Wandsworth homes, from Victorian terraces to riverside blocks
Between Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common, row after row of Victorian and Edwardian terraces run down to Northcote Road and climb again towards Clapham. Around half the borough lies in conservation areas. At the 2021 Census, more than one household in five lived in a terraced house, and nearly one in five in a flat within a converted house.
Many period family houses have been extended and modernised over the years: a kitchen knocked through, a loft room, a rear extension. The EICR tests the new circuits alongside the original ones, and the two can be wired to quite different standards. The report also records whether circuits have RCD protection (the safety switch that cuts the power in a fault), which older fuse boards often lack. Where a terrace has been split into flats, each flat's installation gets its own report.
Post-war council housing is part of the mix too. In Roehampton, the Alton Estate was built in the 1950s as slab and point blocks. In a tall block, the EICR covers your flat from its meter onward; the rising supply, lifts and landings are for the block's landlord or the network operator.
Newer riverside blocks are different again. If your flat was built or completely rewired within the last five years, it should have an Electrical Installation Certificate. Government guidance says you can give your tenants a copy, and you will not need a new report until five years after it was issued.
Letting a property in Wandsworth
More than a third of Wandsworth households rent privately. Every private landlord in England must have the installation inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified person and give tenants a copy within 28 days. 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. Councils can fine landlords up to £40,000.
Wandsworth introduced licensing in July 2025. Every HMO now needs a licence, and selective licensing covers seven wards across Tooting, Balham, Furzedown, Putney and Northcote. The council lists an electrical safety certificate among the documents every applicant must provide, so have a satisfactory EICR ready before you apply. Book online with a preferred date, and the office will confirm your slot.
