenses are ‘capital expenses’ if they will be used in the business over a longer period of time, such as when you:”

• add something to the property that was not there before
• alter, improve or upgrade something that was existing
• include the purchase of furnishings and equipment for the property

It goes on: “Capital expenses are not allowable and cannot be claimed against your rental income but you should keep records of them as you might be able to set them against Capital Gains Tax if you sell the property in the future.” If one invoice covers both kinds of work, GOV.UK’s rule on part expenses applies: “Where only part of an expense is for your property rental business, you can deduct that part as long as it’s wholly and exclusively for the property business.”

Fines follow a rule of their own. HMRC’s manual says: “A customer can’t deduct the cost of a fine incurred as a result of their breach of the law.” If you are unsure which side of the line a job falls on, or whether a council penalty is treated the same way, HMRC or a tax adviser can tell you.

One email a month lists the MTD software price changes we have checked and any changes to HMRC’s list of software. If that would be useful, you can sign up for the monthly price-changes email at the end of this page.

Recording the costs under Making Tax Digital

Each invoice becomes a digital record in your software. GOV.UK says: “When you create records of your income or expenses, you will need to record the:”

• amount
• date when the income was received or expenses incurred
• category (the type of category you use depends on the type of business you have)

It adds: “Making Tax Digital for Income Tax uses the same categories of income and expenses as Self Assessment.” GOV.UK does not say which category an electrical report belongs in, so use the one you would use on your Self Assessment return. Where an invoice mixes repair work and capital work, MTD gives you a choice: “If you have a transaction which is part capital and part revenue, you can either:”

• record the full value of the transaction, including the capital elements, and then make an adjustment before submitting your tax return
• create a digital record of just the revenue amount

The report and the certificate for any remedial work are worth keeping beside the invoice. The electrical rules ask you to keep the report until the next inspection, and the tax rules can ask for longer: “You will need to keep your digital records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline for a tax year. This is the same amount of time you need to keep records for Self Assessment.” The guide to MTD digital records covers the rest of what a record needs.

If your property is outside England

This guide covers England only. The regulations it describes are the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. GOV.UK’s guide to renting out a property says there are different rules for landlords in Scotland and for landlords in Northern Ireland.

The other recurring checks

• Gas safety checks for landlords: costs, records and tax
• Energy Performance Certificates for landlords: costs, records and tax
• Property licences for landlords: costs, records and tax
• Tenancy deposit protection for landlords: costs, records and tax
• Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms for landlords: records and tax

The compliance tracker keeps the dates for all of these checks together, property by property.

Questions about electrical safety reports