Landlord EICRs in Havant, Waterlooville & Portsmouth: What Councils Check and the Fines for Non-Compliance

Since June 2020, private landlords in England have been legally required to have their properties’ electrical installations inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified person, and to hand a copy of the resulting report to their tenants — and, on request, to the local council. Six years in, enforcement has properly kicked in across Hampshire. Portsmouth City Council, Havant Borough Council and East Hampshire District Council all now actively check EICR compliance during routine housing inspections, following tenant complaints, and as part of licensing checks on HMOs.

If you’re renting out property in Havant, Waterlooville, Cowplain, Horndean, Petersfield, Rowlands Castle or anywhere across Portsmouth city, this guide walks through exactly what an EICR is, what your council is actually looking for, what happens if the report comes back unsatisfactory, and what the fines really look like in 2026.

What the law actually requires

The relevant regulations are the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. They apply to all “specified tenancies” — assured shorthold tenancies, licences to occupy, and most short- and long-term lets — including HMOs, flats, houses and student lets. There are only very narrow exemptions.

Your three main duties as a landlord are simple to state but easy to trip up on:

• Have the entire fixed electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified person — or sooner, if the previous report specifies a shorter interval.
• Obtain a written report — the EICR — that records the inspection and the outcome.
• Provide a copy of that report to your existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection; to any new tenant before they move in; to prospective tenants on written request within 28 days; and to the local authority within 7 days on written request.

If the EICR identifies any C1, C2 or FI issues (see below), remedial work must be carried out and certified within 28 days of the report — or sooner if the report specifies a shorter timescale. Ownership doesn’t affect any of this: whether you’re a freeholder, leaseholder, an individual landlord or a limited company, if you’re the landlord of the tenancy you’re on the hook.

Which council enforces this in your area

Enforcement in Hampshire is split by district, and which council you’ll deal with depends on the property’s postcode:

• Portsmouth City Council covers all of Portsmouth city — Portsmouth, Southsea, Cosham, Copnor, Fratton, Milton, Eastney, Old Portsmouth, and Portsea Island generally.
• Havant Borough Council covers Havant, Bedhampton, Emsworth, Hayling Island, Purbrook, Cowplain, and most of Waterlooville.
• East Hampshire District Council covers Petersfield, Horndean, Rowlands Castle, Clanfield, and the northern parts of Waterlooville.
• Winchester City Council covers Denmead and a small strip of Waterlooville along the western edge.

The practical implication is that if you own multiple rentals across the area — which many local landlords do — you may end up dealing with different housing enforcement officers depending on where each property sits. All three main councils in this area publish enforcement decisions on their websites, which means non-compliance is a reputational hit as well as a financial one.

What an EICR actually inspects

An EICR is not a quick walk-around. Done properly, it involves both a visual inspection and a full battery of dead and live tests. What’s being looked at includes:

• Visual inspection: the condition of the consumer unit, RCD/RCBO type and adequacy, obvious damage, missing covers, signs of overheating, incorrect fuse ratings, and any signs of DIY additions or unauthorised alterations.
• Dead tests, with the supply isolated: continuity of protective conductors, continuity of ring final circuit conductors, insulation resistance across every circuit, and polarity.
• Live tests, with the supply restored: earth fault loop impedance (Zs) at the furthest point of each circuit, prospective fault current, RCD trip times, and RCD trip currents against BS 7671 thresholds.

Timings depend on property size and complexity. A 2-bed flat typically takes two to three hours. A 3-bed house takes three to four. A five-bedroom HMO with multiple consumer units and shared areas can easily run to five or seven hours. Any EICR that’s wrapped up in under 90 minutes on anything larger than a small flat should be treated with suspicion.

The C1, C2, C3 and FI codes explained

Every observation on an EICR is coded, and the code determines whether the report is satisfactory or not. There are four codes worth knowing:

C1 — Danger present, risk of injury.

Immediate remedial action required. Typically means the property is not safe to occupy in its current state, and the electrician will often isolate the fault at source before leaving the property. Common triggers: exposed live conductors, missing consumer unit covers, or shock-hazard fittings.

C2 — Potentially dangerous.

Requires remedial action but not immediate. Common triggers: no RCD protection on socket circuits, absent main protective bonding to gas or water, old-style rewireable BS 3036 fuse boards without earth-leakage protection, or damaged sockets and switches.

C3 — Improvement recommended.

Not a failure — nice to have. Common examples: no surge protection device fitted, or lack of supplementary bonding in a bathroom where a modern install would include it. Landlords frequently panic about C3s. You don’t need to action them to be compliant.

FI — Further investigation required.

Something the electrician couldn’t fully assess in the time available and needs to come back to. Counts against the report.

