Short answer: whoever owns the installation signs it off — and on a block’s communal supply that is the freeholder, the residents’ management company or the right-to-manage company, usually acting through a managing agent. Not the leaseholder, not the tenant, and not whoever happened to let us in. The electrician signs the technical boxes on the certificate. The owner, or their agent, signs as the person ordering the work, agrees the extent and limitations before we start, and is the one the paperwork belongs to afterwards.
We get asked this most often when something has already gone wrong: a leaseholder has paid for a board change in the riser cupboard and the freeholder will not accept the certificate, or a managing agent has an EICR for a block that only covers one flat, or a sale has stalled because the certificate names the wrong party. It is an easy thing to get right in advance and an expensive thing to unpick afterwards.
This guide sets out who owns what, who issues a permit to work, who is allowed to isolate the landlord’s supply, whether the work is notifiable, and what it costs in London in 2026. We are an NICEIC-approved, Part P registered contractor based in Tottenham N15 and most of our block work is in Haringey, Hackney, Islington, Enfield, Waltham Forest, Camden, Barnet, Newham and Tower Hamlets. Call 07407 627542 or 07500 721453.
Who actually owns the communal electrical installation?
In a typical London block the supply splits into two separate installations with two separate owners.
The landlord’s supply — sometimes called the house supply — starts at the network operator’s intake, usually in a cupboard by the front door or in a basement. It has its own meter and its own distribution board, and it feeds stair and landing lighting, external and bin-store lighting, door entry, the communal fire alarm and emergency lighting, CCTV, aerial amplifiers, pumps, car-park and gate supplies, and the lift. That installation belongs to the freeholder. Where a residents’ management company or a right-to-manage company holds the obligations, it belongs to them in practice, and a managing agent acts on their behalf.
The flat installation starts at the flat’s own meter or at the consumer unit inside the demise and covers everything beyond it. That belongs to the leaseholder.
Between the two sits the bit that causes arguments: the lateral mains, the rising busbar or sub-mains that run up the riser, and the tails from the meter into the flat. Who owns those depends on the lease plan, not on custom. Read the lease before anyone orders work. We set this out in more detail, with a table of who pays for what, in our guide to the EICR for a leasehold flat and communal areas.
Two things follow from that split. First, a flat EICR does not cover the communal installation and a communal EICR does not cover the flats — they are different reports, with different clients. Second, the duty to keep the communal installation safe sits with whoever is in control of it. For a block, that is the freeholder or management company, and it is a duty under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 as well as a lease obligation, not something a leaseholder can take on by paying for it.
Can a leaseholder commission work on the landlord’s supply?
Not on their own, no — and we will say so rather than take the booking.
A leaseholder can commission work inside their own demise all day long. The moment the work crosses into the riser, the intake cupboard or the landlord’s board, the leaseholder is ordering work on something they do not own. In practice that causes four problems:
- The certificate names the wrong client. A BS 7671 certificate records the person ordering the work. If that is a leaseholder, the freeholder is not the recipient and has no obligation to accept, file or act on it.
- The limitations were agreed with the wrong person. The extent of an inspection and anything excluded from it must be agreed with the person ordering it before testing starts. A leaseholder cannot agree the extent of an installation they do not control.
- It is usually a breach of the lease. Most London leases reserve the common parts and the landlord’s services to the freeholder, and some require written consent for any alteration affecting them.
- Service charge. Communal work is normally recoverable through the service charge, so a leaseholder who pays privately for it often pays twice.
What a leaseholder can do, and what we encourage, is report the defect in writing to the agent or the management company, ask who holds the duty for the landlord’s supply, and ask them to instruct an inspection. If the defect is dangerous and affects their flat, that letter matters later. Where the communal supply is genuinely unsafe we will record it on the flat report as an observation outside the extent of the inspection, so there is something in writing to send on.
Who signs the certificate, and whose name goes in the client box?
Two different sets of signatures, and people mix them up constantly.
The electrician signs for the work. On an Electrical Installation Certificate there are separate declarations for design, construction, and inspection and testing — on a small job the same person signs all three. A Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate has a single declaration. An EICR is signed by the inspector and, where the report is reviewed, by a second qualified person. Those signatures say the work or the inspection meets BS 7671. They are the contractor’s, and nobody else can sign them.
The owner, or their agent, is the client. The “details of the client” or “person ordering the work” box names who commissioned it. For communal work that must be the freeholder, the management company or the agent acting for them, written exactly as it should appear on the certificate — the company name, not an individual’s first name. Get this wrong and the document is awkward to use: insurers, councils, conveyancers and the next inspector all read that box.
Before we test, we agree three things in writing with that client: the extent of the installation covered — for example “landlord’s supply only: intake, landlord’s board, risers, landing and external lighting, door entry”, the limitations, such as circuits we cannot access without a resident present or a riser we cannot open until an asbestos check is done, and the purpose of the report. Those three lines are what make a communal report usable twelve months later. Our guide to the paperwork you should have after electrical work covers which document belongs to which job.
