If you let a flat, there are two separate electrical installations in play and they usually belong to two different people. Miss that and you end up either paying for something that was never yours, or assuming someone else has covered something that nobody has.
It comes up constantly. A landlord gets an EICR done on their flat, hands it to the council, and gets asked about the communal supply. Or a leaseholder discovers the stairwell lighting has not been tested since the building was converted in 2004.
Here is how the responsibility actually divides.
The two installations
Think of the building as having a line drawn at your front door.
Everything inside your flat, the consumer unit for that flat, its circuits, sockets, switches and lights, is the demise. If you are the landlord letting that flat, that installation is yours and your EICR covers it.
Everything outside your front door, the communal hallway and stair lighting, the landlord supply board in the meter cupboard, the door entry system, external and car park lighting, cleaners’ sockets, lifts, plant and pumps, is the common parts. That is a separate installation with a separate owner.
Who is responsible for which
| Installation | Who is normally responsible | Who normally pays |
|---|---|---|
| Inside an individual flat | Leaseholder, or the landlord if it is let | Leaseholder or landlord |
| Communal areas and landlord supply | Freeholder, or whoever manages the building | Recovered via service charge, if the lease allows |
| Where there is a managing agent | The agent arranges it for the freeholder or RMC | Service charge |
| Resident management or right to manage company | The RMC or RTM company, as directors | Service charge |
| Share of freehold with no company | Leaseholders collectively | Split between leaseholders |
| Council or housing association block | The landlord organisation | The organisation |
The general rule is that whoever controls the shared electrical installation is responsible for testing it. That is usually the freeholder, but the lease is the document that decides it, so if there is a dispute the lease is where you look first.
If you are a landlord letting one flat
Your legal duty under the electrical safety regulations covers the installation you let, which is the flat itself. You need a satisfactory EICR on it at least every five years, a copy to your tenants, and a copy to the council if they ask.
You are not responsible for testing the communal areas, and you should not be paying for it directly. If the freeholder or agent has not had it done, that is their failing, not yours.
What you can do is ask. A short written request to the managing agent asking when the communal areas were last inspected does two useful things. It creates a record that you raised it, and it often prompts them into action. If the block has genuinely never been tested, that is worth escalating, because a fault in the common parts is a risk to your tenants and to your property regardless of whose duty it was.
If you are the freeholder, an RMC director or a managing agent
The communal installation sits with you, and this is the part that gets neglected because there is no single tenant chasing it.
The expectation for rented residential premises is inspection at intervals of no more than five years, unless the report specifies a shorter period. Many blocks warrant more frequent testing, particularly older converted buildings and anything with heavy use or exposure.
Alongside the EICR there are two other checks that people confuse with it. Emergency lighting needs its own monthly function test and annual full duration discharge test under BS 5266. And the fire risk assessment for the building is separate again. An EICR does not discharge either of those. They overlap in subject matter but they are three different obligations.
Costs are generally recoverable through the service charge where the lease permits it, which is normally the case for maintenance and compliance of common parts. Worth confirming against the lease before committing, especially in a small converted building where the lease is old and vague.
Converted houses are the problem cases
Purpose built blocks with a managing agent usually have this in hand. The buildings that cause trouble are Victorian and Edwardian houses split into three or four flats, often converted decades ago, often with a share of freehold and no management company.
What tends to be found in those: a landlord supply board in a cupboard under the stairs that nobody has opened in twenty years, communal lighting spurred off one of the flats’ circuits so a leaseholder is unknowingly paying for the hall light, no RCD protection at all on the shared supply, and emergency lighting that either was never installed or has flat batteries.
The spur off a flat’s circuit is the one to watch. It means an individual leaseholder’s board is feeding the common parts, which muddies who is responsible and can cause a genuine safety issue if that flat’s supply is isolated.
How often, and what triggers a retest sooner
Five years is the maximum for residential rented premises. Bring it forward if any of these apply: the previous report recommended a shorter interval, there has been water ingress or a fire, significant alteration or refurbishment work has been done, the building is being sold or refinanced and a buyer’s solicitor is asking, or the insurer has requested evidence.
Insurers have got noticeably more interested in this in recent years. A block with no current communal EICR can find questions asked at renewal or after a claim.
What a communal EICR should include
A proper inspection of the common parts covers the landlord supply intake and distribution board, all communal lighting circuits including stairwells, hallways and external areas, the emergency lighting supply, door entry and access control supplies, cleaners’ and maintenance sockets, plant and pump supplies where they exist, and the earthing and bonding arrangements for the shared installation.
You should get the same output as any EICR: a schedule of circuits with recorded test results, coded observations, an overall verdict, and the inspector’s registration details.
Getting it sorted
We test communal areas for freeholders, RMC directors and managing agents alongside the individual flats for landlords and letting agents, which is often the tidier way to do it because one visit covers the whole building. Our electrical inspection and testing page has more on what the inspection involves, and if the block has emergency lighting we can pick up the emergency light testing at the same time.
Common questions
Does my flat EICR cover the communal areas?
No. It covers the installation within your demise only. The common parts are a separate installation and need their own report.
Can the freeholder charge me for the communal EICR?
Generally yes, through the service charge, provided the lease allows recovery of maintenance and compliance costs for the common parts. It should appear as a service charge item rather than a separate bill.
Nobody manages our building. Who arranges it?
If there is no freeholder taking responsibility and no management company, it falls to the leaseholders collectively. In practice one leaseholder usually organises it and the cost is split. Get agreement in writing first so there is no argument about the invoice.
The council is asking for a communal EICR and I only own one flat. What do I do?
Point them to the freeholder or managing agent, and give them the contact details. Your duty is the flat you let. Keep a copy of what you sent, so it is on record that you responded.
Is a communal EICR a legal requirement?
The duty on landlords letting residential property is clear, and where a communal installation serves rented flats it needs to be maintained in a safe condition. Beyond that, fire safety duties and general safety obligations mean a responsible person for the building is expected to have the shared electrics inspected. In practice, treat it as required.