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Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR) are certificates issued by qualified experts about the safety and general status of electrics in a property, although you might own a home that currently lacks this documentation. This guide explains the problems that can cause with selling, but also offers some tips to help you attract a quick and fair offer.
- What is an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) for a property?
- Why the lack of an electrical certificate at your home may concern buyers
- Mortgage lenders could be wary of lending for a property lacking an EICR
- Resolving a missing electrical certificate before selling your flat or house
- Your choices for selling a property that does not have an EICR
- Top queries and answers about selling a home without an EICR
What is an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) for a property?
Whether you are trying to sell a flat, a house or any other type of leasehold of freehold property, the safety and quality of the electrics in your home will be a top issue for buyers.
Having old electrics or wiring at your property can cause a number of complications with trying to attract potential buyers. They could have concerns that the electrics are hazardous and might cause a disaster in the future, or that it could cost them money to upgrade in the future.
One way that homeowners can address this is by having an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), sometimes also known as a Periodic Inspection Report. This is a certificate that is issued after a certified expert has assessed the electrics at a property for their overall quality and safety and whether they have any problems or potential risks.
Assessments of a home’s electrics that are done for the purposes of issuing an EICR must be performed by a qualified electrician or other contractor, as the website for Local Electricians Direct says. This expert will issue the electrical certificate.
Rental properties are required to have EICRs, and buyers looking at other types of properties may also ask about an electrical certificate before making an offer.
If you don’t have an EICR or other type of electrical certificate at your house or flat, this guide explains the potential hurdles that you might face in trying to sell the property. But you’ll also get advice on how obtaining a competitive and fast offer is still achievable.
Why the lack of an electrical certificate at your home may concern buyers
In addition to being mandatory for rental homes, EICRs are often something that potential buyers will look for when deciding when to make an offer on other property types.
That’s because the certificate can give a buyer assurances that the electrics at a home are safe and will not require upgrades in the near future once they own the property, or that hazards might occur as a result of the electrics. If you do not have an EICR for your flat or house, buyers will not be able to have this peace of mind and it could discourage them.
As a result, you might find that your property will struggle to sell because it doesn’t have an EICR.
The biggest concern for buyers is often the safety issue – they will not want to invest in purchasing a home that has potentially dangerous electrics, because they’ll worry about a disaster that could happen in the future once they are living in the property. This kind of risk could be more than enough to make someone no longer want to buy your home.
But another problem that buyers might associate with a property that doesn’t have such a certificate is that the home could require major costs to upgrade in the future.
If someone purchases your house or flat and then pays for a professional to assess the electrics and issue an EICR, it might uncover very old or dangerous wiring. If that happens, the new owner of the property could then have to spend a large amount of money on upgrading the electrics to bring them up to safe and modern standards. And this possible future cost may cause certain buyers to completely lose interest in your home.
Mortgage lenders could be wary of lending for a property lacking an EICR
Another complication that you may face when trying to sell a home without an electrical certificate is that mortgage lenders might not approve loans for buying such a property. If a private buyer needs those funds to purchase your house or flat, the sale won’t happen.
Mortgage lenders want to know that the property for which they are being asked to grant a loan is structurally sound, and that includes knowing the electrics are safe, as the website My Trusted Expert describes. They are likely to be cautious about the integrity of a home that doesn’t have an EICR.
These concerns directly affect the chances of approving a mortgage, because lenders look to the future and need to have reassurance that they’ll be able to resell the property and recoup any outstanding loan amount in the event that the buyer defaults on the mortgage. A lender could worry that the lack of an EICR will make it impossible to resell the home at a price where they will be able to get back whatever debt remains on the mortgage.
But you shouldn’t worry that a private buyer’s inability to obtain a loan to purchase your home will mean that the property will never sell. That’s because you still have some options for selling, for example by getting in touch with a quick buyer like LDN Properties.
These companies are renowned for making fair and swift offers to buy properties regardless of any potential negative factors, such as the lack of an EICR. A later section of this guide elaborates on the various benefits of selling a home using this method, including that you’ll get to avoid paying any commission and the sale timeline should only be a few weeks.
Resolving a missing electrical certificate before selling your flat or house
Some homeowners might want to fix the problem of not having an EICR at their property before attempting to sell it, and there can be some upsides to putting in this work.
Obtaining an EICR before selling your home could make it appear more valuable to buyers, because it would give them reassurance that the electrics throughout the property are safe and up to date.
You’ll need to find a qualified professional who can do the assessment, and there’s a database known as the NIC-EIC where you are able to locate them. Just beware that, depending on availability in your area, it might take many weeks or longer to find and schedule a visit from an expert to come to your house or flat to do the electrics review.
