Portable Appliance Testing
(PAT)
Ensure your electrical appliances are safe for tenants and employees. Fully accredited testing with itemized registers and pass labels.
- Same Day Reports
- Itemized Register
- Pass Labels on Items
- Minor Repairs Included
Instant Online Quote
Quick Summary (AI & Voice Search Answers)
Simple, All Inclusive Pricing
Transparent pricing based on the number of appliances tested.
| Appliances | Price (Inc VAT) | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Upto 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* |
Your PAT Testing Guide
Everything a London landlord, letting agent or business owner needs to know about PAT testing, in the order people usually ask it. Jump straight to the part you need.
- What is PAT testing?
- Why your rental needs it
- The law and your legal duties
- HMOs and licensed properties
- Who needs an appliance test
- How it differs from an EICR
- Inside the visit: visual and electrical tests
- Which appliances are covered
- How often to test
- Labels, registers and records
- What happens when an item fails
- Prices and what is included
PAT testing prices: what is included at £59.99
One fixed price covers the visit, the inspection, the instrument tests, the labels and the written register. There is nothing to add afterwards apart from the two London travel charges that are outside anyone’s control.
- Portable Appliance Test — £59.99. All inclusive (No hidden Cost).
- Up to 10 Appliances are included in the standard price.
- £5.00 Parking Charges are applicable in case of paid parking.
- £15.00 Congestion Charge applicable in case the property is in congestion charge zone.
Have more than ten items, a furnished HMO, or several properties to cover on the same day? Ask us for a tailored quote and we will price the whole portfolio in one visit rather than charging you for four.
What is PAT Testing?
Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) is the examination of electrical appliances and equipment to ensure they are safe to use. While many electrical defects can be found by visual examination, some can only be found by testing.
For landlords, the law requires that you ensure all electrical equipment provided in the property is safe and maintained. PAT testing is the industry standard way to satisfy this duty of care.
Visual Inspection
Checking for cracked plugs, frayed cables, and casing damage.
Plug & Fuse
Ensuring the correct fuse rating and tight wiring connections.
Earth Continuity
Testing that the appliance is correctly grounded for safety.
Insulation Check
Verifying internal wiring insulation is intact.
Key Information
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01
Frequency
Recommended annually or at change of tenancy.
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02
What Counts?
Any item with a plug (e.g. Kettle, TV, Microwave).
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03
Results
Immediate pass/fail labels & digital log.
Landlord Responsibility
You are responsible for the safety of all appliances provided by you. This includes items left behind by previous tenants if you allow new tenants to use them.
Why Your London Rental Needs PAT Testing
Every kettle, fridge, washing machine and table lamp you leave in a rented property is your responsibility, not your tenant’s. PAT testing is the recognised way of proving that the appliances you supplied were checked by a competent person and were safe on the day they were handed over.
Appliances fail in ways that fixed wiring does not. A vacuum cleaner cable gets pulled through a doorway a thousand times, a kettle base gets flooded, a plug top gets stood on, and the damage is usually invisible from the outside. A short visual and electrical check finds those faults long before they trip a circuit or start a fire.
There is a practical reason as well as a safety one. Faulty appliances are the most common cause of nuisance RCD tripping in London flats, and every trip becomes an out-of-hours call, an emergency call-out fee and an unhappy tenant. Testing the appliances once removes most of those calls for a year.
Insurers and managing agents increasingly ask for the paperwork too. After any electrical incident the first question is what maintenance was carried out and when, and a dated register of every appliance in the property answers it in one page. Without a register the conversation becomes a matter of recollection, which is a poor place to be.
Finally, there is the inventory argument. Because the report lists the make, model and location of everything with a plug on it, it doubles as an electrical inventory between tenancies — useful evidence when an item goes missing or comes back damaged at the end of a let.
Our Testing Process
Efficient, thorough, and minimal disruption to tenants.
Arrival
Engineer arrives and identifies all portable appliances to be tested.
Visual Check
Inspection of plugs, cables, and casings for physical damage.
Instrument Test
Using a PAT tester to check earthing and insulation.
Labelling
Applying Pass/Fail labels and generating the asset register.
PAT Testing Law: What London Landlords Must Do
Where PAT testing sits in UK law
No statute uses the phrase “PAT testing” and no law says a landlord must carry out a portable appliance test on a fixed date. What the law does say is that electrical equipment must be safe and must be maintained in a safe condition, and testing is the ordinary, accepted way of demonstrating that you have done it.
Where equipment is used at work — a managed block, an office, a shop, a communal laundry — the duty comes from the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which require electrical systems to be maintained so as to prevent danger. The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance for duty holders, Maintaining portable electrical equipment (INDG236), explains how a mix of user checks, formal visual inspection and combined inspection and testing satisfies that duty. It is short, free and worth reading before you decide how often to test.
For residential lettings the duty is different in shape but similar in effect. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 you keep the installations in the property in repair and proper working order, and the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 require electrical equipment that is supplied to be safe. Neither names a test, both are far easier to evidence with a dated appliance register than without one.
