Homes in the Square Mile
At the 2021 Census nearly half of the City's households rented privately, and almost nine in ten lived in a purpose-built block. Council tax records show that more than a third of the City's homes date from 1965 to 1982, the era of its big residential estates.
The Barbican Estate, built between 1963 and 1976, has more than 2,000 flats in blocks, townhouses and three towers, and is Grade II listed. Next door, the Golden Lane Estate was completed in the mid-1960s, and the Middlesex Street Estate in Portsoken, with its 23-storey Petticoat Tower, followed between 1968 and 1972. Much of the rest is newer: more than a quarter of the City's homes date from 2000 or later.
In flats from the 1960s and 1970s, the original wiring may have been replaced in full, in part or not at all, so no two flats are quite alike. An inspection looks at the consumer unit and its RCD protection (the switch that cuts the power if current leaks to earth), at earthing and bonding, and at any circuits altered during a refurbishment. The rental regulations don't cover communal areas, so your EICR covers the flat itself. If you own and live in your flat, testing is not a legal duty, but a report before a sale or a refit tells you where you stand.
Letting a flat in the City
The City of London Corporation runs only the national licensing scheme for larger HMOs; there is no additional or selective licensing here. The national duty still applies: if you let privately, you must have the electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified and competent person, give your tenants a copy of the report, and have any C1 or C2 items, and any further investigation the report calls for, dealt with within 28 days or sooner if the report says so. Breaches can bring a penalty of up to £40,000. For a flat of up to two bedrooms with one consumer unit, prices start from £90 inc VAT.
Offices, shops and other business premises
Employers must keep electrical systems safe under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, but the law sets no fixed testing interval for business premises. Electrical Safety First recommends an inspection at least every five years for a business, and a change of occupier is a natural time to test. Business premises are priced after a short call.