One more thing worth saying plainly: an EICR is not a certificate for work done. If the inspection finds C1 or C2 items, the remedial work needs its own certificate when it is finished, and the person who ordered the remedials is the person who gets it. See EICR remedial work costs for how that second stage usually runs.
What is a permit to work, and who issues it?
A permit to work is not a BS 7671 document and no regulation names it for ordinary domestic work. It comes from the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which require a safe system of work where there is a risk of injury, and from the HSE’s guidance on safe electrical working. On a block it is the written control that says: this circuit has been identified, it is isolated, it is locked off, the key is with one named person, and no one re-energises it until the permit is handed back.
The person in control of the installation issues it. That is the freeholder, the management company or the agent — in bigger blocks, a named building or estate manager. The contractor receives it, works to it and returns it. Some agents have their own permit forms and their own authorised person; others have nothing, in which case we work to our own isolation procedure and record it.
Where a permit genuinely earns its keep in a London block:
- Riser and landlord’s board work, where switching off the wrong way kills the fire alarm, the emergency lighting, the lift or the door entry for the whole building.
- Anything shared with a fire system. If the communal alarm or emergency lighting comes off that board, somebody has to agree the isolation window, warn residents and arrange a watch if the alarm is down.
- Pre-2000 blocks, where the asbestos register has to be checked before anything is drilled or a riser panel is lifted. The duty to hold that register sits with the building’s owner, so this is a question for the agent, not for us to guess.
- Fire-stopping. Any new penetration through a riser wall or floor has to be reinstated to the same standard. Agree who signs that off before the first hole is drilled.
- Out-of-hours windows. Agents often want communal isolation done evenings or Sundays. That is a cost line, not a favour — see out-of-hours electrician costs.
Who is allowed to isolate the landlord’s supply?
Below the cut-out, the installation is the owner’s and a competent electrician isolates it. At or above the cut-out it stops being anyone’s installation and becomes the network’s.
In London the distribution network is UK Power Networks. The service cable, the cut-out and the main fuse belong to them, and withdrawing that fuse is a job for the network operator or the meter operator — it has to be booked, and it is not something a contractor, a caretaker or an agent should be doing with a pair of pliers. The meter itself belongs to the energy supplier’s meter operator, so work needing the meter moved or lifted is their visit, not ours.
That matters for timing. A landlord’s board replacement on a supply with no isolator between the cut-out and the board cannot be done on a whim: somebody has to arrange attendance first, and that lead time belongs to the owner or agent, not the electrician. The same applies if the block needs the supply split or a separate landlord’s supply created, which we cover in landlord’s board and split supply costs. Larger blocks are often on a three-phase intake — see three-phase work for how that changes the job.
Is communal work notifiable under Part P?
Often, yes — and plenty of people assume it is not because the common parts are not a home.
Part P covers electrical installations in dwelling houses and flats, in common access areas of blocks of flats such as corridors and staircases, and in shared amenities such as laundries and gyms. Power supplies to lifts are outside it. So the landing lighting circuit is in scope; the lift supply is not.
Since 2013 the notifiable categories are narrow: a new circuit, replacing or adding to a consumer unit or distribution board, and work in a special location such as a room containing a bath or shower. Replacing like for like, adding a point to an existing circuit outside a special location and repairs are not notifiable. A new landlord’s board is notifiable; relamping the stairwell is not.
As a registered competent person we self-certify notifiable work and the Building Regulations compliance certificate follows by post or email, addressed to the client on the certificate — which is exactly why the client box has to be right. Fire alarm and emergency lighting systems sit under their own standards and get their own certificates, not a Part P notification; our HMO electrical compliance guide covers the alarm and lighting side.
What does communal electrical work cost in London in 2026?
Prices are labour and certification only. Materials — boards, fittings, cable, containment — are itemised separately. Permits, bay suspensions, Congestion Charge and ULEZ are passed on at cost and shown as their own line.
| Work | Price |
|---|---|
| Minimum charge / first hour, normal hours | £90 + VAT (£108 inc VAT) |
| Standard labour, per hour after the first | £90 + VAT |
| Out-of-hours supplement, on top | £60 + VAT per half hour |
| Communal-area EICR, small block up to 12 flats — landlord’s board, lighting, door entry | from £180 |
| Communal-area EICR, larger block or multiple risers | priced per distribution board and circuit count, quoted after a site look |
| Commercial or mixed-use EICR, parade with flats above | from £220 — see commercial EICR costs |
| Flat EICR inside the demise, studio to 2-bed | from £140 — see EICR costs in London |
| Block booking, 4 or more flats on one visit | from £120 per flat |
| HMO EICR | from £180, most licensed HMOs £250–£500 — see the HMO EICR guide |
| Landlord’s board replacement, 6-way | from £550 — see fuse board replacement |
| Landlord’s board replacement, 10-way | from £650 |
| Landlord’s board, 12-way or larger | from £750 |
| Board and EICR on the same visit | from £690 |
| Main earthing and bonding at the intake, alongside a board | from £108 |
| Remedial items from a communal EICR | per item, quoted before starting, from £108 |
| PAT testing of communal appliances | around £5 per appliance, £108 minimum — see PAT testing |
Nothing is priced below the £108 minimum, because an hour of a qualified electrician’s time in a riser cupboard costs the same whether the job is big or small.
