Licensing comes first in Newham
Newham's current selective licensing scheme, which began on 1 June 2023, is its third five-year term. It covers 22 of the borough's 24 wards, alongside an additional licensing scheme for smaller shared homes. In practice, almost every private let outside Royal Victoria and Stratford Olympic Park wards needs a licence.
That makes the EICR more than a five-yearly chore. The council won't let you complete a licence application without uploading a current report, so book the inspection before you start the form, and leave time to finish any remedial work first.
Underneath the licence sits the national duty. Private landlords in England must have the electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified and competent person and give tenants a copy of the report. Anything coded C1 or C2, and any further investigation the report asks for, must be dealt with within 28 days or sooner if the report says so. Breaches can cost up to £40,000 in council fines.
Victorian terraces, conversions and new flats
More than a third of Newham's homes were built before 1919, and nearly a third of households live in a terraced house. The Woodgrange Estate in Forest Gate, where 1,160 houses went up between 1877 and 1892, is a well-preserved example. Houses of that age were wired long after they were built, and the wiring has usually been replaced since, sometimes in stages. Typical things an inspection picks up include an older consumer unit without RCD protection (the safety switch that cuts the power in a fault) and circuits extended into kitchen extensions, loft rooms or garden buildings.
Many terraces have been divided. Around one household in fourteen lives in a flat or room within a converted or shared house, and each self-contained flat should be treated as a separate installation. Houses let to several sharers tend to have more circuits, and often a fire alarm system that is tested separately from the EICR.
Newer homes are a big part of the picture too: almost three in ten have been built since 2000. A flat with an Electrical Installation Certificate less than five years old usually needs no report until that certificate reaches five years.
