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Is it a legal requirement to have an electrical inspection carried out every 5 years?

An Electrical Inspection, now referred to as an Electrical Inspection Condition Report (EICR) is not a legal requirement. There are a couple of points to be noted here, firstly the legal requirement for an EICR and secondly the time scale. With regards to the legal requirement, BS7671 the Wiring Regulations gives guidance on Electrical Installations. As such it would be used by any appropriate authority (HSE or local government etc) to verify that an installation is safe. As such having an EICR carried out shows that the person responsible for the installation is taking reasonable steps to ensure the safe and continued use of that electrical installation. The EICR will highlight any faults or departures from the wiring regulations and give a view of the overall condition of the installation as to wether it is in a satisfactory or unsatisfactory condition. The time scale for inspections is not bound to 5years, it is at the judgement of the inspector at the time and a number of factors should be taken into consideration, such as the type of installation (domestic commercial or industrial) if it has special locations eg, a hospital, swimming pool, campsite or marina to name a few. The frequency of inspections is determined by a risk analysis and as such a 5year inspection is not an appropriate figure to be used to generalise when an installation should be inspected. All electrical installations should be inspected regularly especially those where the public eg Rented Property, or areas to which the public have access to or workplaces both by a competent person and visually by the person responsible for the installation and the duty of care falls with that person to show they have taken all reasonable precautions to ensure the installation is safe and in a satisfactory condition for continued use.