Electrical Certificates

dottiepeas

Hello,

We had some new electrics done in our house, but now can't get hold of the electrician to get the certificate of works done. He has not responded to any calls or emails, and the last time he said he would post me the certs. He was self-employed and recommended, but I have no address for him, other than mob and email address.

Firstly, is it necessary to have the certs if we plan to live in our house for a long time and definately not looking to move.

Secondly, am I able to contact another electrician to check the work done by the previous guy, and then have certs issued?

Thanks!

lfc321

I don't know if this is always the case, but our electrician's certficates were sent out by the certification company (in his case elecsa) notby the electrician himself. If you can find out who issues his certs maybe you could contact them directly? Does it have their logo on your invoice or anything?

macman

Have you looked him up on the registration site, there should be some sort of street address given there?
You did check that he was properly registered I assume? If not he won't be issuing any certificates...
Very difficult to have someone else check and authorise work done by another, as all the work must be visible and accessible. For example, wiring now under floorboards or plastered into walls was would have to be re-exposed.

Yooj_2

Firstly, it needs to be determined whether the work done was notifiable under Part P of the building regulations...Generally, if a new circuit has been added anywhere in the premises, or alterations/additions done in kitchens and special location (bathroom / shower-room / garden), or a Consumer Unit has been changed, then these are notifiable under Part P.

General repairs, i.e. like-for-like swaps, replacement of a circuit with the same rating of cable etc, updating earth bonding, and alterations/additions outside of the kitchen and special locations are not notifiable under Part P.

Generally, installation work whether it is an addition/alteration/repair/installation should encompass a certificate of some sort. This could be a minor-works certificate (MWC) for addition/alteration/repair and an electrical installation certificate (EIC) for circuit installation. The certificate should be provided to the person ordering the work (homeowner in this case), but it can either come directly from the electrician or from the scheme provider - Elecsa. I do not think that the other scheme providers (NICEIC, NAPIT) perform this service, and in this case the electrician should provide you directly with the certificate.

Furthermore, if the work was notifiable under Part P, then the electrician notifies the job to their scheme provider, who in turn notified you Local Authority Building Control, who then issue you with a Building Control Completion Notice for the notifiable work.

It is this document and also the electrical certificates that are required, especially if you are planning to sell your house as the purchasers will likely request this information.

In terms of getting someone to inspect the work...Again it is dependent upon the type and amount of work, though there is a process called a Periodic Inspection which provides you with a Periodic Inspection Report (PIR). This report will then identify whether the installation (limited to the work done by the electrician) is satisfactory or not, with suitable codes of severity for non-compliance.

In some instances, a Local Authority will accept a PIR in lieu of an EIC where an EIC was not provided at the time of commissioning. If you need Part P compliance sign-off, then I would suggest you speak to your Local Authority Building Control first to see what they will accept.

Yooj_2

macman wrote: »

Have you looked him up on the registration site, there should be some sort of street address given there?
You did check that he was properly registered I assume? If not he won't be issuing any certificates...

Any electrician can issue a certificate irrespective of whether they are a member of a registered scheme. The only thing the scheme does in this case is to allow them to notify work under Part P of the building regulations through their scheme provider. Even if they were not with a scheme, the electrician could still notify the work to the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) themselves, though this is a lot more costly.

macman wrote: »

...Very difficult to have someone else check and authorise work done by another, as all the work must be visible and accessible. For example, wiring now under floorboards or plastered into walls was would have to be re-exposed.

The Periodic Inspection process limits the inspection to the electrical installation that can be inspected, therefore it is noted on the PIR that floorboards will not be lifted etc, though a full set-of electrical tests should be able to be carried out on the installation.

macman

I was assuming that the work done was notifiable, as the OP refers to 'new electrics'.

Yooj_2

macman wrote: »

I was assuming that the work done was notifiable, as the OP refers to 'new electrics'.

Yep, fair do's.

choccieuk

I have a similar problem with having no Part P certificate. We are looking to move so I was getting all relevant docs ready regarding our extension which we had build 4 years ago. Unfortunately I couldn't find our completion certificate and on checking with the builder it transpires that we don't have one! Apparently the electrician that did our electrics could issue Part P if he was working directly for his company but as he did it as a 'favour' to our builder then he couldn't issue a certificate and therefore we couldn't have the extension signed off (shame he didn't mention that 4 years ago!). However, I have contacted the building regulation dept of our local council and they said it wasn't a problem and they can send someone out to check the work (though for an additional cost) then the building inspector can issue our completion certificate. (fingers crossed)

pawpurrs

Just dont say you have any electrical work done when you come to sell, far easier! All red tape nonsense!

Yooj_2

choccieuk wrote: »

I have a similar problem with having no Part P certificate. We are looking to move so I was getting all relevant docs ready regarding our extension which we had build 4 years ago. Unfortunately I couldn't find our completion certificate and on checking with the builder it transpires that we don't have one! Apparently the electrician that did our electrics could issue Part P if he was working directly for his company but as he did it as a 'favour' to our builder then he couldn't issue a certificate and therefore we couldn't have the extension signed off (shame he didn't mention that 4 years ago!). However, I have contacted the building regulation dept of our local council and they said it wasn't a problem and they can send someone out to check the work (though for an additional cost) then the building inspector can issue our completion certificate. (fingers crossed)

Did you get any sort of completion certificate for the extension, not just for the electrical work?

I ask because the builder might be trying to pull the wool over your eyes, in that the electrical work should have just come under the entire building notice, and thus would not have required a separate completion certificate just for the electrical work.

It was fine for the electrician to do this work, assuming he carried out the work to the wiring regulations and completed the necessary testing/inspections and certifications.

Do you recall building inspectors coming to site to perform inspections throughout the building work?

choccieuk

The building inspectors came throughout the build for all checks (foundations, before 2nd fix etc) just not for the completion visit, and building regulations Dept have confirmed that, but the builder said that they would not issue the completion certificate for the extension without us having a part P for the electrics hence why the builder never asked the inspector to come out for the completion visit.