EICR inspections can cost at least £150, as the National Safety Inspections Ltd website notes, but could be much more expensive depending on the size and type of home you’re selling.
For those property owners that are aiming to eliminate or reduce costs as much as possible when trying to find a buyer, spending funds on getting an EICR may not be an option. The same applies for those homeowners who are trying to sell their property as quickly as feasible, because the time that the process takes may extend the selling timeline too long.
Another possible solution would be paying for an indemnity policy, which effectively would work as an insurance policy for whoever buys your property, shielding them from any costs that might occur as a result of the lack of an EICR at your property. But it’s important to note that an indemnity policy only protects the buyer, it does not assess the state of your home’s electrics, so even having such a policy in place may not satisfy many potential buyers.
If your priorities with selling include speed or minimal expenses, you may want to instead think about contacting a quick home buying company such as LDN Properties – that’s because they can make fair and fast offers to purchase practically and type of freehold or leasehold home, even those with potentially negative issues like the lack of an EICR. You could not only avoid the time and cost involved with obtaining an electrical certificate, but you’d also be able to complete the sale of your home within a handful of weeks.
Your choices for selling a property that does not have an EICR
When you are ready to find a buyer for your home without an EICR, you’ll need to choose which selling strategy to use. The four usual choices are selling to a quick buyer like LDN Properties, selling on your own, selling via an estate agent or selling at an auction.
Specific details about each method are offered below and if compare this information against your top aims with selling – such as your dream sale price, whether you can accept paying any commission and how long you are open to waiting before finding a buyer – then this should help you with finding which of the strategies best pairs to your unique needs.
Note that some of the selling options have prominent drawbacks, such as having to pay commission when using an auctioneer or an estate agent. Other methods have clear pros, like being able to complete the sale within a few weeks when using a quick buyer.
Selling to a quick buyer
The first method for selling your home is contacting a quick buyer like LDN Properties, who can usually complete the purchase of a house or flat within a few short weeks, and that includes the time taken to exchange contracts and pay the seller the full proceeds.
These companies can move so rapidly because they already have the financial resources in place to buy properties, so there’s no waiting for many weeks or even months to first get approval for a mortgage that would the cost of purchasing your home. That makes selling to quick buyer often one of the fastest ways to sell a wide range of properties.
And you won’t need to pay any commission if you sell your home to a genuine no-fee quick buyer, so you’ll get the total sale proceeds. That’s preferable to selling via an estate agent or auctioneer where you’ll need to pay fees that will be taken out of the eventual proceeds.
If your home lacks an electrical certificate, a quick buyer can also be a great selection because they are known for making fair and fast offers to buy practically any type of home regardless of potential negative factors like not having an EICR. LDN Properties makes such offers for homes no matter their age, condition, location, shape, size or type.
Launched in 2003, LDN Properties has developed a lengthy list of varied homes that it has bought across the UK that includes not only properties without an EICR but also flats in buildings without a lift, mundic houses, homes with noisy neighbours, properties without a valuation, houses with crumbling concrete, flats in a bad area, homes with drainage problems, properties located close to an electrical substation, Wates houses, flying freeholds, flats located near to railway lines, properties built using red ash, houses with council tax arrears and other situations.
Selling on your own
The second method is selling without any help from an auctioneer or estate agent, but this is a lot of effort because you’ll have to handle all the work needed to find a buyer.
You’ll need to produce a listing the features photographs of your home’s interior and exterior and describes the property, and then advertise this and schedule viewings to give interested buyers a tour of the house or flat, and finally hear any genuine offers you may get. This takes up a lot of time and it may be an entire year before you are able to sell.
That’s why this approach to selling is typically suggested only if you have previous success with selling a home that lacks an EICR, or if you have a suitably experienced friend or family member who is willing to assist you free, otherwise it can be a very stressful option.
Also note that someone could make a genuine offer to buy your home but then change their mind and rescind it, which would cause the sale to collapse – and they can do this any time up until before contracts are exchanged without facing the risk of any penalties. This would extend your selling timeline if it happens as you’d need to start again looking for a buyer.
One advantage of selling without any assistance is that you won’t need to pay any fees to a third party, so this helps to lower your expenses. But it’s possible that the funds you spend on marketing your listing and other work will simply cancel out any such saving.
If your top priority with selling your property is not having to pay any commission, then you should think about selling your home to a zero-fee quick buyer. This would not only achieve the same outcome of helping you avoid being subject to commission, but you’d receive the additional benefit of being able to finalise the sale of your home within a few short weeks.
Selling via an estate agent
The third method of selling your home is doing so with an estate agent. They will take on the responsibility for the important tasks with finding a buyer, from the initial creation and marketing of a listing through to taking care of viewings at the property and fielding offers from buyers, hopefully guiding one of them to exchange of contracts.
