Empty Property Reports in 48 Hours: Our Commitment to Estate and Lettings Agents
When a tenant hands the keys back, a clock starts. Every day that property sits empty is a day of lost rent for your landlord and a day of pressure on you to get it re-let. And in most cases, the thing holding up the re-let is not the redecoration or the clean — it is waiting on a compliance report.
We have built our void service around removing that bottleneck. When an estate or lettings agent instructs us on an empty property, we complete the report within 48 hours — two working days.
This guide explains exactly what that covers, how the clock is measured, what we need from you to hit it, and how to instruct us.
Quick answer: Manchester Compliance completes empty property electrical reports within 48 hours (2 working days) of instruction for estate and lettings agents across Greater Manchester. The clock starts when we have both the instruction and confirmed access, and ends when the completed report is in your hands — not when the engineer leaves site. Reports are issued digitally through our eWorks portal, where you can track the job live from booking to completion. To instruct, call 0161 706 1360 or email hello@manchestercompliance.co.uk.
What Is an Empty Property Report?
An empty property report is the compliance inspection carried out on a rental property during the void period — after one tenant leaves and before the next moves in.
For most instructions, the core of it is an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report), because that is the document you legally cannot re-let without. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, a valid EICR must be in place and supplied to the new tenant before they take occupation.
Depending on what the property needs, an empty property instruction can also include:
- EICR — the full electrical installation condition report, valid five years
- EPC — Energy Performance Certificate, required before marketing the property
- PAT testing — for any landlord-supplied appliances left in the property
- Smoke and carbon monoxide alarm check — testing and certification of the alarms required under the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations
- Remedial quotation — a costed schedule for anything found unsatisfactory, issued alongside the report
How the 48-Hour Clock Works
We are precise about this because a vague promise is worth nothing to you when you are chasing a move-in date.
The clock starts when we have two things
1. The instruction — property address, what you need, and your reference or work order number 2. Confirmed access — key location, key safe code, or a confirmed time we can collect keys from your branch
If the instruction arrives at 4 PM on Tuesday and access is confirmed at the same time, the clock starts Tuesday. If the instruction arrives Tuesday but keys are not available until Thursday, the clock starts Thursday. We will always tell you which it is when we acknowledge the job.
The clock stops when the report is in your hands
Not when the engineer arrives. Not when the engineer leaves. When the completed, certified report is uploaded and available to you.
This is the distinction that matters most, and it is where most contractors quietly lose you a week. Plenty of firms will attend within 48 hours and then take another five to seven working days to type up and issue the certificate. The property still cannot be re-let. Attendance speed is meaningless on its own — the report is the deliverable.
Working days, not calendar days
Two working days means Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
| Instruction received | Report delivered by | |---|---| | Monday | Wednesday | | Tuesday | Thursday | | Wednesday | Friday | | Thursday | Monday | | Friday | Tuesday |
A Friday instruction is delivered by Tuesday. We do attend on Saturdays for urgent void work by arrangement, which can pull a Friday instruction back to Monday.
What We Need From You to Hit 48 Hours
The turnaround is a two-way commitment. Here is the short list of what makes it work:
1. Access sorted at the point of instruction. This is the single biggest cause of delay on void jobs. Tell us the key safe code, confirm the keys are at your branch and we can collect, or arrange a meet. If keys are with an outgoing tenant, a cleaner, or another contractor, tell us — we will work around it, but the clock starts when access is genuinely available.
2. The property actually empty. Void reports assume vacant possession. If belongings, furniture or an outgoing tenant are still in place, the inspection takes longer and access to sockets and consumer units may be blocked.
3. Utilities on. We cannot carry out an EICR on a property with the electricity supply disconnected or a meter that has been removed. If the supply has been cut, or the property is on a prepayment meter with no credit, tell us on instruction so we can advise. This catches out more void properties than people expect, particularly on longer voids.
4. Your reference number. Your work order or property reference, so the report comes back matched to your system with no admin on your side.
5. Tell us if it is a re-test. If we or another contractor previously issued an unsatisfactory report and remedials have since been done, say so. A re-test is a different job to a first inspection.
Live Tracking: You Do Not Have to Chase Us
Every job we take is managed through our eWorks portal, and agents we work with regularly get portal access.
