Landlord compliance

PAT Testing (Portable Appliance Testing)

In-service inspection and testing of plug-in appliances for furnished lets and HMOs.

From £59.99 (inc VAT) Certificate and asset register same day 12-month workmanship guarantee

Book this service 07426 409342

Starting from

£59.99inc VAT

up to 10 appliances · all inclusive

Formal visual inspection, not just a meter reading

Every appliance labelled with its result and retest date

Full asset register supplied — HMO licence-ready

Correct fuse ratings checked and corrected as part of the price

Book online

Overview

What is a PAT Testing certificate?

PAT testing — now formally called in-service inspection and testing — checks that the plug-in electrical appliances you supply with a property are safe to use. Every item receives a formal visual inspection and, where appropriate, electrical testing for earth continuity, insulation resistance and correct polarity. Each appliance is labelled with its result and retest date, and you receive a certificate plus a full asset register listing every item tested.

Why it matters

Why it's worth getting right

Anything you supply with a let property is your responsibility, and appliances are the part of an installation that gets moved, dropped, overloaded and repaired by tenants. A frayed kettle lead or a washing machine with degraded earth continuity is a genuine shock and fire risk, and it is precisely the kind of item that never appears on an EICR because an EICR only covers fixed wiring. For HMOs it is also a licensing matter — most London boroughs require appliance testing as a condition of the licence.

What the law actually requires

There is no statute that says 'you must PAT test annually'. What exists is a duty: the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical equipment to be maintained so as to prevent danger, and for landlords the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System place responsibility for the safety of supplied appliances on you. The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 go further and require HMO managers to have every supplied appliance inspected at intervals, with a declaration available to the local authority on request. Testing and a written asset register are the accepted way of demonstrating that duty has been discharged.

Regulations & standards

The rules this work is carried out to

Every inspection we do is measured against a published standard — here are the ones that apply to this service.

EWR 1989

Electricity at Work Regulations 1989

Duty to maintain electrical equipment to prevent danger.

IET CoP 5th Ed

Code of Practice for In-Service Inspection and Testing

The industry standard defining test methods and retest intervals.

SI 2006/372

Management of HMO (England) Regulations 2006

Supplied appliances in HMOs must be inspected and a declaration made available.

In detail

Understanding your PAT Testing

The technical detail behind the certificate — what gets checked, what the results mean, and the decisions that actually affect your property.

What actually gets tested — and what doesn't

The scope is anything supplied with the property that connects by a plug: kettles, toasters, microwaves, fridges and freezers, washing machines and dryers, vacuum cleaners, table and floor lamps, TVs, extension leads and chargers. Fixed items wired directly into the installation — an electric shower, a hardwired cooker, immersion heaters, extractor fans — are outside PAT scope and are covered by your EICR instead. Tenants' own appliances are their responsibility, not yours, though in an HMO it is worth offering to test them because a tenant's faulty appliance on a shared circuit affects everyone in the building.

Class I and Class II appliances test differently

Class I appliances rely on an earth connection for safety — kettles, toasters, fridges, washing machines, most kitchen equipment. These receive a full earth continuity test as well as insulation resistance, because a broken earth on a Class I appliance means the metal casing can become live in a fault with nothing to carry the current away. Class II or double-insulated appliances, marked with a double square symbol, have no earth by design and rely instead on two independent layers of insulation — typical of hairdryers, phone chargers, most modern TVs and many vacuum cleaners. These get insulation testing but no earth continuity test. Knowing which is which matters, because applying the wrong test either damages the appliance or produces a meaningless pass.

Most failures are found by looking, not testing

Industry data consistently shows the large majority of appliance faults are identified during the formal visual inspection rather than by the test instrument. The recurring culprits are damaged flexes — cuts, crushing, tape repairs, stretching at the point where the cable enters the plug — followed by cracked casings, bent or loose plug pins, incorrect fuse ratings, and signs of overheating around the plug. This is also why the visual inspection cannot be skipped for speed: a meter reading tells you the appliance was safe at the instant of testing, whereas a chafed flex tells you it will not be safe for long.

How often should appliances be retested?

There is no legally fixed interval; the IET Code of Practice sets intervals on risk. For a residential let, the practical convention is annually for a standard furnished property, and annually as a licence condition for most HMOs. Higher-use or higher-risk environments justify more frequent testing: commercial kitchens, laundries and anything handheld or moved constantly. Lower-risk items in a stable environment — a fixed desktop computer in an office, for example — can run to two or four years. We set a retest date per appliance based on its type and setting, print it on the label, and remind you before it falls due.

