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/ Social housing electrical safety
Several electrical-safety changes affecting social housing have landed in close succession across 2025 and 2026 — a regulation extension, a new published measure, and a separate reform to tenant-safety timeframes. It is easy to conflate them. This page sets out what each one is, when it takes effect, and what it actually requires, so a compliance team can check their own position against the primary source rather than a summary.
This is general information about public law, not a compliance assessment of any specific organisation or property.
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 already require an EICR on every fixed electrical installation at least every 5 years, a copy to the tenant within 28 days of inspection, and a copy to the local housing authority within 7 days of a request. SI 2025/1043 — the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) (Amendment) (Extension to the Social Rented Sector) Regulations 2025 — extends that same regime to social housing. It came into force on 1 November 2025.
The date that applies depends on when the tenancy was granted:
Civil penalties for a local-authority-enforced breach run up to £40,000 (raised from £30,000 by the same instrument, in force 1 November 2025).
This describes the regulation as public law. It is general information, not advice on whether a specific organisation or property complies — that is a matter for the registered provider and its qualified person.
A further instrument, the draft Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, is proposed, not in force as of this page's last check. It is due to come into force 30 November 2026. As drafted, it would: point "electrical safety standards" at BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, remove the separate duty to carry out further investigative work, and mean a new tenancy needs no fresh report if one from the last five years is still current. None of this applies yet — it is included here so it isn't mistaken for a live rule.
Separately, the Regulator of Social Housing's Tenant Satisfaction Measure on electrical safety checks took effect 11 June 2026. It does not create a new duty — it formalises the existing statutory electrical-safety duties above into a measure the regulator publishes against. Large landlords — those with more than 1,000 homes — publish it for the first time covering the 2026/27 reporting year (results as at 31 March 2027); small landlords publish for their reporting years ending 31 March 2027 onwards.
Awaab's Law itself is a different piece of law — it sets mandatory timeframes for investigating and fixing hazards in social housing, originally emergency hazards and damp/mould. Phase 2 takes effect 30 November 2026 and extends those timeframes to further hazard categories, including fire and explosion and electrical hazards. It is a repair-timeframe duty, not a certification duty, but it means an electrical hazard identified in a property now carries a statutory clock on the fix, alongside the inspection duties above.
Three separate things are now true for a social landlord at once: a statutory EICR cycle with a hard first-inspection date for existing tenancies, a published measure the regulator will report against, and a repair-timeframe duty if an electrical hazard turns up. None of them is answered by a single certificate on its own — they are answered by being able to show, across a whole portfolio, what was due, what was done, and what evidence exists for it. That is the job portfolio compliance describes NexCert doing: issuing the EICR and the gas certificate on the same rails, with remote sign-off and an audit trail, across as many properties as the portfolio holds.
/ FAQ
No — it applies specifically to tenancies granted before 1 December 2025 where the landlord is a registered provider of social housing. Tenancies granted on or after that date are covered from the tenancy's start instead. Check the tenancy grant date against SI 2025/1043 for the rule that applies to a specific case.
No. It formalises reporting against the electrical-safety duties that already exist under SI 2025/1043 — it does not itself create a new inspection or testing requirement.
No. As of this page's last check it is a draft instrument, due to come into force 30 November 2026, and it may change before then. Treat it as proposed, not current law.
No. It is a separate duty covering how quickly an identified hazard — including an electrical one — must be investigated and fixed. The EICR inspection cycle above still applies regardless.
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