Independent safety advice points the same way. Electrical Safety First’s guidance for landlords recommends that any electrical appliance supplied with a let property is checked before each new tenancy and inspected regularly during it. That is the standard we work to.
PAT testing in HMOs and licensed properties
Houses in multiple occupation are the one part of the residential sector where appliance safety is written down explicitly. Under the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 the manager of an HMO must, if asked by the local housing authority, supply a declaration as to the safety of the electrical appliances supplied in the common parts or in the units of accommodation. In practice councils expect that declaration to be backed by test records.
Many London boroughs go further and write appliance testing into their licence conditions, which is why HMO landlords in Newham, Waltham Forest, Croydon and Brent so often ask for it by name. Keep the register with the licence paperwork rather than buried in a property file, because the request usually arrives with a deadline attached.
Shared kitchens are the pressure point. A single HMO kitchen can hold two fridges, a freezer, a microwave, a toaster, a kettle and a washing machine, all used far harder than they would be in a family home. Those are exactly the items an annual visit is designed to catch.
Save Appliances. Save Time.
PAT testing isn’t just a tick-box exercise. It is a proactive maintenance check that extends the life of your white goods and prevents nuisance trips.
Preventative Maintenance
We tighten loose connections and replace damaged fuses during the test. This prevents overheating and extends the life of washing machines, dryers, and kettles.
Stop Nuisance Tripping
Faulty appliances are the #1 cause of RCD trips in rentals. Regular testing stops these emergency "no power" calls before they happen.
Asset Tracking
Our report doubles as an inventory list. We log the make, model, and location of every electrical item, helping you track assets between tenancies.
Included With Every Visit
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01
Pass & Fail Labels
Every item tested is labelled where the tenant can see it.
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02
Itemized Register
Make, model and location of every appliance, emailed same day.
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03
100% Peace of Mind
Documented proof the appliances you supply were checked.
Minor Repairs Included
We replace plugs and fuses for free if they are damaged.
Who Needs PAT Testing in London?
Landlords, agents, HMOs and small businesses
If you supply the appliance, you own the risk. That makes a landlord letting a furnished flat the most common customer we see, closely followed by letting agents who need a consistent record across a managed portfolio and by HMO operators whose licences depend on it.
A part-furnished let still counts. Even where the tenant brings their own furniture, the built-in oven, the extractor, the fridge-freezer left in the kitchen and the boiler controls were all supplied by you. Items abandoned by a previous tenant become yours too, the moment you allow the next tenant to use them.
Small businesses come to us for a different reason. Offices, salons, cafes, workshops and short-let apartments all use electrical equipment at work, so the Electricity at Work Regulations apply directly, and the test frequency follows a risk assessment rather than a calendar. A hairdresser’s dryers get tested far more often than an accountant’s monitors, and rightly so.
PAT testing vs EICR: which check do you need?
The two checks are complementary, not alternatives, and confusing them is the most common mistake we see. The dividing line is simple: anything permanently connected to the building is fixed wiring, anything you could unplug and carry out of the front door is a portable appliance.
- EICR covers the fixed installation — the consumer unit, cabling, sockets and light fittings — and is a legal requirement every five years for privately rented homes in England under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020.
- Portable appliance testing covers the movable equipment plugged into that installation: kettles, fridges, washing machines, lamps, TVs and vacuum cleaners.
- Gas Safety Certificate (CP12) is the annual gas equivalent, required under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
- Fire risk assessment covers the fire precautions in the building and is expected for HMOs and common parts under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Most London landlords book the electrical work together, because one engineer, one appointment and one set of keys is cheaper and far less disruptive for the tenant than three separate visits. You can book both checks in the same slot or compare fixed prices on our pricing page.
Inside a PAT Testing Visit: Visual and Electrical Tests
The visual inspection comes first
Most defects are found by looking, not by measuring, which is why the formal visual inspection is the part of the visit that matters most. The engineer takes each appliance in turn and checks the plug top, the flex, the entry points at both ends, the body of the item and its markings.
- Plug and fuse. The plug is opened where it is a rewireable type. We look for the correct fuse rating for the appliance, tight and correctly coloured terminations, a cord grip holding the sheath rather than the cores, and no scorching around the pins.
- Flexible cable. Cuts, nicks, crushing, taped repairs, stretched cores near the plug and heat damage from radiators or halogen lamps are all recorded. A damaged flex is the single most common reason an item is failed.
- Casing and controls. Cracks, missing screws, exposed live parts, wobbling switches and evidence of liquid ingress are checked, along with any user-modified or non-UK plug adaptors.
- Suitability. An appliance can be in perfect condition and still be wrong for where it is: an indoor-rated extension lead in a garden, or a lamp with no supplementary insulation next to a bath.
Anything that fails visually is failed there and then. No instrument reading can make a cracked plug safe, so testing an item that has already failed the eye serves no purpose.
