Landlord compliance

Electrical Diagnostic & Fault Finding

Systematic fault finding for tripping, dead circuits and intermittent electrical faults.

From £99.99 (inc VAT) Same-day and emergency attendance available 12-month workmanship guarantee

Book this service 07426 409342

Starting from

£99.99inc VAT

per hour · most faults traced within the first hour

Charged by time actually taken, in 30-minute increments after the first hour

Most faults traced within the first hour

Root cause identified and confirmed, not guessed at

Any danger made safe immediately on the day

Book online

Overview

What is a Electrical Diagnostic certificate?

When a breaker keeps tripping, a circuit is dead, or lights flicker for no obvious reason, the job is not installation — it is investigation. Our diagnostic service is a structured hunt for the root cause: splitting the installation down, insulation-resistance testing circuit by circuit, and isolating the specific cable, accessory or appliance responsible. You are charged for the time taken, most faults are traced within the first hour, and you get a written explanation of what was found rather than a guess and a replacement part.

Why it matters

Why it's worth getting right

Electrical faults are almost never cosmetic. A circuit that trips intermittently is telling you that current is escaping somewhere it should not — into a damp wall, through damaged insulation, or via a deteriorating connection that is quietly heating up. Guessing at the cause wastes money on parts that were never the problem, and leaves the actual fault in place. Diagnosing it properly is both cheaper over the life of the property and the only way to know the danger has actually gone.

Where fault finding fits with your obligations

Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 you are responsible for keeping the installation for the supply of electricity in repair and proper working order, and that duty is triggered by a reported fault regardless of when the last EICR was carried out. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 allows tenants to take direct action where a property is unfit, and an unresolved electrical fault is a recognised hazard under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. In short: once a fault is reported to you, the clock is running, and a documented diagnostic visit is the evidence that you responded.

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.

BS 7671

IET Wiring Regulations, 18th Edition

Any remedial work arising from the diagnosis is carried out to this standard.

LTA 1985 s.11

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

Duty to keep electrical installations in repair and proper working order.

HHSRS

Housing Health and Safety Rating System

Unresolved electrical hazards are a Category 1 hazard risk.

In detail

Understanding your Electrical Diagnostic

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

Why does my RCD keep tripping?

An RCD trips when it detects an imbalance between the current flowing out and returning — meaning some is leaking to earth. The three usual causes are a faulty appliance, moisture, and cumulative leakage. A single failing appliance, most often a washing machine heating element, a kettle, an immersion heater or an old fridge, is the most common. Moisture is next: water in an outdoor socket, a leaking shower tray above a ceiling rose, or a damp wall around a buried cable. Cumulative leakage is the subtle one — every appliance leaks a tiny amount to earth, and where many circuits sit behind a single RCD the total can creep towards the trip threshold, so the board trips on a cold morning when everything switches on at once. That last case is solved by splitting the board or moving to RCBOs, not by replacing appliances.

How we actually trace a fault

The method is bisection rather than guesswork. We start by confirming the symptom and establishing whether the fault is present continuously or only under certain conditions. The installation is then isolated and split down — circuit by circuit at the board, then at accessible junction points within a circuit — with insulation resistance measured at each stage. Because each test halves the remaining suspect length of the installation, even a large property converges on the responsible section quickly. Once located, we confirm the fault with a second independent measurement before quoting any repair, so you are never charged for work based on an assumption.

Intermittent faults — the difficult ones

A fault that appears only occasionally is usually thermal, moisture-related or mechanical. Thermal faults show up when a connection expands as it warms and loses contact, so they follow heavy load rather than the clock. Moisture faults track the weather, appearing after rain or when a bathroom is used. Mechanical faults follow vibration or movement — a cable chafing against a joist, or a connection disturbed by a slamming door. Because these cannot always be reproduced on demand, we may fit temporary monitoring or advise on a pattern to record before returning. We will always tell you honestly when a fault needs a second visit to catch rather than billing hours chasing something that is not present.

What you can safely check before calling us

Two checks are safe and often save you a call-out. First, unplug everything on the affected circuit, reset the breaker, then reintroduce appliances one at a time, waiting a minute between each — if it trips when a specific appliance goes back on, that appliance is your fault. Second, note precisely when the problem occurs: after rain, when the shower runs, when the heating fires, only in the evening. That pattern is genuinely valuable diagnostic information and often cuts our time on site significantly. What you should never do is hold a breaker in, replace a fuse with a higher rating or wire, or open any accessory or the board itself.

