Certifying electrical installation

[Handyman]

I might be in the market for buying a property in which the electrics have been updated at different times over the last 4 years, including some circuits with the new colour coded cable. Whilst everying thing I have checked seems to be installed very well and connected correctly (which is almost every socket, fitting, consumer unit, earth bonding, etc.), there is no certfication for any of the work. If I sell the property, I would like to get the whole lot tested and certified.

Apart from anything else, it will provide a starting point for any subsequent modification work, as if I get an electrician to fit, say, a new circuit in the kitchen, then (unless I'm mistaken) he can only certify the work he's done, leaving the existing circuitry uncertified.

How do I go about getting the whole lot tested, inspected, and certified?

 

[ColJack]

from what someone told me on another thread, what you want doing is not notifiable under part P..

it's a periodic inspection and as such does not involve any additional work ( assuming all is up to scratch anyway.. )

 

[sparkybird]

Hi Handy

No electrician can certify work he's not undertaken. However, to reassure yourself that it's safe and/or to find out what work needs to be done to make it safe you can commission an electrician to carry out a Periodic Test and Inspection - this provides a snapshot of your installation and will include testing of circuits and visual inspection. This is really your only option. Note that you don't have to use a 'Part P' electrician for T and I (mad I know), but you might have to for subsequent work (ie if it's notifiable)

If you get your sparks to carry out work, obviously he can certify that.

Hope this helps

SB

 

[davy_owen_88]

You can get a periodic inspection report carried out and this will tell you what state the installation is in.

Any work found to be unsatisfactory will need to be remedied and this will be certified but all work in good condition will not.

 

[kking183]

i have been told one of those periodic inspection reports costs around £300

 

[davy_owen_88]

Something like that.

 

[den1962]

the cost of a PIR depends on the size of house/building if its only a two bed then £300 is a bit steep.

 

[Handyman]

OK, Periodic Inspection seems to be the route, and £300 seems a reasonable fee to pay, but what I can't understand is, that if an electrician fits a new circuit, he then certifies it as OK, but he might be connecting it to a system which is completely Mickey Mouse. It might test OK, but everything else about it might be rubbish (this isn't so in my case, I would point out).

What I want to avoid is a prospective buyer of the property saying to me, "OK, we'll buy the house, but where's your Part P certification for the electrics?" (or the circuits in the kitchen, garden, or whatever). I might be able to supply him/her with a Part P cert for any new circuits which I get installed, but he/she might quibble over the rest of it, leaving me with a big headache when I come to sell. (There will be lots of headaches of course - and excuses to drop the price - as there always is, but I'm trying to pre-empt as many as possible)

For example, a crafty buyer might notice that a length of SWA cable leading to an outside light from the garage of this place, hasn't been terminated correctly (no gland - just goes straight into a JB - but easy to rectify), and immediately suspect all the electrics, and then ask (or more likely his/her uninformed solicitor will ask) for appropriate certification which I have to chase around to sort out at the last minute. This might be even more problemmatic when we have to supply these new HIP things.

 

[den1962]

If i was to install a new circuit,& notice the swa i would note it on the EIC under comments on existing installation

 

[sparkybird]

Handy

If an electrician adds onto a system (eg new sockets off ring), he will first test that it is safe to add on to AND on the cert state quite clearly which bit of work he is certifying (ie only the new sockets). He might even just run a new circuit - to avoid touching any of the old stuff.

I'm afraid there is no way round your prospective buyer saying "where's your part P certs" if the original electrician didn't issue any certs - unless you can track him down and persuade him to do so!

If you're buying this property, what's to stop you saying to the vendors - "oi, where are your P certs?" and then use the lack of them to knock the price down???

SB

 

[Handyman]

Sparkybird, thatis a good point. The reality is that there are many details to address, and I don't want to get bogged down with minutiae. I don't want to waste time going into details, but there are a number of other problems which I can sort very economically, hence making the deal worth while, but with items such as electrics I am immediately in the hands of others and (potentially) a lot of bureaucracy, which immediately means me losing control of the situation and inevitable higher costs.

It's more trouble than it's worth to try and track down the one or more electricians that have all added their bit. As I said, it all looks pretty good to me, apart from a couple of minor, easily rectifiable points.

From what I have been told by you guys, I will get a local sparky to come and look, and discuss possibilities with him as regards this Periodic Inspection.

Thanks for your advice on this matter.

 

[ColJack]

the ONLY way to get a "Part P" cert as you say is to get it totaly rewired..
only then can the electrician certify all the work in the house..

a PIR can be as comprehensive as you want to make it.. it justs costs more..
A sparky can only inspect stuff he can get to see, so any cables in walls or under laminate flooring etc cannot be inpected.

they can be tested, but he cannot be sure that they are run in the safe zones and don't go diagonally up the wall etc ( as I found on one job while drilling.. went up the wall about 30 degrees.. )

a normal PIR does 10% of the install unless faults are found, but you can ask for 100% to be done..