Hi Everyone,
I just had an EICR inspection, and in the picture you can see my CU, which shows the lighting circuits on the right side without any RCD protection. My house was built in 2000–2001. In my previous EICR inspection (2021), this was recorded as a C3 (partial RCD protection), but the new inspector today said I must replace the CU, otherwise it’s a fail of EICR (C2).
He told me that under the new regulations, the lighting circuits must be RCD protected — is that correct? I’m confused about whether older houses need to meet the latest standards, because if so, wouldn’t every landlord with an older property have to replace their CU? I thought new regulations only apply to new installations from the time they are introduced.
Where can I find the official guidance on this? The inspector only showed me some random Google searches, which didn’t look very reliable.
For context: the plastic CU is on the ground floor, and although it’s around 25 years old, it’s fully functional and looks almost new. All bathrooms are on the first floor, with a ceiling height of about 2.4m.
Do I really need to replace my CU? The quote I’ve been given is around £640 for a CU replacement include a 5-year EICR.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