Then the instrument tests
The electrical part of the visit uses a calibrated tester and takes a minute or two per item. Which tests are applied depends on the class of the appliance, because a Class I metal-bodied kettle and a Class II double-insulated hairdryer are protected in completely different ways.
- Earth continuity. On Class I equipment we confirm there is a low-resistance path between the earth pin of the plug and the exposed metalwork, so a fault current has somewhere to go and the protective device operates.
- Insulation resistance. A test voltage is applied between the live conductors and earth to confirm the insulation has not degraded. This is the check that finds moisture in a washing machine or breakdown inside a heater long before anyone feels it.
- Polarity and lead tests. Extension leads and detachable IEC cables are tested end to end for correct polarity and continuity, which is where reversed or bridged conductors turn up.
- Functional check. Finally the appliance is switched on to confirm it works as intended and that any protective device or interlock operates.
Some items cannot be safely subjected to a full insulation test — certain IT equipment, surge-protected leads and appliances with sensitive electronics — and for those a leakage or substitute-leakage measurement is used instead. The method chosen is recorded against the item on the register.
Which appliances are covered
The working rule is simple: if it has a plug, it is in scope. In a typical London flat that means the kettle, toaster, microwave, fridge-freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, vacuum cleaner, television, lamps, extension leads and phone chargers.
Integrated and hard-wired equipment sits on the other side of the line. A built-in oven or hob that is wired into a fused connection unit forms part of the fixed installation and is assessed under the electrical installation condition report instead, although we will always check the connection where the item is accessible through a plug and socket.
Frequency, Labels and Failed Appliances
How often should PAT testing be done?
There is no legally fixed interval, and any company that tells you otherwise is guessing. Frequency follows risk: what the equipment is, how hard it is used, who uses it and what the environment does to it. The HSE guidance is explicit that intervals should come from a risk assessment rather than a rule of thumb.
For a rented home the practical answer is annually, and always at a change of tenancy. A change of tenancy is the natural moment because the property is empty, the appliances are accessible, and the incoming tenant receives a dated record from day one. That is the pattern we recommend to every London landlord we work with.
Commercial premises vary far more widely. Hand-held equipment on a building site may need checking every three months, kitchen equipment in a busy cafe twice a year, and desktop IT equipment in a low-risk office only every few years. We will suggest an interval for each item class and put it on the report.
Labels, registers and keeping records
Every item we test gets a durable pass or fail label showing the test date, the next recommended test date and the engineer’s identifier, applied where a tenant or an inspector can actually see it rather than on the underside of a machine.
The label is the visible half of the job; the register is the half that matters when someone asks a question. Your report lists each appliance by make, model, location and asset number, the class of the item, the tests applied, the readings obtained and the result. It is issued the same day as the visit and is easy to forward to an agent, an insurer or a licensing officer.
Keep the registers, do not just keep the latest one. A run of reports year on year is what shows a pattern of maintenance, and that pattern is the thing a court, a council or an insurer is actually looking for. Storage costs nothing and the alternative is expensive.
What happens when an appliance fails
A failure is not a crisis. The item is labelled as failed, removed from service and the tenant is told plainly not to use it, and the reason is written on the register so that you can decide what to do next with the facts in front of you.
Many failures are trivial and we fix them on the spot at no extra cost. Replacing a damaged plug top, fitting the correct fuse rating, re-terminating a cord grip and reseating a strained cable entry are all minor repairs included in the price, and the item is then retested and passed before we leave.
Where the fault is internal — failed insulation, a broken earth path inside a moulded appliance, water damage in a motor — the economics almost always favour replacement over repair, particularly for cheap white goods. Replace it, tell us, and we will test the new item on the next visit at no charge.
If you would rather not manage any of this yourself, book the visit online and we will handle the appointment with the tenant directly, from access through to the emailed register.
Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers to the questions London landlords ask us most about PAT testing.
While there is no specific act that says 'you must do PAT testing', regulations like the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 require you to ensure equipment is safe. PAT testing is the best way to prove this duty of care.
We recommend annually for rental properties, or at the start of each new tenancy. For commercial offices, the frequency can vary based on risk assessment.
Anything with a plug. Kettles, toasters, microwaves, washing machines, fridge freezers, lamps, TVs, and vacuum cleaners.
We will label it as 'Failed' and advise the tenant not to use it. We can often perform minor repairs (like replacing a plug or fuse) for free. If it's a major fault, the item should be replaced.
PAT testing typically covers portable items. Integrated appliances (like built-in ovens) usually fall under the EICR (fixed wiring) check, but we can check the connection if accessible via a plug.
Our Accreditations
Recognized and certified by the UK's leading property safety bodies.
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Ensure your appliances are safe and compliant. Simple pricing, itemized reports, and instant certificates.
Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) Service Areas in London
We cover all 32 London boroughs, including North London, East London, South London, West London, and central districts. Fast dispatch for: