How to Track EICR Certificates Across Multiple Properties
If you carry out EICR work for landlords, you almost certainly have certificates spread across a mix of folders, emails, job management apps, and memory. When you have five landlords, that's manageable. When you have twenty, it starts to cost you jobs.
This guide covers exactly what you need to track for each EICR certificate, why the tools most electricians use break down at scale, and what a proper tracking system looks like.
What You Need to Track for Each Certificate
For each EICR you carry out, you need six pieces of information to run an effective renewal pipeline:
1. Property address
Include the full address with postcode. If the landlord owns multiple properties, a partial address creates confusion at follow-up time.
2. Landlord name and contact details
First name, email address, and mobile number. Email is the highest-converting channel for renewal reminders. Mobile is useful for bookings once they've replied.
3. Certificate date
The date the inspection was carried out — not the date you issued the certificate, though these are usually the same.
4. Expiry date
Most domestic EICR certificates are valid for five years. Some properties require more frequent inspections — older wiring, HMOs, or properties where the previous report carried a C1 or C2 observation. Track the actual expiry, not just "five years from the certificate date."
5. Certificate outcome (satisfactory / unsatisfactory)
If you issued an unsatisfactory certificate, the landlord is legally required to have remedial work completed and a new inspection carried out. Tracking outcomes helps you identify which landlords have an ongoing compliance obligation.
6. Reminder status
Whether a reminder has been sent, when, and whether the landlord has responded. Without this, you'll either double-send or miss people entirely.
A seventh field worth adding: tenant name and contact, if the landlord allows direct tenant liaison. Many landlords appreciate not having to coordinate access themselves.
The Spreadsheet Problem
Spreadsheets are the default tracking tool for most electricians, and they work — up to a point.
The problem isn't that spreadsheets are bad at storing data. It's that they don't do anything. They sit there waiting for you to check them, update them, and act on them. When you're running a busy schedule, "check the spreadsheet for upcoming expiries" is the first thing to drop off the to-do list.
Here's what typically happens:
- You carry out an EICR in March 2023. You add it to the spreadsheet.
- You carry out another 30 EICR jobs over the next six months. Some go into the spreadsheet; some don't.
- By 2025, your spreadsheet has 60% of your certificates — the rest are in old emails, PDF folders, or your memory.
- March 2028 arrives. The March 2023 certificate has expired. You didn't send a reminder. The landlord booked someone else two months ago because their letting agent mentioned it.
The spreadsheet didn't fail you by being wrong. It failed you by being passive.
What a Proper Tracking System Looks Like
A reliable EICR tracking system has three properties:
It's complete. Every certificate you issue goes in. This sounds obvious but requires a consistent habit — either adding to the system on the day of issue, or as part of your invoicing process.
It surfaces upcoming expiries without you having to look. The system should alert you (or act on your behalf) when a certificate is approaching expiry, not wait for you to check.
It logs what's been done. If you sent a reminder six months ago and heard nothing, you need to know that before sending another one. If the landlord replied and booked, that should be recorded.
Option 1: A Properly Structured Spreadsheet (For 5–15 Properties)
If you're managing a small number of properties and don't want to introduce new tools, a structured spreadsheet can work — provided you commit to checking it on a fixed schedule.
Use these columns:
| Property address | Landlord name | Landlord email | Certificate date | Expiry date | Outcome | Last reminder sent | Response | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your certificate records go here | ||||||||
Colour-code the expiry date column: red for expired, amber for expiring within 60 days, green for more than 60 days remaining. Most spreadsheet apps support conditional formatting.
Set a calendar reminder for the first Monday of every month. On that day: open the spreadsheet, filter by the amber column, and send a reminder email to every landlord in that window.
This works. It requires discipline that most busy electricians don't sustain past six months.
Option 2: Certificate Management Software (For 15+ Properties)
At fifteen-plus properties, the manual approach starts to show cracks. The bigger the portfolio, the higher the chance of a certificate slipping through.
The right software does two things the spreadsheet can't: it tracks every certificate automatically, and it sends the reminders for you.
Recurvia is built specifically for electricians managing landlord renewal cycles. You import your existing certificates (or add them as you carry out new inspections), and the platform automatically sends timed reminder emails to your landlords — in your name, from your business — at 60, 30, and 7 days before expiry.
When a landlord replies, the response lands in your inbox. You book the job. The renewal gets recorded.
On the free plan, you get your first five reminder sends at no cost and with no card required. If you're managing more than five active landlords — which most electricians carrying out EICR work are — Lite or Pro gives you unlimited sends.
Setting Up a Certificate Import
Whether you're moving to software or tightening up your spreadsheet, the first step is the same: audit what you have.
Go through your last three years of invoices. For every EICR job, note:
- Property address
- Landlord name and email (from the invoice or your job management app)
- Date of inspection
- Calculated expiry date
This takes an afternoon and reveals two things: how many renewals you have coming up in the next 18 months, and how many certificates you've already let lapse without following up.
Most electricians who do this exercise find they have five to fifteen upcoming renewals they weren't actively tracking.
What About PAT Testing and Fire Alarms?
EICR is the most regulated of the three common certificate types — it carries a statutory requirement for residential landlords in England and Wales. But PAT testing (annual for most rental properties) and fire alarm inspection (annual or per BS 5839-6 recommendations) create the same renewal cycle problem.
If you carry out all three, you're potentially managing three separate expiry dates for each property. That's three times the reminder workload — and three times the revenue opportunity if you track it properly.
Pro plan on Recurvia covers PAT testing and fire alarm inspections alongside EICR, so you can manage all certificate types from a single dashboard.
A Final Note on Data Quality
The biggest risk to any tracking system is incomplete data. Specifically: missing landlord email addresses.
If you don't have a landlord's email, you can't send a digital reminder. The solution is to collect it at the point of the original inspection — either on your job sheet, your invoice, or verbally and added to the record the same day.
Going forward, make email address a required field on every new landlord record. For existing records where it's missing, a quick call or text to confirm ("Just updating my records — what's the best email for future correspondence?") recovers most of them.
The electricians with the highest renewal rates aren't necessarily the best at their trade. They're the best at staying in contact with the right person at the right time.
Start tracking your EICR certificates for free — no card required
Recurvia automatically sends renewal reminders to your landlords before their EICR, PAT, and fire alarm certificates expire — in your name, so they reply directly to you. See how it works or start free.