‘Part P’ – what is it and why is it important?

Part P refers to the section of the building regulations concerned with the design and installation of electrical installations.  Since January 2005, it has been a requirement for anyone carrying out electrical work in homes and gardens in England and Wales to follow rules defined in Part P of the building regulations. These regulations protect you from unsafe electrical wiring. They require certain electrical jobs to be notified to your local authority building control [LABC] unit before work commences. LABC then inspect the finished installation to ensure it complies with building regulation. There is a fee payable to LABC for this notification/inspection process. However, if you use a Part P approved electrician there is no fee payable. Moreover, they will ensure all work complies to building regulations and handle all notification paperwork. The approved electrician will issue the customer directly with an electrical installation certificate, and his governing body [in our case ELECSA] will notify LABC and send the customer a building regulations compliance notice, usually within 30 days of the work being completed.

This paper trail ensures that the work was carried out by a Part P certified electrician, and that the work itself complies with the current building regulations.  The documents are important. If you want to insure, or even sell, your home they provide proof that your electrical installation is safe and complies with buildings regulations. If the work is non-notifiable, on completion the electrician should still present the person ordering the work with a minor works installation certificate.

Notifiable work, or non-notifiable work?

Certain electrical jobs in the home are ‘notifiable’, which means that the work needs to be checked by the Local Authority Building Control [LABC] Department (giving two days’ notice before starting work) unless carried out by an electrician registered with an authorised Part P self-certification scheme.

In general terms, notifiable work includes installing new circuits back to the consumer unit – for example, a new ring, lighting or cooker circuit – and extending or altering existing circuits in a bathroom or a room with a swimming pool or sauna. Extensions to existing circuits that are not in these locations are NOT notifiable. Repair, maintenance and like-for-like replacement jobs (other than of consumer units) anywhere in the house are also NOT notifiable.

BS 7671 and ‘18th Edition’.

Terms which you may hear a lot when dealing with electricians or builders is ‘BS 7671′ or ’18th Edition’. BS [British Standard] 7671 refers to the regulations/requirements concerning electrical installations in the U.K., which all electrical work, i.e. the wiring in your house or business premise, must adhere to when installed. ’18th Edition’ is just the latest [2018] edition of these regulations. One important thing to remember and to have in your mind when dealing with an electrician is that the BS7671 regulations are not retrospective, i.e. if your home was re-wired in 2005 in compliance with the 16th Edition, there is no obligation for you to have further improvements so that your home meets 18th edition regulations. However, all new electrical work does have to be done to the latest [18th] edition.

Fair and considered judgement.

Our electricians, after testing your property will answer any questions you might have. We provide honest, fair and considered feedback on your installation, indicating any areas that pose a risk or that would simply benefit from updating.