Warning signs

When you need a diagnostic visit

Call us rather than waiting for the next scheduled inspection if:

A breaker or RCD trips repeatedly, whether or not it resets afterwards

A circuit is completely dead but the breaker appears to be on

Lights flicker, dim or brighten when other appliances start up

There is a burning smell, buzzing or crackling from any socket, switch or the board

Sockets, switches or faceplates feel warm to the touch

Anyone has felt a tingle or shock from an appliance, tap or metal fitting

An EICR returned an FI — further investigation required — observation

The fault appears only in certain weather, or only when specific appliances run

The risks

Why guesswork costs more than diagnosis

Replacing parts until the symptom goes away is the most expensive way to fix an electrical fault:

!You pay for components that were never the cause, and the fault remains

!A tripping RCD that gets 'solved' by disabling protection leaves people unprotected

!Overheating connections progress silently from nuisance to fire risk

!Repeated out-of-hours call-outs for the same recurring symptom

!Tenant complaints escalate to the council where the fault is not resolved promptly

!An unresolved fault becomes an FI or C2 on your next EICR, failing the report

!Insurers decline claims where a known fault was reported and not properly investigated

Preventing faults in the first place

Most of the faults we trace were avoidable. Test every RCD and RCBO quarterly with its integral test button. Keep outdoor sockets, garden lighting and shed supplies properly weatherproofed and inspected annually, as these account for a disproportionate share of leakage faults. Replace failing appliances rather than nursing them, particularly washing machines and immersion heaters, which are the leading cause of nuisance tripping. Make sure tenants know to report tripping, flickering and warm accessories immediately rather than working around them, and keep the consumer unit accessible so a fault can be isolated quickly when it happens.

Why us

The benefits of booking your Electrical Diagnostic with us

Accredited, transparent and built around making compliance easy.

Charged by time actually taken, in 30-minute increments after the first hour

Most faults traced within the first hour

Root cause identified and confirmed, not guessed at

Any danger made safe immediately on the day

Fixed-price repair quote before further work begins

Same-day and emergency slots across London

What's included

Everything covered in your Electrical Diagnostic

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

Systematic fault isolation using insulation resistance and continuity testing

Confirmation of the fault by independent second measurement before any repair

Immediate make-safe of any dangerous condition found

Written explanation of the root cause, not just the symptom

Fixed-price quote for the repair before any further work proceeds

Same-day and emergency attendance across all 32 boroughs

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.

Electrical Diagnostic from

£99.99inc VAT

per hour · most faults traced within the first hour

Get my exact price

All prices include VAT · 12-month workmanship guarantee

Diagnostic pricing

Service	Price (inc VAT)
Fault finding and diagnosis	£99.99 per hour
Minimum charge	1 hour
Additional time	Charged in 30-minute increments

The majority of faults are traced within the first hour. Any repair work identified is quoted as a fixed price and agreed with you before it starts — diagnostic time is never used to run up an open-ended bill.

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

Describe the symptom

Tell us what happens and when. The pattern — after rain, under load, at a particular time — often halves the time on site.

Step 2

Reproduce and confirm

We verify the fault is present and establish whether it is continuous or conditional before touching the installation.

Step 3

Isolate systematically

The installation is split down circuit by circuit with insulation testing at each stage until the fault is located precisely.

Step 4

Explain and quote

You get a plain-English explanation of the root cause and a fixed-price quote for the repair before any further work.

FAQs

Electrical Diagnostic — frequently asked questions

Diagnosis is £99.99 per hour inc VAT with a one-hour minimum, then charged in 30-minute increments. Most faults are traced within that first hour. Any repair is quoted separately as a fixed price and agreed before we proceed.

Intermittent tripping is usually thermal, moisture-related or cumulative. A connection that loses contact as it warms, water finding its way into an outdoor socket, or the combined small leakage of many appliances creeping over the trip threshold on a cold morning are the three most common causes. Each needs a different fix, which is exactly why diagnosis matters.

No. A breaker that trips is doing its job — it has detected a fault. Repeatedly resetting it leaves the fault live and, if the cause is an overheating connection, allows it to keep deteriorating. Never hold a breaker in or replace a fuse with a higher rating.

Wherever we can. If the repair is straightforward and we have the parts, we quote and complete it there and then. Larger repairs — a damaged buried cable, a full circuit replacement — are quoted for a return visit at a time that suits your tenant.

Always, and at no extra cost. Any immediately dangerous condition is isolated and made safe before we leave, and we explain exactly what has been disconnected and why.

Book now

Book your Electrical Diagnostic 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.

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07426 409342

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