Missing an Electrical Certificate When Selling a House? What to Do

• An Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) for a rewire, a new circuit or a new consumer unit.
• A Building Regulations compliance certificate for notifiable work, issued through the electrician's scheme or by the council.
• A Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate for smaller additions, such as an extra socket.

The difference between these is covered in How to Find a Trustworthy Electrician in the UK.

Ask the electrician who did the work first, since they should keep copies. If they were registered with a scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, the scheme can usually reissue the compliance certificate.

If the work was approved by the council instead, building control should hold a record.

If the work was never certified, an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) can show the current condition of the wiring. It is often enough to reassure a buyer.

An EICR does not replace the original compliance certificate. For work that needed notifying, the options are the same as for other unapproved work, set out in No Building Regulations Sign-Off for Work on Your Home?

An EICR grades any problems by urgency, from danger present to improvement recommended. Understanding an EICR explains the codes.

A satisfactory report with no urgent issues gives a buyer far more confidence than a missing certificate with no explanation.

Electrical certificates are often handed over on paper at the end of a job and filed away. Attach them to the job on Propvio as soon as you receive them.

Where the electrician confirms the job on Propvio, a buyer can see the work was done by a real, identified person.