Semis, suburbs and a post-war estate
Havering is mostly houses rather than flats. At the 2021 Census, two in five households lived in a semi-detached house, and council tax records show more than a third of homes were built between 1919 and 1939, with over a quarter more added between 1945 and 1964. That second wave includes the Harold Hill estate, built by the London County Council between 1948 and 1958 on the north-east edge of Romford.
For an EICR, what has happened to a house since it was built matters more than its age. Homes from these decades have usually been rewired at some point, and many have gained extensions, loft rooms, garages, garden offices or an electric vehicle charger. Each one adds or extends circuits, and the inspection traces every circuit back to the consumer unit. In a typical Havering semi, the electrician looks closely at:
- the consumer unit, and whether sockets and lighting have RCD protection — a device that switches off the supply when current leaks to earth;
- earthing, and the bonding cables clamped to gas and water pipes near where they enter the house;
- supplies to detached garages and outbuildings, including how the cable crosses the garden;
- outside lights and sockets, where weather and wear take their toll.
If you live in your own home
Owner-occupiers have no legal duty to test, but Electrical Safety First recommends an inspection at least every ten years in an owner-occupied home. An EICR is also worth having before you extend, add a charger or sell, so any problems come to light on your timetable rather than a buyer's.
Letting a property in Havering
The rules changed on 18 March 2026. An additional licence now covers smaller HMOs in every ward, and a selective licence is needed in seven wards, including Harold Wood, Squirrels Heath and Rainham and Wennington. Havering's licence conditions spell out the national duty in full: as a landlord you need an inspection and test at least every five years by a qualified and competent person, a copy of the report for your tenants, and C1 or C2 items (and any further investigation the report calls for) dealt with within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so. A council can impose a penalty of up to £40,000 for a breach.
