Keys in Hand, Kettle in Box: 12 Electrical Checks Before You Properly Move In

You've got the keys, the kettle is somewhere in box four, and the air fryer is already on the worktop. Totally understandable. But a new home is also an electrical unknown — a set of circuits installed by people you'll never meet, possibly modified by a previous owner with a drill and some optimism.

An hour of looking around now saves a lot of small, annoying, occasionally expensive surprises later. Here's the handover checklist we'd run in a new place, in the order we'd run it.

1. Find the consumer unit — and photograph it

Before anything else, locate the consumer unit, open the lid, and take a clear photo of the labels. Then take a photo of the whole board with the cover on. Save both to your phone. If you ever need to isolate a circuit in a hurry, or talk to an electrician on the phone, you'll be glad you did.

While you're there: are the labels legible, or is it a faded biro scrawl reading "sockets", "lights", "???"? A circuit chart that doesn't match reality is a genuinely useful thing to fix early.

2. Identify your RCDs and test them

Look for devices with a T or Test button. Those are RCDs or RCBOs, and they're the reason a faulty appliance trips out rather than hurting anyone. Press the test button on each one — the switch should clunk off immediately. Reset it afterwards.

If there is no RCD protection anywhere on the board, that's your first conversation with an electrician. It's also worth noting whether the board is plastic (older) or metal (post-2016), and whether there are any obvious blanking plates missing.

3. Look at the meter and the tails

The meter cupboard tells you a lot. Check for:

• A smart meter, and whether it's actually communicating (a dead display often means it's running in dumb mode).
• Meter tails in good order, with no perished insulation or exposed inner cores.
• A main earth terminal and a visible earthing conductor.
• Any signs of heat — discoloured plastic, a scorched smell, melted cable sheathing.

Anything that looks burnt or smells of fish is a same-day call, not a next-week call.

4. Confirm your earthing and bonding

Main protective bonding should connect your gas and water incoming pipes back to the earth terminal. It's usually a thick green-and-yellow cable with a label. If it's missing, loose, or connected to a plastic pipe (which does nothing), ask about it. This is central to how safe the whole installation is.

5. Walk the sockets, room by room

This takes twenty minutes with a cheap socket tester from a DIY shop — plug it in, and it flags missing earths and reversed polarity. Use it on every socket in the house. Alongside that, look for:

• Cracked or discoloured faceplates
• Sockets that grip the plug loosely or feel warm after use
• Sockets in bathrooms or near water without shuttered, IP-rated fittings
• Painted-over or papered-over accessories from a rushed redecoration

6. Count your kitchen circuits before you plan the cooking

This is where new homes and ambitious cooks collide. An oven, induction hob, dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, kettle, microwave and an air fryer all pulling at once is a serious load. Check whether the oven and hob have their own dedicated circuits and isolator switches — they usually should, and they usually do, but not always.

If you're planning to add an instant boiling-water tap, a second oven or a big American fridge-freezer, get the circuit capacity checked before you buy. Upgrading a kitchen supply later means lifting flooring.

7. Check the bathroom zone

Anything within reach of the bath or shower needs to be suitable for the environment: shaver sockets only, proper IP ratings, and ideally RCD protection. If you've inherited a socket in a bathroom, that's a stop-and-ask item.

8. Test every smoke and heat alarm

Press the test button on each one. Then check the age — most units have a manufacture date on the back and a ten-year lifespan. UK guidance calls for a smoke alarm on each storey, a heat alarm in the kitchen, and carbon monoxide alarms where there's a fixed combustion appliance or a solid fuel burner. If you're renting, your landlord has specific legal duties here, so ask for the paperwork.

9. Look outside as well as in

Garden sockets, shed supplies, outdoor lighting, gate electrics, ponds and hot tubs all live in harsher conditions than interior circuits. Check for weatherproof enclosures, sealed glands, and RCD protection. A garden office or log cabin with its own supply deserves a proper look — especially if the previous owner installed it themselves.

10. Ask for the paperwork

Before you unpack, send a short, friendly email to the seller or agent asking for:

• The most recent EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report), if there is one
• Any EIC or minor works certificates for recent alterations
• Building Regulations completion certificates for kitchen extensions, loft conversions, or new circuits
• Boiler service records and gas safety documentation
• Details of any solar PV, battery storage or EV charger, including warranties and installer contacts

No paperwork isn't a disaster — plenty of homes have none — but it does tell you what you're working with.

11. Understand any green tech you've inherited

Solar panels, a home battery, an EV charger or a heat pump add real value and real complexity. Find the inverter, note its make and model, check whether there's an isolator you'd need in an emergency, and ask whether the system is still under warranty. If the previous owner has gone, the original installer may still hold records — worth a call.

12. Book the visit if these flags appear

An EICR is recommended at least every ten years for an owner-occupied home, and every five years (or at change of tenancy) for rented property in England. So if the last one is old, missing, or the property has been heavily altered, book one. Likewise if you spot:

• No RCD protection
• Fuse boxes with rewirable fuses and no spare ways
• Overloaded extension leads as a permanent fixture
• Any burning smell, buzzing board, or scorch marks
• DIY wiring in a garage, loft or outbuilding

The honest bit

You can't inspect your way to certainty. A visual once-over catches the obvious, and a socket tester plus a bit of curiosity catches a fair bit more. But the things that actually matter — insulation resistance, earthing readings, circuit integrity — need instruments and someone who knows how to use them.

So do the walk-around. Photograph the board, test the alarms, count the kitchen circuits, chase the paperwork. Then, if anything makes you pause, get an electrician in before the sofa arrives. It's far easier to work in an empty house.