If you’re looking for a fast a way to sell your home then you may want to review other choices, because selling through an estate agent can take many months or longer. And it’s important to understand that a buyer can make an offer but then take it back and cause the sale to fall apart, and they won’t face any penalties if contracts aren’t yet exchanged. This would naturally extend your selling timeline much longer as you start over seeking a buyer.
You’ll also be charged commission by an estate agent if they are successful in finding a buyer for your property, and this is often within a range from 1.15 percent to 1.40 percent of the final sale price, although some companies might charge more or less than this.
Just note that some estate agents could be hesitant to take on the potential challenge of selling a home without an EICR for the various reasons outlined earlier in this guide for why it might be harder to interest buyers in this type of property. If that’s the case, an estate agent might ask that you find a qualified electrician through the NICEIC database to do an EICR assessment before selling.
If that happens and you are determined not to pursue an electrical certificate ahead of seeking a buyer, you should consider some of the other selling methods in this section.
Selling at an auction
The fourth method for selling your home is an auction, although this is somewhat of a gamble because you don’t know if your home will sell or what the final selling price will be.
The auctioneer will ask you to choose the lowest price at which you’re willing to sell your home, and this is known as the reserve price. If just one person places a bid at that price, your property is legally considered to be sold and the buyer could sue you to enforce the sale in the event that you try to walk away from it once the auction is over.
For that reason, it’s vital that you calculate a reserve price which should still generate a profit from the sale of your home even after you pay the auctioneer their fees.
Usually, an auctioneer will charge commission at 2.5 percent of a property’s sale price, and this will increase your expenses because it’s taken out of the proceeds right away. If you want to lower your costs, consider zero-fee options like selling to a quick buyer.
Some auctioneers may be willing to negotiate a reduced rate of commission or agree to have the buyer pay a share of your expenses, so it’s worth asking about either of these possibilities because it could be one way to lower your costs when selling this way.
For those homeowners looking to find a buyer quickly, an auction might not be the best choice because it can take many months. You’ll have to wait several weeks or longer after deciding to sell your property this way and before the auction takes place. And if the home does sell at the auction, the buyer has 28 days to sign the mandatory legal documents and finish the various other tasks that are required in order to complete the transaction.
You may find that some auctioneers are willing to set a tighter timeline for the buyer to handle these steps but beware that others could allow even more than 28 days, which would extend the overall schedule for selling your property even further.
Top queries and answers about selling property without an EICR / Electrical certificate
If you are thinking of selling your house or flat quickly, you may have some questions to ask us. These questions may range from selling a property with bad electrics through to selling without a gas certificate. Here are some of the top questions we’re asked about selling a property without an electrical certificate:
Your top questions when selling property without an electrical certificate
An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is a certificate issued by a qualified independent electrician that assesses whether the electrics in a property have any potential hazards or other issues. These certificates are required for rental properties, but they are buyers also often look for EICRs when they are deciding whether to purchase other homes.
There are a number of reasons why a prospective buyer could worry that your property does not have an electrical certificate. Perhaps the main fear that they’ll have is wondering whether the electrics at the house or flat or safe, or if they are dangerous. A related issue could be a buyer’s concern about the costs involved with upgrading the home’s electrics.
It’s doubtful, because home loan providers will have concerns about the overall safety and structural integrity of a property where the standard of the electrics can’t be confirmed. If a private buyer will need to obtain a mortgage in order to fund the purchase your property, the local of an electrical certificate could make it impossible for them to buy the home.
You have a few choices for resolving the lack of an EICR at your property ahead of trying to find a buyer. One option is purchasing an indemnity policy that would protect the buyer against any costs linked to the lack of an electrical certificate at your home. Alternatively, you could spend time and money on having a qualified expert issue an EICR for the property.
There are typically four options for selling a home of any type, and they are selling to a quick buyer like LDN Properties, selling with an estate agent, selling at a property auction or selling on your own. Some of these methods have clear benefits, like quick buyers charging no fees, and others have obvious drawbacks like selling alone taking a very long time.
If you sell your home via an auction then the average commission will be charged at 2.5 percent of the property’s sale price and be deducted from the final proceeds, whilst estate agents will usually charge fees within a range of 1.15 percent to 1.40 percent of the sale price. You’ll be no fees when selling on your own or to a zero-commission quick buyer.
It will vary depending on the approach you decide to use for selling your home, because it should only take a few short weeks from beginning to the exchange of contracts if you sell to LDN Properties or another quick buyer. Opting to sell your property through an auction, with an estate agent or without any third-party help can all take at least several months.
