Condition ratings

The survey asks for further investigation of one kitchen spur. Is that sentence the EICR observation code FI?

Not code FI. The kitchen-spur sentence is the home survey asking for a further look at one circuit it did not test. FI on an EICR means further investigation required without delay, and it is an observation code from that electrical report, not a RICS condition rating. A surveyor's prose about a spur is not that code, and it does not become one because both mention further investigation.

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?

The codes live on the electrical report. C1 means danger present. C2 means potentially dangerous. C3 means improvement recommended. FI means further investigation required without delay. None of those is rating 1, rating 2, rating 3 or NI. The home survey looked at services visually and did not safety-test them, so it has no business stamping FI, C1, C2 or C3 on a spur it did not test. If you commission an EICR, the electrician may use those codes. Until that report exists, you have a survey sentence only.

The GOV.UK description of these codes sits in guidance for private and social rented homes in England, where electrical safety duties apply to landlords, including inspection at least every five years. That duty is not a duty on an owner-occupier seller to hand you an EICR, and it is not a duty the survey has performed. For this purchase, take the spur sentence as advice to investigate that spur. Do not write FI in the margin yourself. Do not tell the solicitor the house carries an electrical code that no EICR has recorded.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Will you confirm your spur sentence is not an EICR code?
Did you safety-test the spur, or only see it?
What should an electrician be asked to investigate, in ordinary words rather than a code I invent?

What are the typical next steps?

Read the spur sentence as a home-survey recommendation.
Commission an EICR if you need electrical observation codes.
Do not copy FI, C1, C2 or C3 onto the survey.

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 seller is a landlord, does the survey become their EICR?

No. Rented-sector electrical duties are theirs. The survey sentence is still not code FI.

Can rating 3 and code C1 describe the same socket?

They are different systems. A survey may rate an element 3. Only an EICR can record C1. One does not create the other.