No RCD protection on your EICR

What the observation actually means

An RCD is the device that cuts the supply within milliseconds when current starts flowing somewhere it shouldn't, usually through a person. Current wiring standards expect that protection on socket circuits, on cables buried in walls, and on circuits serving anything outdoors.

If your board is an older split-load unit, a rewirable fuse box, or a plastic unit with no RCD at all, your inspector will record a C2 against the affected circuits. C2 means not dangerous at this moment, but it will become dangerous. Any C2 anywhere in the observations makes the whole report unsatisfactory.

Why the fix is almost always a new board

Landlords often ask whether an RCD can just be added to the existing unit. Occasionally it can. Far more often it cannot, for reasons that have nothing to do with anyone trying to sell you something:

• Older enclosures were never designed to take the devices, and the manufacturer's parts have long since been discontinued. Fitting another brand's device into someone else's board is not compliant.
• Plastic enclosures in flats and in shared escape routes have their own problem. Current standards expect a non-combustible enclosure in domestic premises.
• Once you open an old board you frequently find the earthing arrangement, the main switch or the bonding needs attention too, and you end up doing the work twice.

A replacement consumer unit with individual RCBOs on each circuit resolves the C2, and it usually clears two or three other observations on the same report at no extra cost. That is the part nobody explains: the board change is often cheaper than fixing the observations separately.

What it costs in London

Priced by the size of the board, including all devices, labour, full testing, and a fresh Electrical Installation Condition Report marked satisfactory and valid five years.

Every price includes VAT, materials, labour, full testing, a fresh satisfactory condition report and the completion pack.

That is the price, not a starting point. Only two things move it: an earthing arrangement that must be upgraded first, or a supply where the network operator has to attend. Both agreed in writing before we start.

What you get when the work is done

You should end up holding three things. A fresh Electrical Installation Condition Report for the property, marked satisfactory. Written confirmation that the observations on the original report have been addressed. And, for a rented property, a copy of both to give your tenant, with the council entitled to ask for them within seven days.

You do not normally need a whole new EICR. Written confirmation from whoever did the remedial work is what resolves the report. We issue that as a completion pack, with the observation schedule, the certificate, the signed confirmation and your tenant and council letters already drafted.

Getting a second price is normal

The firm that inspected your property is entitled to quote for the remedial work, and plenty do a fair job of it. But the regulations ask for a qualified and competent person, not a particular company, so you are free to go elsewhere. If you want a price from someone with no involvement in how your report was coded, that is what we do.