Does a portfolio get a lower price per property?

Sometimes, and it is worth asking — but not for the reason most people assume. Volume does not reduce the inspection itself. Every property still needs its own testing and its own report, and a contractor who shaves that down because the job is part of a batch is selling a worse report, not a better price. What volume can reduce is everything that is not the test: travel and set-up between properties, the cost of a half-empty day, and one invoice instead of eleven. Three properties in the same few streets in Gedling in one morning is a cheaper day to run than three scattered across the county, and that is the part a contractor can reasonably pass back. So the honest answer is that almost nobody in Nottingham publishes a portfolio rate. Several local contractors say they work with letting agents and portfolio landlords, and some mention discounted rates for multiple properties, but none publishes the tiers. A portfolio rate is a conversation about a named list of properties, not a figure you can look up — and a contractor who quotes one without having seen the list is guessing. Two things make a reduced rate realistic rather than wishful: geographic clustering, and enough notice to build a route rather than slot in an emergency.

What actually costs an agent money on a portfolio EICR programme?

The inspection fee is the predictable part. These are the items that quietly overtake it. Cost What it is How to keep it down Abortive visits The electrician attends and cannot get in, or the tenant has forgotten. Charged as a visit on most terms Confirm access directly with the tenant the day before, not only through the landlord Void days A turnaround waiting on a certificate or on remedial work, usually the single largest number on the page Instruct during the notice period, not after check-out Re-inspection A second attendance to confirm remedial work after an unsatisfactory report Ask whether it is folded into the remedial quote before the work is instructed Remedial work Priced per fault, not as one job, and entirely separate from the inspection fee Budget for it — see what EICR remedial work costs Split instruction One firm inspects, another puts it right, and neither owns the outcome Instruct a contractor who can do both and re-certify Access bites hardest on a managed book: it is the item an agent controls most directly and the one most nearly avoidable. Our post on access and notice when a tenant refuses an EICR covers the position when it goes further than a forgotten appointment.

One contractor across the book, or the cheapest quote each time?

Both are defensible. Shopping each job around wins on the per-property fee and suits let-only properties and one-off instructions. One contractor across the book costs a little more per property and buys three things instead: consistent coding, remedial work and re-certification from the firm that coded it, and one point of contact rather than a supplier list that grows with the book. A managed book with recurring renewals usually comes out ahead on the second. Inconsistent coding is the underrated cost of the first approach. Where two reports on near-identical properties come back coded differently, an agent cannot explain to either landlord why one needs work and the other does not — and our guide to what C1, C2, C3 and FI mean is the conversation you will be having instead.

What should a letting agent ask for before instructing?

Four questions, and they separate quotes that look far apart on price but are not quoting the same work. • Is the contractor registered, and what is the number? Somo is NAPIT-registered, number 33320. NAPIT's find-an-installer search and the Electrical Safety First register will both check a number for you — ask for it rather than taking a logo on a website at face value. • What is the extent of the inspection, and are any limitations agreed? This belongs on the report itself. Ask in writing before the visit what will be inspected and tested, and what if anything has been agreed as outside the scope. • Is remedial work quoted itemised, and is re-certification included? A single lump sum to "make satisfactory" cannot be checked, compared or explained to a landlord. • What is the turnaround from visit to issued report, and what are the terms for an abortive visit? On a void the first matters more than the fee, and the second is better settled before it happens than after.

How should certificates be tracked across a portfolio?

Per property, by date, in one place — and the date to track is the one on the report, not the one in your diary. Each EICR states when the next inspection is recommended, and that can be sooner than the default renewal cycle where the installation warrants it. A spreadsheet of property, inspection date, outcome and next-inspection date, reviewed quarterly, is enough; tracking renewals inside individual tenancy files is what fails, because nothing surfaces until a landlord asks. Keep the dated evidence of remedial work alongside each report — on a portfolio the report alone is half the record. The renewal cycle itself, and the duties around supplying the report to tenants and to the local authority, are set by the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 rather than by the contractor, and the regime differs in Scotland and Wales. The current requirements are published on GOV.UK , and our landlord EICR guide covers them for a Nottingham let. What an agency agreement makes the agent responsible for, as against the landlord, is for the agency's own adviser.

Can a letting agent arrange an EICR without the landlord's instruction?

That depends on the management agreement and the authority it gives the agent to instruct works, which varies between agencies and is not something an electrician can decide. In practice most fully managed agreements allow compliance work up to a spending limit. Confirm where your own agreement sits before booking across a book.

Is an EICR cheaper if several properties are done on the same day?

The inspection itself is not cheaper, because each property still needs its own full test and its own report. What falls is travel and set-up time between visits, and that is the part a contractor can reasonably reflect in the price. Clustered properties with confirmed access are what make a reduced per-property rate realistic.

Who pays when the tenant is not in for the appointment?

Most contractors charge an abortive visit as a visit, because the time and travel are spent either way. Who then bears it — agent, landlord or tenant — is a matter for the management agreement and the tenancy, not for the electrician. Agree the terms in advance, and confirm access with the tenant directly the day before.

Should an EICR be done before or after a tenant moves out?

Before, where the tenancy allows access. Instructing during the notice period means any unsatisfactory result and the remedial work land inside the void rather than extending it, which is almost always worth more than the fee itself. Our post on how long an EICR takes sets out realistic timings.

What Does an EICR Cost a Letting Agent in Nottingham? Portfolio Rates in 2026

Q: What does an EICR cost a letting agent in Nottingham?

Somo's price for an EICR on a rental property is £170 to £250, set by the size of the property and its number of circuits rather than by who instructs it. Across a managed book, the useful question is which properties sit at which end of that range. Property type on a typical Nottingham book Where it sits in the range Why Studio or one-bedroom flat Lower end Few final circuits, one consumer unit, everything within a few metres Two or three-bedroom terrace or semi Middle The standard case — the bulk of most managed books Larger house, or one extended over the years Upper end More circuits, often a second board, outbuildings or a garden supply Shared house or HMO Quoted separately More circuits, plus communal areas and life-safety systems — see our HMO electrical requirements guide It is the circuit count that drives the figure, not the bedroom count — a heavily extended three-bed can take longer than an untouched four-bed. Our post on EICR cost by property size breaks that down property by property, and none of these figures is a quote: the only way to price a property is to look at it. For context, Nottingham search results this month carry headline prices from around £96 to £120, while independent 2026 cost guides put a realistic mid-market inspection at roughly £180 to £280 — national and aggregator figures rather than Somo's, and worth knowing because a landlord will have seen them before they speak to you.