Legally, no. You do not need an EICR to sell your house. Unlike a landlord, a homeowner selling a property has no legal duty to produce an Electrical Installation Condition Report. It is not part of the conveyancing pack, and no solicitor can insist on one.
But that is not really the question worth asking. The question is whether spending £240 now saves you from a buyer knocking thousands off later, and for a lot of older properties in Bridgend and the Vale, the honest answer is yes.
Why sellers get one anyway
Here is what actually happens. Your buyer instructs a survey. The surveyor is not an electrician, so when they see an old fuse board, rubber-sheathed cable, or a property that has clearly not been touched electrically in thirty years, they do the safe thing: they write “the electrical installation appears dated, we recommend a full test by a qualified electrician before purchase.”
That single sentence hands your buyer a lever. They now have a written reason to either:
- Renegotiate, often for far more than the work would actually cost, because neither side knows the real number
- Delay the sale while a test is arranged
- Walk away entirely if they are nervous or already wobbling
A clean EICR in your hands before you list removes that lever completely. You are handing them a signed report from a NAPIT-registered electrician saying the installation is satisfactory. There is nothing to renegotiate about.
And if it does find something?
Then you have found out on your terms, not theirs, and that is worth a lot.
Mid-sale, a fault is a crisis: your buyer is anxious, the chain is under pressure, and you are negotiating from the back foot. Before you list, the same fault is just a job. You have three calm options:
- Fix it and re-test. Often it is a consumer unit upgrade from £700, not the full rewire the buyer will imagine.
- Price it in honestly. Disclose it and adjust, which buyers respect far more than a nasty surprise.
- Do nothing and disclose. Sometimes a C3 improvement recommendation is genuinely not worth acting on.
The point is that you choose. That is the whole value of testing early.
Is it worth it for every house?
Honestly, no. If your property was rewired in the last fifteen years and has a modern consumer unit with RCD protection, the survey is unlikely to flag anything and an EICR is optional peace of mind.
It is worth doing if:
- The property is older and you do not know when it was last rewired
- The fuse board has rewireable fuses or no RCD protection
- There has been obvious DIY electrical work at some point
- You are selling a period property, where surveyors are more cautious by default
- You want the sale to go through cleanly with no last-minute leverage
What about selling a rental?
Different situation. If the property is currently let in Wales, you should already hold a valid EICR by law under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act, and a buyer purchasing a tenanted property will almost certainly ask to see it. Not having one is a genuine red flag on that sale, and it can hold up completion. More detail in do I need an EICR for my rental in Wales.
What it costs and how long it takes
An EICR with Renovolt is a fixed £200 + VAT (£240 inc VAT) for a standard residential property. A standard 3-bed takes 2 to 4 hours on site and the signed report is back with you the same or next day, so it never holds up a listing.
Aled tests every circuit, photographs the installation, codes anything he finds in plain English, and hands you a written, signed report you can give straight to a buyer. Same electrician quotes it, does it and signs it. Read more on the EICR page.