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New EICR "unsatisfactory" - complete rewire required?!?

Former Community Member
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The lighting circuit has no CPC (earth), this is not uncommon in older houses. For that reason all light fittings are Class 2 i.e. plastic with no metal, and there is a clause in the tenancy agreement which forbids tampering with the light fittings (this is a house we own and rent out).


Previous EICRs did not even mention the lighting circuit because of the Class 2 fittings. I have just got a new EICR with an observation "lighting circuits have little or no earth" and classification code C1 ("Danger present, risk of injury, immediate remedial action required"). The overall assessment says "Unsatisfactory" with the comment "Needs updating to current regs". This can only be fixed by a complete rewire of the whole lighting circuit.


This is pointless, there are no earth connections in the plastic fittings.


Any thoughts? Many thanks.
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    Getting a court order would require the Landlord to prove that this change was essential for safety. This would be very difficult, and therefore the attempt would be very expensive (Probably £50k). In my view, the installation is perfectly safe as it is, and as an expert witness would fully argue that it is safe. The opposition would say the usual "What if someone did so and so", but would run across the "competent person" defense from me. They would almost certainly lose, with costs to the Landlord. Of course one can never be certain of an outcome, but the risk of enforcement action would be very high, and very unlikely. A competent person would not install a class 1 fitting on such a circuit, and anyone else who did would be deemed responsible for any bad outcome.
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    Getting a court order would require the Landlord to prove that this change was essential for safety. This would be very difficult, and therefore the attempt would be very expensive (Probably £50k). In my view, the installation is perfectly safe as it is, and as an expert witness would fully argue that it is safe. The opposition would say the usual "What if someone did so and so", but would run across the "competent person" defense from me. They would almost certainly lose, with costs to the Landlord. Of course one can never be certain of an outcome, but the risk of enforcement action would be very high, and very unlikely. A competent person would not install a class 1 fitting on such a circuit, and anyone else who did would be deemed responsible for any bad outcome.
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