The rule for the overall report outcome is simple: a report is “unsatisfactory” if it contains any C1, C2 or FI observations. C3s alone don’t make a report unsatisfactory. If you get an unsatisfactory report, the 28-day remedial clock starts.

The 28-day remedial rule

If your EICR comes back unsatisfactory, you have 28 days — or shorter, if the report specifies — to have the remedial work carried out. That work must then be signed off by a qualified electrician and evidenced in writing, either as an updated satisfactory EICR or as a separate written confirmation that each specific defect has been rectified.

You then need to send this evidence to your tenants within 28 days, and to your local council within 28 days if they’ve requested it. Missing this window is the fastest route to a formal notice, so it’s worth building in a small buffer — booking the follow-up work within the first fortnight rather than the last.

What the fines actually look like in 2026

Financial penalties for breaches of the 2020 Regulations are set by the local council. In practice:

• First breach — for example, no EICR on record when the council requests one — attracts a penalty of up to £5,000.
• Failure to comply with a formal remedial notice attracts a penalty of up to £30,000.
• Repeat breaches attract up to £30,000 per instance, and are cumulative rather than capped.

Most Hampshire councils won’t jump straight to the maximum. The typical sequence is: initial request → landlord fails to respond → formal remedial notice with 28 days to comply → penalty issued if still non-compliant. Ignore the remedial notice and the penalty follows quickly, and once it’s on the council’s enforcement register it’s public.

Two additional consequences catch landlords out. First, Rent Repayment Orders: tenants can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for up to 12 months of rent back if the landlord is convicted of certain housing offences, and serious EICR breaches now fall within that scope. Second, and often more painful, a Section 21 notice is invalid if the landlord hasn’t provided the tenant with a copy of the current EICR. A non-compliant landlord can’t legally serve notice on a problem tenant until the EICR situation is sorted — which can drag out a difficult tenancy by months.

HMO overlays

If your property is a licensable HMO — broadly, five or more occupants forming two or more households sharing kitchen or bathroom facilities — an additional layer of rules applies. Havant Borough Council, Portsmouth City Council and East Hampshire District Council all run mandatory HMO licensing schemes, and most also have additional or selective licensing schemes covering specific streets or property types.

HMO licence conditions typically require EICR compliance plus, in many cases, more frequent inspection. Some councils require three-yearly rather than five-yearly EICRs on licensed HMOs, and some require them on every change of licence or on transfer of ownership. If you’re converting a family home into an HMO in Portsmouth or Havant, you’ll almost always need a fresh EICR at the point of change of use, even if the previous one is still within its five-year window.

What to send to tenants and council

Practical checklist:

• To existing tenants: a copy of the EICR within 28 days of the inspection.
• To new tenants: a copy before they move in, alongside the gas safety certificate and the How to Rent guide.
• To prospective tenants: on written request, within 28 days.
• To the council: within 7 days of a written request, and within 28 days of any remedial work completion if they’ve required it.

PDF or paper is fine — councils don’t specify a format. What matters is that you can prove when you sent it and how, so keep an email trail (or use recorded delivery) rather than relying on a WhatsApp message or a verbal handover.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an EICR if my tenancy started before June 2020?

Yes. The regulations applied to new tenancies from July 2020, and to all existing tenancies from April 2021. There is no grandfathering.

Can I do the EICR myself if I’m a landlord who is also a qualified electrician?

This is a grey area. The regulations require the report to be produced by a “qualified person”, and there’s no explicit prohibition on the landlord being that person. In practice, most professional bodies advise against self-inspection because of the independence question, and many local authorities will look on a self-certified report less favourably than one from an unrelated electrician.

I’m selling the rental — do I still need to keep the EICR up to date?

Not for the sale itself. But if the property remains tenanted right up until completion — which it usually does — you continue to have a live obligation until the tenancy ends.

Do I need an EICR for a holiday let?

Most short-term holiday lets aren’t “specified tenancies” under the 2020 Regs, so the EICR requirement doesn’t bite. That said, some councils apply their own conditions to short-let licensing, and your insurer will almost certainly want to see a current inspection.

What if the tenant refuses access for the inspection?

Document the refusal properly — recorded delivery letters, dated emails. If you can show you took all reasonable steps to arrange access and the tenant refused, you’ve discharged your obligation. Keep the paper trail.

Book your EICR with a local qualified electrician

Our team of NAPIT-registered electricians covers Havant, Waterlooville, Cowplain, Horndean, Petersfield, Rowlands Castle and Portsmouth city, with same-day certificate delivery and clear, up-front pricing on both the inspection and any remedial work. We work with individual landlords, portfolio landlords and letting agents, and offer bulk pricing for anyone booking multiple properties. Get in touch for a fixed-price quote and a booking slot to suit your tenants.