The Complete Electrical Safety Checklist for London Homeowners (2026)

Why bother with a checklist?

Around 19,300 house fires in the UK every year start from electrical faults. Most are entirely avoidable — the trigger is almost always something a homeowner could have spotted six months earlier.

This checklist is what our NICEIC engineers actually walk through when they do a full electrical health check. Print it, save it and run it once a year.

Quarterly — the 5-minute check

• Press the TEST button on your RCD at the consumer unit. It should trip instantly. Reset it after.
• Test every smoke and heat alarm — press and hold until the alarm sounds.
• Feel the front of your consumer unit and meter — either should be cool to the touch.
• Sweep sockets and switches for discolouration, buzzing or heat.
• Check plug tops in high-use sockets (kitchens, home offices) for cracks or scorch marks.

If anything fails, book a fault-finding visit the same week.

Annual — the 30-minute check

Add these to the quarterly list once a year:

• Move furniture and inspect every extension lead — is it undamaged and adequately rated?
• Confirm you have no daisy-chained extension leads anywhere in the home
• Check the cooker point for scorching around the terminals
• Check the immersion heater switch for heat when the water is on
• Confirm all outdoor sockets are covered and IP54 rated
• Review the age of your consumer unit — plastic boards over 15 years old are past due

Every 5 – 10 years — the professional check

Owner-occupied homes should have a formal Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR):

• Every 10 years for owner-occupied houses and flats
• Every 5 years for rented properties (legal minimum since 2020)
• On purchase of any new home

Do not skip the EICR when you move in. It regularly finds:

• Missing bonding to gas and water services
• Bypassed RCDs and disabled trip devices
• Undersized incoming tails at the meter
• Unsafe DIY joints in floors and ceilings

Room-by-room quick check

Kitchen

• Sockets ≥ 30 cm from the sink? (Not always, but ideal.)
• RCD-protected dedicated cooker, washing machine and dishwasher circuits?
• Under-cabinet lighting on its own switch?
• Extractor fan wired properly and vented outside?

Bathroom

• No sockets (except shaver socket) inside the room
• Any light switch must be a pull cord unless outside the door
• Shower and downlights IP-rated for the zone (typically IP44 in Zone 2, IP65 in Zone 1)
• Supplementary bonding either present or excluded via a valid design note

Bedrooms & living rooms

• Enough sockets that no extension leads are needed
• Bedside lamps on modern LED bulbs
• TV and AV on their own surge-protected extension

Utility & garage

• RCD or RCBO on every socket
• PAT-tested power tools
• Smoke alarm inside the door if a boiler or freezer lives there

Outside

• All fittings IP54 or better
• RCD-protected garden circuits
• Cables buried in armoured (SWA) or surface-clip UV-rated

5 things you should never touch

1. The incoming service head (the sealed part with UKPN tape)
2. Anything inside the consumer unit while live
3. Wiring in bathrooms — special zones apply
4. Any circuit that has tripped repeatedly without diagnosis
5. Old VIR / lead-sheathed cable (usually 1960s or earlier)

If in doubt, do not touch it. Book a visit — a health check is far cheaper than an insurance claim.

Book a full electrical health check or call 0203 503 1240.