Thanks for all the comments - I can see there is a difference of opinion on this
Re. "I hope when you move, kipper99, the house you buy has been extended, altered, rewired and re-plumbed entirely by a bodger, ignorant of the regulations, ignorant of the law, but just good enough to fool your superficial building society valuation (I imagine you will have the same approach to paying a surveyor). "
My job is not bodged. I have a PhD in Physics and a qualification in electrical engineering and have worked on 3kV wiring as part of my previous job so I don't feel that my efforts to install a basic ring main socket would be a "bodge". Neither am I ignorant of the regulations.
From what I have heard many local authorities simply rubber stamp work without conducting any kind of test on the work that has been done. So what is the value of this other than to line their pockets?
I have also heard that many authorities don't have inspectors qualified to check electrical work under Part P, and try to charge you for their hiring of a certified electrician to perform the checks, which is illegal.
Further, I have heard that some refuse point blank to conduct the checks and effectively force you to hire an electrician, who, quite understandably, would want to do the work from scratch rather than sign off someone else's under their own name.
Finally, why am I allowed to fit a new socket in my living room, and not in my kitchen? The argument that the kitchen ring main is more commonly overloaded is bogus - in my house the kitchen ring main is shared with the living room. The law is clearly an ass.
With all this mess, it does call into question the value of such regulations.
I'm not saying that I do intend to break the law. As someone correctly pointed out earlier, it is a matter of what level of law-breaking you consider acceptable in everyday life. Having done some further research, my main concern would me the potential invalidation of my insurance (or that of the next home-owner) in the event of a fire - presumably even if my wiring were not responsible?
Thanks for your comments,
Ted.