Electrical & Property Improvements

Q: Does Part P apply to me?

A: Part P applies to :-

Dwelling houses and flats and property with a shared meter e.g. a shop or public house with a flat / rooms above. It also applies to any outbuildings such as a garage, shed, workshop etc. or any associated land or building with / adjacent with the property. This even includes garden lighting and fishpond pumps!.

(Or, put simply about 94% of domestic / light commercial property in the UK)

We can confirm your property status for you, we need to know the nature of the work and its location within the property.

Below is a quick reference diagram guide to see if your property falls in to the Part P regulations

Q: What do we do to ensure that your property is compliant with the Part P Regulations?

A:- All of our work is carried out so as to meet the required local control building regulations. At the end of the job, all of our Electrical work is tested and the results recorded (Test Certificate) with a copy been given to the person who has ordered the work.

This will ensure that you will know that the work has been carried out in accordance with Building Regs and that all safety criteria has been met as regards Part P and electrical safety.

You will then be able to use the Test Document as proof to the local Building Controls Office (Council) and any other interested party (such as your Buildings Insurance Provider) that all work has been completed by a registered and skilled person.

We also inform the Local Building Control trough the approved membership scheme that you have had work carried out and that it has been completed by an approved electrical service and has been tested to ensure that it is safe and has passed all safety checks.

Q: Why can not I ask a friend to wire up my new kitchen (he did his own a couple of years ago)?.

A:- From the 1st January 2005 it has been illegal for a person to do any work who has not been given approval from a registered governing body to do / change / install etc. any electrical work in a regulated location (such as a kitchen or bathroom).

Also from the 31st March this year (2006) the colour coding has changes on all cable types. The new colour codes has been available for some time now and after the date stated above, the old coded cable will be illegal to supply and use.

This means that if your property were ever inspected (see inspection below) and the new cable codes found, then you would have to have a completed installers and test certificate for the work in question.

Q: Why should my property ever be inspected?

A: The most likely event of having your property inspected is from early 2007 when the "New Buyers Pack" will have to be prepared and presented to each person who is thinking of buying your house.

This new Buyers Pack by law will have to consist of an electrical report stating the effectiveness and safety compliance with the current electrical and building regulations. Every plug socket, lighting appliance, shower & cooker connection etc. will have to be checked and reported on. Should there be any defects, they have to be reported within the Buyers Pack and the faults made available to the potential new buyer of your property. You will now understand the relevance of the new colour codes above - Brown & Blue (new codes) need a safety test certificate.

There are two options if your property has had controlled work carried out and not reported and tested as Part P requires:-

1: You have the work put right and tested by an approved / qualified electrician (at an extra cost to yourself)

or

2: It gets listed in the report and the the asking price for your property starts to look a little less likely (would you buy a house with potentially faulty electric's at its full price or would you want to get quotes to bring it up to building regulations?).

You may even find that the new buyers Mortgage company will not release the money for payment to yourselves until all the work is completed and tested on the property that you are trying to sell.

Q: I don't intend to sell my house, so why should I bother ?

A: There are increasing numbers of property owners who are falling foul of the electrical safety regulation.

One well reported case, is of a man who got his good friend and neighbour to wire up the new plug sockets and lighting circuit in his new kitchen extension. All went well for a few months, but an unrelated electrical fire broke out (in the day so luckily no one was hurt as the house was empty) and the fire took the back of the house with it.

We move now to the arrival of the Insurance Inspector (there are more Insurance Inspectors now than there are assessors). On checking the electrical system, he asked for the completion & safety certificates (Part P) when, of course, they were not forthcoming (the friend was unqualified), they left the property.

Days later after been informed by the Insurance company, the bank moved in to repossess the property because the owner had allowed work to be carried out on his property that was contrary to building regulations and there for broke the mortgage agreement (its a little clause in there).

Because of the extent of the damage and the likely cost of its repair (now proved to be uninsured), the bank moved to secure its own investment due to the fact that the insurance company refused (and later won its case in court after a challenge) to pay for the repairs.

It is understandable that the householder would want to be able to save a few pounds by asking his friend (you can only wonder if he still is) to do the work for him - but they lost virtually everything!.

Electricity can seriously injure, hurt and kill if it is not treated with respect and installed correctly, if it is installed incorrectly, it can lead to very serious consequences.

If the job is done correctly in the first place and tested so that the electrical appliance are safe to use, then you could save yourself a lot of time, hart ache and money.