need electrical wiring advise from a qualified electrician

Coveredinbees!!!!

My brother had his house rewired through out about 18 months ago and was having trouble with a couple of his lights not coming on. He rang the 'electrician' who had done the rewire and he quoted him £40 call out plus the parts and labour to have a look at the problem. Anyway as he isn't currently working and I know a bit about electrics I got recruited to go and have a look. I took down the light and measured only 118 volts. As the cable was just poking out of a small hole I expected to have to pull up floor boards but I pulled the cable thru to find just choc blocks covered in tape. We guessed where the feed came from and lifted up the board in the bedroom to find some more choc blocks cover in tape where I would have expected a junction box.





Now my question is surely this can't be the correct way to wire a lighting circuit and where does it stand from a legal point ?

Owain_Moneysaver

'Choc bloc' covered in tape and under the floorboards fails the requirements in the Wiring Regulations:
- for all connections to be enclosed in a non-combustible enclosure and not accessible without the use of a tool
- for all connections to be adequately supported and not under mechanical strain
- for all screw terminals to be accessible for inspection and testing

The correct way would be a connection box with strain reliefs on the cables and using maintenance-free terminals such as Wagos.

Was this electrician a member of any self-certification scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT?

Did this electrician issue any certificates for the work?

If the electrician is a member of a scheme then complain to the scheme operator and ask for the work to be inspected.

If not, get another electrician who is a member of a scheme and who holds a City & Guilds Design, Erection and Verification (2396) Certificate or equivalent to inspect the installation and report on defects. Then sue the electrician or take to Trading Standards.

The legal position is
- Building Regulations (Part P) require the work to be done to IEE Wiring Regulations or an equivalent standard of safety
- IEE Wiring Regs require satisfactory design, installation and testing of an installation
- IEE Wiring Regs would be the a reasonable standard of work to be expected from a competent electrician
- if the electrician is not a self-certification scheme member then the householder is responsible for notifying the work to Building Control and getting a completion certificate
- if the electrician has not carried out the work to the implied reasonable standard of care and skill then he is liable for the costs of rectifying the work (even if this exceeds the original cost of the work).

(I am not a qualified electrian)

Coveredinbees!!!!

thanks that's a good starting point. God know how many other jobs he has bodged up like this, if he hadn't been shirty about looking at the fault we would never know, well not until the house burned to the ground.

Still waiting on the paperwork some was issued but he hasn't yet found it out.