Further investigation of the electrics is recommended. Who carries out an EICR, and why is it not the surveyor returning on the same brief?

What is the fuller explanation?

The surveyor can see old consumer units, mixed wiring colours, damaged fittings or a lack of modern protection, and can say that the electrics need a proper look. That recommendation ends their role on the point. They are not, by walking back in with the same letter of instruction, the person who produces an EICR. The EICR is commissioned from someone whose work is the electrical installation. Expect a separate appointment, a separate fee and a separate document. There is no national tariff that folds that fee into the survey you have already paid, and survey cost itself is variable.

Read the survey's electrical lines as the limit of a visual inspection, not as codes from an electrical report. If the house is tenanted, the rules about electrical reports in rented homes are a landlord matter and are not a duty this survey has performed for an owner-occupier sale. For your purchase, the practical step is the same either way: if the report says the electrics need further investigation, instruct that investigation. Do not diary the original surveyor for a second walk-round and file it as the EICR.

What should you ask your surveyor?

• Will a return visit on this brief still leave the electrics untested?
• Which visual points are you handing to an electrician rather than re-inspecting yourself?
• Are you expecting to write the EICR, or to stay with the home survey?

What are the typical next steps?

1. Instruct an electrician separately if you need an EICR.
2. Do not book the surveyor back on the same brief and call it electrical testing.
3. Read the survey's wiring comments as visual only.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

Which pages should you read next?

• The drains are said to need a camera. Is that camera part of the surveyor's Level 2 visit?
• You hold a roofer's price for the slipped slates. Has the further investigation the report asked for been done?
• You want a price change before the drain camera the survey asked for has been done. What pipe condition is that request still guessing?
• Guide: What further investigations can a survey ask for?
• All UK home survey questions

Sources

• GOV.UK: Electrical safety standards in the private and social rented sectors: guidance (England, published 1 November 2025)
• RICS: Description of the RICS Home Survey Level 3 (condition rating definitions)
• RICS: House surveys: the costs, types and benefits of an RICS home survey