What changes in a building over 18 metres?
If the block is at least 18 metres tall or has at least seven storeys and contains two or more residential units, it is a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act 2022 and there is an Accountable Person with duties for the structure and fire safety, plus a safety case for the building.
That does not change who signs the electrical certificate — the installation owner is still the client. It does change the process around it. Work in risers and shared escape routes touches the fire strategy, so expect the Accountable Person or their consultant to want the isolation plan, the fire-stopping reinstatement and the resident notification agreed in advance, and expect it to take longer to get a start date than on a three-storey conversion. Build that into the programme rather than discovering it on the morning.
What goes wrong on North London blocks
The same handful of things, across the ex-council slab blocks, the 1930s mansion blocks and the converted Victorian terraces that make up most of our patch:
- Nobody knows who the duty holder is. Freehold sold on, agent changed twice, no handover of the electrical file. The first job is often establishing who the client is before anything can be inspected.
- One EICR being asked to do two jobs. A report on a single flat, produced for a lender or a council, gets filed as if it covered the block.
- Communal boards with no labelling and no record. On an older landlord’s board the stair lighting, door entry and a pump can share one way, so isolating “the lighting” takes out the entry phones too.
- Shared meter cupboards on converted terraces. Three or four flats’ meters and tails in one cupboard off the hall, with no clear demarcation and often no main switch for the landlord’s side at all.
- No main earth or undersized bonding at the intake on pre-1970s blocks, which is a C2 on every flat report fed from it, not a defect in one flat.
- Access. A communal EICR needs the intake cupboard, every riser, the roof plant and the bin store on the same day. Half-done inspections become long limitation lists, and a limitation list is worth less to the agent than a complete report.
For what the penalties look like when a landlord’s duties are missed, see EICR fines and the landlord electrical compliance checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Can a managing agent sign the certificate instead of the freeholder?
An agent can order the work and be named as the client, acting for the freeholder or management company — that is normal and perfectly workable. The agent cannot sign the contractor’s declarations, and the freeholder should still get a copy for the building’s file.
Our block has no landlord’s supply at all. Who is responsible for the stair light?
Some small conversions have the communal lighting wired off one flat’s consumer unit. It still forms part of the common parts the freeholder is responsible for, and the leaseholder whose circuit feeds it is paying for it. The fix is a proper landlord’s supply, which needs the freeholder to instruct it — not the flat owner to absorb it.
Do communal areas need their own EICR, or does the flat EICR cover them?
Their own. The landlord’s supply is a separate installation with a separate owner, so it gets its own report with its own extent and limitations. A five-year interval is the usual benchmark, and the inspector can recommend a shorter one on an installation in poor condition.
A leaseholder paid for communal remedials. Can the freeholder be made to accept the certificate?
Not by the certificate alone. The practical route is to send the report, the certificate and the invoice to the agent in writing and ask for it to be adopted into the building’s records and dealt with through the service charge. Whether the money is recoverable is a lease question for a solicitor, not an electrical one.
Who signs off the fire alarm and emergency lighting in the common parts?
Those are separate systems with their own standards and their own certificates, and the responsible person under fire safety law commissions them — again the freeholder, management company or agent. An EICR does not cover them, and we will say on the report that they were outside its extent.
Can you do communal work without the agent present?
Yes, once we have written instruction from them, access arrangements, the permit or an agreed isolation window, and confirmation of who to call if something has to stay off. What we will not do is open a landlord’s cupboard on a resident’s say-so.
Get the right name on the paperwork
If you are a freeholder, an RMC or RTM director or a managing agent in North or North East London and you need a communal EICR, a landlord’s board replaced or remedials priced, we will tell you up front what the extent will be, what the limitations are likely to be, and whose name goes in the client box. If you are a leaseholder who has hit a wall with an agent, we can inspect your own flat and put the communal defects in writing as observations, so you have something to send.
F&A Electrical is NICEIC-approved, Part P registered, works to BS 7671 and is fully insured, based at Ten 87 Studios, Markfield Road, London N15 4QA. Call 07407 627542 or 07500 721453.
More reading: our electrical guides hub, the areas we cover on the London service areas page, and our local pages such as electrician in Tottenham.