The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 apply across Kent exactly as they do nationally. They came into force for new tenancies on 1 July 2020 and for all existing tenancies on 1 April 2021, and they require the fixed electrical installation to be inspected and tested at intervals of no more than five years.

The deadlines around the report are where most landlords come unstuck. You must give a copy to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection, to a new tenant before they occupy the property, and to a prospective tenant within 28 days of them asking. If the local authority requests it, you have seven days. Councils can impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000 for a breach.

Five years is a maximum, not a default. If the report specifies an earlier retest date, that date is the one that binds you, and inspectors frequently do shorten the interval on the older installations common across Medway and the Kent coast.

Several Kent authorities have operated selective or additional licensing schemes covering parts of their area, with Thanet and Medway the most widely known. Where a property falls inside one, the licence conditions commonly require a satisfactory EICR, and often require it to be produced on demand rather than on request.

These schemes matter to your timetable because they are specific and they move. They run for fixed terms, they are renewed or allowed to lapse, and their boundaries are drawn street by street rather than by town. A property can sit inside a designated area while the next road along does not.

For that reason we do not publish a list here, because any list would be out of date within a year. Confirm the current position for your postcode directly with the district or borough council before you rely on it. If a licence application is what is driving your deadline, tell us when you book and we will prioritise the report accordingly.

We cover the whole county, including the Isle of Sheppey, Thanet and Romney Marsh. The property does not need to be empty, but the inspecting electrician needs access to the consumer unit, to the meter position, and to every room, so that accessories and accessible connections can be tested.

The supply has to be switched off for part of the testing, so tenants should be told in advance. For a typical two or three bedroom Kent property the inspection usually takes between two and four hours; larger properties, those with outbuildings or annexes, and installations with a high circuit count take longer.

Where a property is tenanted, arranging access and giving proper notice is the single biggest cause of delay we see, and it is worth starting that conversation before you book rather than after.