Helpful information
Part P regulations
Domestic Installations & installations with living accomodation
Doing the work yourself or using a non registered electrician
Since the introduction of part P by the Govenment in 2005, most types of electrical work carried out in a domestic installation is now notifyable to Building Control of your local council by law. Although you can still undertake the work yourself or employ someone who is not part P registered, you must inform your local Building Control officer of the work before the work is started. Before the work is started a Building Control Officer will view the work to be completed, and you will have to pay a Building Control fee to register the work. On completion the work will be tested by a part P registered service, and if the work has been installed correctly to current electrical & building regulations, you will receive a Building Control certificate. If the work is found not to be installed correctly, Building Control can insist on the work being done again at your expense.
Using a part P registered electrican
By far the best way is to employ a part P registered electrician or company, who will be able to start straight away and will save you money on notification fee's. A registered electrician or company knows all of the regulations and will be able to supply you with an electrical certificate on completion, plus complete the notification process for you. All registered companys must have public liability insurance and some also have indemnity insurance, where as an unregistered electrician may not. If you use an unregistered electrician who does not have insurance, you will not be able to claim against them, if they do something wrong or give you bad advice.
Which part P electrician can I use
You do not need to use an NICEIC electrician or company, there are a number of part P registered scheme providers such as NAPIT, ECA, BRE, NICEIC, ELECSA. All these organisations promote their members but the truth is you can use any part P registered service. You should verify with your insurance company, Council or landlord who you can use, as they may not accept their certificates. If you should be told they do not accept a certain organisations certificates, the electrician will contact their organisation and they will contact them to discuss it further.
What will happen if I do the work myself and don't inform Building Control of the work
Yes you could do the notifiable work yourself and not notify Building Contol, but you will be found out in time and could be fined up to £5000, and your insurance could become invalid. During a periodic test & inspection, we have to note down on the certificate the last test date, if there are any certificates available, and if there has been any additions or alterations to the installation. If there has been any and you cannot supply a certificate for them, you could be found guilty of not complying with part P of the Buiding Regulations. Since 2004 there has been new cable colours and it is against the law to use the old colours, so now it is even easier to find out where alterations and additions have occured.
What happens if I use an unregistered electrican
When you employ an unregistered electrican to complete notifyable work, the work must be informed to Building Control before the work starts. It is the owner, landlord or person ordering the work responsibility to notify all notifyable work to Building Control. It is also against the law for an unregistered electrician to complete notifyable work, without informing Building Contol, unless they work for a part P registered company. An employee of a part P registered company, cannot complete any notifyable work unless they are completing it for the part P registered company they work for. An unregistered electrician is not even allowed to complete notifyable work on their own house, unless Building Control are informed.
Always check your electrician is a member of an approved part P electrical scheme, or works for a company who is. You can check if an electrician is a member of a scheme, by going on their scheme providers website member search. If you check an electrician out and do not find their details on their providers website, give them a call to tell them the electrician is committing fraud.
The price of notifying all notifyable work
The price of notifying all notifyable Building work & Electrical work, can be found out at your local council offices or on your local council website. But it is far cheaper to use a qualified trades person to notify, than notify the work yourself.
Industrial & Commercial Electrical Work
All non domestic electrical work can be carried out by any electrician, but the electrician should be competant in their job, and be able to complete all work to the Electrical Regulations BS7671 and the Electricity at work regulations.
Periodic Testing & Inspections
All electrical installations require a periodic test & inspection at regular intervals, to check the installation is safe to use, identify any defects or non-compliance of regulations, and there is protection from fire. Please see the chart below for the time periods between inspections of electrical installations, also see the reference notes at the bottom of the chart.
Landlords
A landlord is required to provide a tenant with an electrical installation in good condition and repair. The landlord should maintain the installation in a condition suitable for the use intended, and ensure that repairs are undertaken by a competant person.
Tenants
A tenant has the duty to ensure that those parts of the installation that are his or her responsibility are maintained in a safe condition, and to ensure that repairs are carried out only by a competant person.
Below is information on when Periodic test & inspections should take place
Frequencies between periodic test & inspections taken from
the IEE Inspection & Testing Guidance note 3
BS 7671 Requirements for electrical installations
The information can be viewed at any library
or a copy bought from most book shops
| Type of installation | Routine check sub-clause 3.5 | Maximum period between inspections and testing as necessary | Reference (see notes below) |
General Installations Domestic Commercial Education establishments Hospitals Industrial Residential accomodation Offices Shops Laboratories | ------------ 1 year 4 months 1 year 1 year at change of occupancy or 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year | Change of occupancy or 10 years change of occupancy or 5 years 5 years 5 years 3 years 5 years 5 years 5 years 5 years | 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 1 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 |
Open to the public Cinemas Church installations Leisure complexes excluding swimming pools Places of public entertainment Restaurants & hotels Theatres Public houses Village halls/community centres | 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year 1 year | 3 years 5 years 3 years 3 years 5 years 3 years 5 years 5 years | 2,6,7 2 1,2,6 1,2,6 1,2,6 2,6,7 1,2,6 1,2 |
Special installations Agricultural and horticultural Caravans Caravan parks Highway power supplies Marinas Fish farms Swimming pools Emergency Lighting Fire alarms Launderettes Petrol filling stations Construction sites | 1 year 1 year 6 months as convenient 4 months 4 months 4 months Daily/monthly Daily/weekly/month 1 year 1 year 3 months | 3 years 3 years 1 year 6 years 1 year 1 year 1 year 3 years 1 year 1 year 1 year 3 months | 1,2 1,2,6 1,2 1,2 1,2,6 2,3,4 2,4,5 1,2,6 1,2,6 1,2 |
Reference notes
1. Particular attention must be taken to comply with SI 1998 No 1057. The Electricity Supply Regulations 1998
(as amended).
2. SI 1989 No 635. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (Regulation 4 & Memorandum).
3. See BS 5266: Part 1: 1988 Code of practice for emergency lighting of premises other than cinemas and certian
other specified premises used for entertainment.
4. Other intervals are recommended for testing operation of batteries and generators.
5. See BS 5839: Part 1: 1988 code of practice for system design installation and servicing (fire detection and alarm
systems for buildings).
6. Local Authority Conditions of licence.
7. SI 1995 No 1129 (clause 27) The Cinematography (safety) Regulations.