EICR in Westerham for Landlords, Listed Houses and Businesses

Westerham at a glance

One household in six rented privately

At the 2021 Census the Westerham and Crockham Hill ward held 1,936 households, and 312 of them (16.1%) rented privately, 274 through a private landlord or letting agency. That share is higher than the 13.4% across Sevenoaks District, while ownership, at 67.5%, sits below the district’s 71.5%. Another 285 households (14.7%) rented from a social landlord. The ward also takes in Crockham Hill and the rural land around both places, so these figures cover more than the town.

Older houses than the rest of the district

At 31 March 2026 the Valuation Office Agency counted 2,120 properties in the three small census areas that make up the ward. 740 of them, 34.9%, were built before 1919, almost twice the 18.6% across Sevenoaks District, and 570 before 1900. Widen the view to the House of Commons Library’s Westerham & Brasted area, which adds Brasted to the east, and 1,170 of 3,610 properties are older than 1900.

Few of those houses were built with electric wiring, so the circuits in them went in later, sometimes in several stages. The report judges each one on what the inspector finds, not on the date of the building.

Listed buildings around the Green

The historic centre sits in the Westerham Conservation Area, first designated in 1973 and extended in 1994. Sevenoaks District Council’s 2015 appraisal describes some 36 hectares holding about 100 listed buildings, running from the junction of the A25 and Hosey Hill in the east to the Squerryes Court boundary along Goodley Stock Road in the west, and north up parts of London Road. It takes in the Green, St Mary’s Church, Quebec House, Pitts Cottage and part of the Squerryes Court park. “Westerham is densely populated with listed buildings,” the appraisal says.

Testing leaves the fabric as it was. Remedial work might not. The appraisal notes that a listing covers the building inside and out, along with any object or structure fixed to it, and that Listed Building Consent is required for alterations affecting its character, internally as well as externally. A new cable route chased through old plaster could be one, so we price remedial work separately from the report, which leaves time to ask the council first.

What Sevenoaks District Council can require of a landlord

TN16 also covers Biggin Hill, in the London Borough of Bromley. For a Westerham let, the local housing authority is Sevenoaks District Council.

The duties come from the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, the title they have carried since SI 2025/1043 amended them. They give a Westerham landlord four deadlines: an inspection and test no more than five years after the last one, or earlier if that report named an earlier date; a copy for existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection; any remedial work or further investigation finished within 28 days, unless the report allows less; and a copy for Sevenoaks District Council within 7 days of a written request. SI 2025/1043 also raised the maximum financial penalty the council can impose from £30,000 to £40,000.

The same instrument brought registered providers of social housing into the rules. For their tenancies granted before 1 December 2025, the first inspection must take place before 1 November 2026. In 2021, 285 ward households rented from a social landlord.

Larger shared houses add a licence. The council’s Private Sector Housing team runs the national mandatory HMO scheme, and its register of 3 June 2026 holds 21 licensed HMOs across the district, 2 with Westerham addresses. What a landlord must keep, and who gets a copy when, is set out in our landlord electrical checks guide.

Flats over shops and offices

Of the 295 ward households in flats in 2021, 213 lived in purpose-built blocks, 38 in a converted or shared house, 13 in another converted building and 31 in a commercial building, the Census category that includes living over a shop. Those 31 make up 1.6% of the ward’s households, twice the 0.8% across Sevenoaks District. The council’s appraisal describes a town centre with a good number and variety of shops, pubs and restaurants, and several office developments.

Two sets of rules can meet in one such building: the rented-sector regulations for a let flat, and for the shop or office below, the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which require electrical systems to be maintained so as to prevent danger without fixing an interval. Establishing which circuits serve the flat and which serve the business comes before testing either. How a lease can share out the business side is covered in our guide to commercial EICRs.

Oil, electric heating and where the report stops

The ward heats its homes differently from the district around it. At the 2021 Census, 221 households (11.4%) relied on oil alone, against 6.7% across Sevenoaks District, and 143 (7.4%) on electricity alone. The circuit feeding an oil boiler’s pump and controls is part of the installation we inspect and test, although servicing the boiler is a heating engineer’s job. In an electrically heated home, the heater circuits are tested with the rest.

Each finding is coded C1 where danger is present, C2 where something is potentially dangerous, C3 where an improvement is recommended and FI where further investigation is needed. The report stops at the sealed cut-out where the supply enters: that belongs to UK Power Networks, which runs the network here under its South Eastern Power Networks licence, so a defect found there is reported to it rather than repaired by us.

Booking from Keston

Westerham is 5.8 miles (9.3 km) from Glebe Farm Business Park, Keston, in a straight line rather than by road. Coutts Electrical is an NICEIC Approved Contractor, and each code on your report is explained to you in plain terms. When booking, tell us if the house is listed, if tenants need notice before circuits go off, or if a shop or office downstairs cannot lose power while it trades. Our EICR testing service page lists the tests behind every report, and for other work in the town see our electrician in Westerham page.

What every EICR job includes

• NICEIC Approved Contractor
• Domestic, landlord and commercial inspections
• Findings explained, not just coded
• Remedial work quoted separately — never assumed