Consumer unit certification rip-off?

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I rent out a flat in London. With tenants about to change it needed an EICR, which has failed due an old "hot wire" fuse box and lack of RCD.

The property agency who sent the ECIR sparky have quoted £700 for the work. I queried it, pointing out that the flat is small with few circuits, and materials wouldn't come to much more than £100.

They claim it needs an Installation Certificate (£150) and Building Compliance Certificate (£150). On top of this I guess they will want the originally-quoted £119 for failing the ECIR.

I thought a qualified sparky could self-certificate work like this. Are they correct? Is their charge fair? Even if all these certs are necessary £300 (plus £119) seems a lot for the labour. Any advice welcome. Thanks.
 
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The two certificates you mention are legal requirements and part of the job and should cost nothing.

Not sure if the supposed charges are included in the 700 or on top.
Of course they could still charge you the same figure whether they said that or not.
 
EFLI - yes, it includes the certificates. That's how they (try to) justify the price. Why can't he self-certificate?
 
He must issue the EIC to you on completion of the work.

Then he should be able to self-certificate (which really means self-notify) and when he does, you will receive the Certificate of Compliance.

So, if he had just said the work will cost 700 including necessary paper work, what would you have thought?
You are in that there London where things cost silly amounts.
 
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You don't have to have the same person to replace the consumer unit as carried out the inspection.
 
So, if he had just said the work will cost 700 including necessary paper work, what would you have thought? You are in that there London where things cost silly amounts.
Quite so. In fact, I may be wrong, but I'm not sure that £700 for a CU replacement ("and all the necessary paperwork") (if that's what we are talking about) would be particularly silly anywhere in the country, would it?

Kind Regards, John
 
Of course, the OP is quite capable of getting their own sparky to come and do an EICR where they will be in control and get the required paperwork.
This is the problem when you use agencies, they want to stuff it to you for £££.
 
Of course, the OP is quite capable of getting their own sparky to come and do an EICR where they will be in control and get the required paperwork. This is the problem when you use agencies, they want to stuff it to you for £££.
In this case, the EICR has already been done (at a remarkably low price, given the involvement of an agency!).

What seems crazy is that they dare to quote £150 for an EIC when they apparently only charged £119 for the EICR!

Kind Regards, John
 
£700 doesn't seem unreasonable given the skills required and the added 'London Tax'
I work in telecoms, we won't take on any new customers in London. It's getting harder to drive to sites without having to pay the 'how dare you drive in London' tax. Then there's the abolition of roads in favour of cycle lanes, can't drive my van through the Rotherhithe tunnel (even though its on LPG), average travel time of 15 minutes per mile, add on parking charges in some areas of up to £10 per hour (if you can get a space) and costs start adding up.

F*** London
 
...made up for by 150 for CofC which they have nothing to do with.
Indeed, but was I not right to agreeing with what you seemed to be implying (and I agree with) - i.e. that what seems very silly is the breakdown of the quote they have provided, given that, as I said, I would not think that £700 ("for everything") would be particularly unreasonable for a CU replacement in London?

Indeed, if £300 of the total was for those two certificates, then the remaining £400 would be 'suspiciously too little' for the job, wouldn't it?

Kind Regards, John
 
Was all this not quoted before any work took place?
 

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