Warning signs

Appliance faults worth acting on immediately

These need attention before the next scheduled test, not after it:

Any cut, split, crushed or taped-up section of flex

A flex that has pulled out of the plug or appliance body, exposing coloured cores

Cracked casings, or an appliance that rattles as if something inside has come loose

Scorch marks or discolouration on a plug, socket or plug pins

A plug that feels warm after use, or pins that are bent or loose

Burning smells, buzzing or sparking when an appliance is switched on

Any appliance that has been dropped, got wet, or been repaired by a tenant

An appliance that trips the RCD when plugged in

The risks

The risk of untested appliances

Appliances are the part of the installation most likely to hurt someone:

!A broken earth on a metal-cased appliance can make the casing live in a fault

!Damaged flexes cause shocks and are a leading source of accidental fires

!HMO licences can be refused, conditioned or revoked without appliance testing records

!Insurers routinely ask for testing records after any appliance-related fire claim

!You retain liability for anything you supplied, whether or not you knew it was faulty

!A faulty appliance on a shared circuit repeatedly blacks out other tenants

!Without an asset register you cannot prove which items were even in the property

Between tests

Give tenants a simple instruction: if a flex is damaged, a plug is warm, or anything sparks or smells, stop using it and report it. Carry out your own quick visual check of supplied appliances at each property inspection or change of tenancy — most failures are visible without any instrument. Replace rather than repair damaged flexes; a taped joint is never an acceptable fix. Keep the asset register updated when appliances are added or removed so the next test covers what is actually in the property, and avoid supplying second-hand appliances without having them tested before they go in.

Why us

The benefits of booking your PAT Testing with us

Accredited, transparent and built around making compliance easy.

Formal visual inspection, not just a meter reading

Every appliance labelled with its result and retest date

Full asset register supplied — HMO licence-ready

Correct fuse ratings checked and corrected as part of the price

Combined with an EICR or gas visit to save a separate appointment

Charged on the band that actually applies, not the one you guessed

What's included

Everything covered in your PAT Testing

One all-inclusive price — here is exactly what the engineer does on site and what you receive afterwards.

Formal visual inspection of every appliance, flex and plug

Earth continuity, insulation resistance and polarity testing as appropriate to class

Correct fuse rating checked and replaced where wrong

Pass / fail label with retest date applied to each appliance

Full asset register listing every item tested with its result

Certificate emailed the same day, HMO licence-ready

Failed items clearly identified with a repair-or-replace recommendation

Pricing

Simple, all-inclusive pricing

The price you see is the price you pay — VAT included, with no hidden call-out fees. Your final price depends on the size of your property; we'll confirm an exact, all-inclusive quote before we attend.

PAT Testing from

£59.99inc VAT

up to 10 appliances · all inclusive

Get my exact price

All prices include VAT · 12-month workmanship guarantee

PAT testing pricing — residential

Number of appliances	Price (inc VAT)
Up to 10 appliances	£59.99
10–15 appliances	£69.99
15–20 appliances	£79.99
20–25 appliances	£99.99
25–30 appliances	£129.99
30–35 appliances	£169.99
35–40 appliances	£199.99
40–45 appliances	£229.99
45–50 appliances	£259.99

All prices include VAT, labelling and your asset register. Not sure of the count? Estimate high — we charge the band that actually applies on the day, not the one you booked.

Prices are all-inclusive of VAT with no hidden call-out fees. Where they genuinely apply, parking (£5) and the London Congestion Charge (£18) are passed on at cost and always shown up front.

The process

How your appointment works

Simple, transparent and designed around you and your tenants.

Step 1

Book with an appliance estimate

Give us a rough count. We price on the band that actually applies on the day, so an estimate is enough to get started.

Step 2

Formal visual inspection

Every appliance, flex, plug and fuse is inspected — where most genuine faults are found.

Step 3

Electrical testing by class

Earth continuity, insulation resistance and polarity tested as appropriate to each appliance's class.

Step 4

Label, register and certify

Each item is labelled with its result and retest date, and your certificate and asset register are emailed the same day.

FAQs

PAT Testing — frequently asked questions

There is no statute mandating an annual PAT test by name. There is a legal duty to ensure supplied appliances are safe, under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and your obligations as a landlord. For HMOs, the Management of HMO Regulations 2006 require supplied appliances to be inspected and a declaration made available to the council. Testing with a written register is the standard way of proving compliance.

Annually for a standard furnished let, and annually for most HMOs as a licence condition. Higher-use environments such as commercial kitchens and laundries justify more frequent testing. We set a retest date per appliance based on type and setting.

Anything you supply that plugs in — kettles, microwaves, fridges, washing machines, lamps, TVs, vacuum cleaners, extension leads and chargers. Hardwired items such as electric showers, cookers and extractor fans are covered by your EICR instead.

Legally they are the tenant's responsibility, not yours. In an HMO we would still recommend offering it, because a faulty tenant appliance on a shared circuit affects every other occupant and will keep tripping the supply.

It is labelled as failed, removed from service and recorded on your register with the reason. Where the fault is a flex or a fuse we can often repair it on the spot; where the appliance itself is faulty we recommend replacement rather than repair, which is almost always cheaper.

Yes, and it is the sensible way to book. One visit, one appointment for your tenant, and both certificates issued together.

Book now

Book your PAT Testing today

Fill in the form and we'll confirm your appointment and an all-inclusive price, usually within the hour. Prefer to talk? Call us and we'll book you in within two minutes.

Call our team

07426 409342

Mon–Sat · bookings confirmed in under 2 minutes