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Reading allot of landlord accreditation and news items EICRs are a hot topic and may soon become compulsory.

Looking around on the internet i can see companies charging £80.00 for an EICR, i dont see how this works as it take 4 hours to test a 1 bedroom flat with all the paper work involved.

**Whats their angle are they just low balling in the hope they get the repairs?
 
Such legislation would spell the end of EICR's being performed to a proper standard ...............

I use minimum charges, and this already means I "miss out" on some EICR's - this doesn't bother me at all ............

if Landlords won't pay to have the tests done properly, what will they do when faced with an "unsatisfactory" report?
 
It has in effect already become a requirement in Bath. The council wont pay new housing benefit claims on properties now that do not have a eicr, gas check, smoke alarms etc... They are slowly starting to look at existing or old claims too. Also during the university term times around a quarter of the cities population is students (20k students), with a large number in HMO's, all these have to have annual checks. Also given the large amount of listed georgian buildings, these are overtime being updated so will have building control involved requiring things to be done to a certain standard.
 
"If Landlords won't pay to have the tests done properly, what will they do when faced with an "unsatisfactory" report?"

I suspect that some will scan it, edit it, and reprint it...and I kid you not.

I prepared a lease for a landlord some years ago, and about two years after he complained that my lease was rubbish. This is because he got a new tenant and rather than pay me he copied the original lease and tippexed out the names etc and wrote the new details in. When that tenant went into arrears, he went to Citizens Advice who said his lease was not worth the paper it was written on, so, rather cheekily I felt, he complained to me and wanted me to compensate him...
I didn't.

I also know of a couple of cases where the EPC for a rental has been faked from that for another property.
 
Chris.. I think some electricians want to do a good job with the report and some don't, they just see it as an easy way to make £80. I must say I don't get anyone blanching at £150 which is the average I charge. To me that doesn't sound too much for 4 hours work and then an hour writing it up (including the covering letter with quote for any work), plus the prospect of getting the remedials.

It's not just about the money though is it? We're signing to say the electrics are of a 'satisfactory' standard, that's a pretty big responsibility I think. It means the job has to be done properly as I don't want to be thinking about a family with young children moving into a property which I have done a report on unless the report is accurate and detailed.

Ps.. Murdoch's suggestion is interesting that they'll be more Mickey Mouse reports. Perhaps, but they'll also be more opportunities for us to carry out EICR's.
 
Trouble is plumbers are charging that sort of money to do a quick annual check on say a combi and a hob. They are in and out in 45mins, not a lot of office time either, so landlords will automatically be assuming it should be similar for electrics...
I suppose if it was just an annual visual inspection for broken faceplates, blatantly obvious code 1s it would be fair enough, but a full blown EICR is a bit more than that!
CP12 is annual though, vs EICR at 5 years, so 250 ish is still cheaper than the gas, just in one hit!
 
Before any sort of regulation regarding compulsory eicrs being brought along
There would need to be a regime in place that ensured the essential safety purpose was primary, the cost secondary

In order for that to happen,there would have to be restrictions on who can do them,this would go against the politicians obsession with the free market,the consequence would be the increase of low cost short changed reports

The only thing that would be achieved is a greater quantity of toilet paper cheapies with even less eicrs than now carried out by competent sparks
 
Such legislation would spell the end of EICR's being performed to a proper standard

EICRs (including portable appliance testing) have been compulsory for private lets in Scotland for a number of years now. Based on my own experience, I have to agree with you here. I've read EICRs that were carried-out by people who were quite evidently inexperienced and/or unqualified to be carrying-out EICRs in the first place. I've read other reports where the test results were demonstrably fabricated.
I use minimum charges, and this already means I "miss out" on some EICR's - this doesn't bother me at all

That's my model too. I have a fixed-scale tariff depending on the size and age of the property. Like yourself, I often miss-out on opportunities due to my prices being "too expensive". It's almost inevitable that it will be a landlord with an extensive property portfolio and who charges high rents who tells me this. Unfortunately, the idiots who consistently bang-in prices of between £40 - £60 for an EICR have created unrealistic customer expectations with the end result that many landlords have got it in their heads that these are "standard" prices. Few, if any, of them seem to realise that you get what you pay for.
if Landlords won't pay to have the tests done properly, what will they do when faced with an "unsatisfactory" report?

In my experience, they'll usually post the job on My Builder and/or Rated People in the hope that some youngster not long out of college will do the remedial work for a ridiculously low price ..... which will turn-out to be the case more often than not. Some will even offer an 'financial inducement' to have any C1 and C2 codes 'downgraded' to C3. Then there are those who will simply go ahead and let the property regardless.
 

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