One number explains more about electrical work in Lewisham than any other. On the 2021 census, 16.3% of households in this borough lived in a converted or shared house — not a purpose-built flat, but part of a house that was divided up. Across England that figure is 3.5%. Lewisham runs at well over four times the national rate, and it is one of the highest shares anywhere in the country.
Why it matters is the paperwork as much as the wiring. When a house is divided, someone has to decide where one installation stops and the next begins, and that decision is often thirty or forty years old and undocumented. Meter positions end up in odd places. A single original circuit can end up feeding rooms in two different homes. Nobody involved in the split is still around to ask. Establishing the actual boundaries of an installation is frequently the first hour of the job here, before any testing starts.
Around the conversions sits an ordinary enough mix — terraced houses at just over a quarter of households, purpose-built flats at nearly two fifths, and post-war estates behind them. What testing tends to turn up in the older half of that is unremarkable individually and awkward in combination: protective devices from a different era, earthing that was acceptable when it went in, and circuits that have been extended rather than replaced. The report is what tells you which of those you actually have.
Lewisham has been licensing private rentals for some time, which is worth knowing if you have bought recently. The borough’s additional HMO licensing scheme has run since April 2022, and its selective licensing scheme came into force on 1 July 2024, covering 18 wards — effectively the whole borough except Telegraph Hill and a small part of Blackheath — and around 20,000 properties. Most privately rented homes in SE13 therefore need a licence.
Whichever scheme applies, the electrical duty runs alongside it: most private rented homes need an Electrical Installation Condition Report renewed at least every five years, and licensed properties carry their own conditions on top, including on electrical safety and on who may carry out work. Read the conditions attached to your own licence before booking anything, rather than assuming the two schemes ask for the same things.
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