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Electrics and gas

What should you do if a surveyor notices a light or a socket that may have no earth?

Treat it as a prompt for an EICR, not as the result of one. A home survey does not test circuits. GOV.UK’s guidance for landlords describes EICR codes: C1 danger present, C2 potentially dangerous, C3 improvement recommended, and FI further investigation. Those codes are not RICS condition ratings. An owner-occupier selling a house is not under the landlord’s five-year testing duty.

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?

Old lighting circuits without an earth are a known pattern. Seeing a two-core flex is not measuring the earth fault loop. The electrician classifies it. The surveyor should say what they saw and stop. Do not rewire the street from one plastic rose.

If you commission the EICR, ask them to include the outbuildings if you will use them. There is no RICS price for the test. A satisfactory result with C3s is not the same as an unsatisfactory one with C1 or C2. Read the codes. Do not translate C3 into a rating 3 automatically.

What should you ask your surveyor?

  • What exactly did you see, and where?
  • Are you recommending a test rather than stating a code?
  • Did you look at the consumer unit as well, without testing it?

What are the typical next steps?

  1. Book an EICR if the observation worries you or the report tells you to.
  2. Do not let a kitchen fitter “earth it” informally on the day they quote a new kitchen.
  3. Keep the landlord five-year rule out of an owner-occupier purchase. It is a rented-sector duty.

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

Is a plastic consumer unit the same defect?

No. Lack of earth is about the circuit. The material of the board is a different question. Neither has been tested by the survey.

Does a recent rewire certificate cover this light?

Only if the certificate lists the circuit. Ask for the paper. Do not assume a new kitchen includes the upstairs lights.

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