Electrics and gas
No RCD was visible for the socket circuits the surveyor could see. Is that sentence already an electrical installation condition report?
No. The sentence that no RCD was visible for the socket circuits the surveyor could see is not an electrical installation condition report. It records a limit of the visual inspection: in the equipment on view, no RCD for those sockets was apparent. The separate electrical report is its own inspection and test. The home survey did not test the sockets, trip a device, or certify the installation. Ask an electrician for an electrical installation condition report if you need those circuits tested properly.
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 RCD is a device meant to disconnect on certain faults. Not seeing one for the socket circuits means none was identified in the board the surveyor could look at. It might sit in another unit, it might be unlabelled, or it might be absent. The survey does not settle that by holding a test button or by measuring the wiring. An electrical installation condition report is the separate inspection that carries out those tests. A sentence about what was visible is not that document.
If you want the sockets tested, instruct an electrician to prepare an electrical installation condition report and give them the survey sentence so socket protection is on their list. Do not hold a test button down during a viewing. Do not add a schedule of failed circuits to the survey because no device was obvious. Until the electrician's report exists, the finding remains only that no RCD was visible for the socket circuits that could be seen.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which boards did you see, and where might an RCD still have been hidden?
- Were the socket circuits identified from labels, or only inferred?
- Did you operate any test button, or was the note purely visual?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the sentence as a visual note, not an electrical installation condition report.
- Ask an electrician for that separate report if the sockets need testing.
- Do not press test buttons on the consumer unit during a viewing.
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 a sticker says the board is new, is socket RCD protection guaranteed?
No. A new-looking consumer unit is not proof the socket circuits have RCD protection. The survey only recorded that none was visible for the sockets it could see.
Can the surveyor add the electrical report as an extra page later?
No. A home survey does not become an electrical installation condition report by gaining a page. That test is a separate instruction to an electrician.