Electrics and gas
An EV charger is on the drive and no installation certificate is in the pack. Has the home survey electrically tested that charger?
No. The home survey has not electrically tested the EV charger on the drive. Seeing the unit, and noting that no installation certificate is in the pack, is a visual record. It is not a test of the circuit, the protective device or the connection into the house. The surveyor does not remove electrical fittings to prove how the charger was wired. Without that certificate, and without a test, the visit cannot say the charger was installed or left in any particular electrical condition.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
An EV charger is a fixed electrical appliance on its own circuit. A home survey can say where it sits and whether a certificate was handed over. It cannot replicate the checks an electrician makes of earthing, disconnection and the condition of the cable. Those checks were not agreed as part of this inspection, and they should not be implied by a photograph of a box on the wall. Absence of paper is a gap in the pack, not a test result.
Ask the seller, through your solicitor, for the installation certificate and any building-regulations notification they hold. If those papers do not appear, an electrician can inspect and test the charger as a separate instruction. That later report is the electrical evidence. The home survey will not grow into it. Do not treat a tidy unit, or a seller's assurance, as the missing certificate.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you see the charger only from the outside, without removing any cover?
- Was any installation certificate shown to you on the day, or was the pack empty of one?
- Have you recorded the charger as not electrically tested?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor to request the charger installation certificate.
- Do not read the survey as an electrical test of the unit.
- Instruct an electrician if you need the circuit tested.
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
If the charger lights up, has the survey tested it?
No. A light on the unit, if one was even seen, only shows that something is powered. It is not a test of the circuit, the protection or the way the charger was connected. The home survey did not carry out that electrical test.
Does a recent consumer unit mean the charger was included in an old certificate?
Not by itself. A certificate for other work does not name this charger unless it actually does. The pack as described has no installation certificate for it, and the survey has not created one by looking at the drive. A different certificate does not name this charger.