That means you can see, live:
- Whether the job has been booked in
- Which date and time slot it is scheduled for
- Whether the engineer has attended
- When the report has been completed and uploaded
For agents who would rather not use a portal, we send completion confirmation and the report by email as standard. The portal is an option, not an obligation.
What Happens If the Property Fails
A significant proportion of void EICRs come back unsatisfactory — particularly in older Manchester stock. This is normal and it is exactly why you test during the void rather than after a tenant moves in.
When a property fails, you receive the report and a costed remedial quotation at the same time, within the same 48 hours. You are not waiting a further week to find out what it will cost to fix.
That means on day two you can go to your landlord with the full picture — what is wrong, what it costs, and how long it takes — instead of a report that says "unsatisfactory" and no next step.
We can usually attend for remedial work within the same week, and where the remedials are minor and we can complete them on the spot, we will do so with your authorisation to avoid a second visit entirely.
Note that the 48-hour commitment covers the report, not the remedial works. Remedial timescales depend on what is found — see our remedial work guide for realistic timeframes.
Why We Built the Service This Way
Most electrical contractors treat void work as filler between larger jobs. It gets slotted in when there is a gap, and the certificate gets typed up when someone has an evening free.
We think that is backwards. Void work is the most time-critical work in the lettings calendar, because the whole re-let sits behind it. So we hold capacity for void instructions rather than fitting them around bigger jobs, and our engineers issue certification digitally from site rather than bringing paperwork back to an office.
The result is a turnaround that lets you market with confidence. When you tell a prospective tenant a property will be ready, you are not hoping — you know the compliance is done.
Coverage
We cover empty property reports across:
Manchester city centre and all Manchester postcodes, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan and Trafford. Extended areas by arrangement.
If you manage properties across multiple boroughs, one instruction route covers all of them — see our guide to portfolio void management.
Frequently Asked Questions
How quickly can you complete an empty property report?
Within 48 hours — two working days — from the point we have both your instruction and confirmed access. The clock stops when the completed report is delivered to you, not when the engineer leaves site. A Monday instruction is delivered by Wednesday; a Friday instruction by Tuesday.
Does the 48 hours include the certificate, or just the visit?
The certificate. This is the important distinction. Many contractors attend quickly and then take a further five to seven working days to issue the report, which means the property still cannot be re-let. Our commitment is to the completed, certified report being in your hands within two working days.
What if the keys are not available straight away?
The clock starts when access is confirmed. If you instruct us on Tuesday but keys are not available until Thursday, we start from Thursday and deliver by Monday. We will tell you which date we are working to when we acknowledge the instruction, so there is never any ambiguity about when to expect the report.
What does an empty property report include?
At minimum an EICR — the report you legally need before re-letting. Depending on your instruction it can also include an EPC, PAT testing of landlord-supplied appliances, smoke and CO alarm testing, and a costed remedial quotation if anything is found unsatisfactory. All of it can be completed in a single attendance.
What happens if the property fails the inspection?
You receive the report and a costed remedial quotation together, within the same 48 hours. That means you can take a complete picture to your landlord on day two rather than waiting another week for pricing. We can usually attend for remedial work the same week, and minor remedials can often be completed on the spot with your authorisation.
Can you do multiple properties at once?
Yes. Bulk void instructions are routine for us and are often faster per property than individual bookings, because we route engineers efficiently across a batch. See our portfolio guide for how bulk instructions work.
Do we need to be on site?
No. Provided access is arranged — key safe, keys at your branch for collection, or a contractor lockbox — no one from your team needs to attend. Our engineers are DBS checked and fully insured. We lock up and confirm the property is secure on completion.
Can we track the job without ringing you?
Yes. Regular agent clients get access to our eWorks portal, where you can see live whether a job is booked, scheduled, attended or completed. For agents who prefer email, we send booking and completion confirmations as standard.
Instruct Us
Manchester Compliance provides 48-hour empty property reports for estate agents, lettings agents and property managers across Greater Manchester. NICEIC approved, DBS checked engineers, digital certification, live job tracking.
Call 0161 706 1360 Email: hello@manchestercompliance.co.uk
New agent accounts can be set up the same day, including portal access and agreed schedule-of-rates pricing.