Electrical issue! Help!

[tonyelectric]

Aren't you a prize d|ck head?

Thanks a lot, only trying to help

 

[Adam_151]

Think that was at Ban, Tony.... still a little uncalled for, but his replies are somewhat blunt at times

 

[ban-all-sheds]

All i am interested in is that when i come to sell the house i have the necessary 'certificate' of which i believe can be obtained by a test by any electrician qualified to give a cert!?

No, it cannot.

Your house has been rewired - the certificate you will need is a Building Regulations completion certificate - without one expect to get a serious caning on the price you'll get.

There were two ways to have done the rewire and ended up with the right certificate:

a) Use a registered electrician who could self-certify compliance with the Building Regulations.

b) Don't use such a person and notify LABC in advance, and pay their fees.

You did neither, and now you are stuck.


A bit of a guess, but did you buy this property just to renovate and sell? If so, you tried to shave costs by not doing the electrics properly, and it has backfired on you.

With regards to different versions of regulations surely if i come to get this certificate in 5 years time all of the regulations will not have to be upheld as the wiring was done before the changes in regs took place ie all sockets being moved up to waist height etc...

If you are going to get into property renovation/development you really do need to acquire a much better understanding of all the various regulations than you currently have. You carried out notifiable work, which means you need to show that you complied with the Building Regulations. In 5 years time you would still need to show that you had, 5 years previously, complied with the Building Regulations.

Please can we focus on the problem at hand!

It's not exactly a sellers market right now, and anybody buying a property which has clearly just been renovated purely to sell on would be insane not to insist on a proper Building Regulations completion certificate.

Your best bet may well be to cut your losses now - do absolutely nothing more on the property until you've had a real electrician some and re-do whatever he wants to do to get the installation to the point where he is happy to say he did it, and certify to LABC. The you can get in there and replaster all the chases etc, and mark this one down to experience.

 

[pundabuyer]

Thanks Tony, ill give that a go, i really appreciate your help and that comment was not aimed at yourself.

Ill let you know what happens! and make sure i turn the RCD off first

With regards to the way this has been done, no im not trying to turn it around to sell, i intend to live in the property and obviously i have gone about this all wrong!

I feel a bit lost and i dont know what to do about this! i wish i had never have bothered.

In simple terms can someone please tell me what i need to do by law. all i want to be able to do is sell the property easily a few years down the line..?

 

[OwainDIYer]

A - I go away regularly after starting an installation

I thought that was plumbers ...

 

[pundabuyer]

I can definately vouch for that comment too!

 

[flameport]

In simple terms can someone please tell me what i need to do by law. all i want to be able to do is sell the property easily a few years down the line..?

1. Contact Building Control and tell them you have had notifiable works done in your home but haven't notified them first.
2. Request a regularisation certificate from them. This will involve the payment of a fee (typically 2x the fee which should have been paid in the first place).
3. They will tell you what is required to show that the installation complies with building regulations.
4. Most likely, you will then have to pay a qualified electrician to inspect and test every circuit in the property and provide you with a periodic inspection report or PIR.
5. When this is done, you will need to pay someone to fix the various faults and defects. This will include removing that useless consumer unit and installing the correct one. Additional documents will need to be provided by whoever does this to show that the defects identified on the PIR have been rectified.
6. Building control will require copies of the PIR and subsequent documents. They may send someone to your house to inspect the works. This could involve removal of floorboards or plaster to examine routes of cables etc.
7. If they are satisfied that the work now complies with building regulations, they will issue a regularisation certificate. This certificate, the PIR and other documents regarding the electrical works are the ones you need to keep and will inevitably be required when you sell the property.

 

[pundabuyer]

OK thanks

 

[martinxxxxxx]

OK thanks

Funny really the advice given didn't change just the tone and you have gone from calling the advice giver "d - Head" to a simple "OK Thanks"

just shows manners cost nothing.

Anyway ignore me just having my Christmas drink late as we had nora virus in house yesterday.

Best get it all checked though (for my t'penneth)

Martin

 

[pundabuyer]

Sorry but there was no need for that it wasnt productive at all.

To be honest guys and girls I have no idea what to do. I think I'll fix the probs have a pir done and deal with the EIC issue in 10 years when I sell!

 

[mfarrow]

To be honest guys and girls I have no idea what to do. I think I'll fix the probs have a pir done and deal with the EIC issue in 10 years when I sell!

I don't think it's anything to get too excited about or lose sleep over. Get a PIR done now, and get one when you sell. The electrician you've used hasn't done you any favours by wiring it to the 16th not the 17th (leaving aside the Part P argument), but the board looks tidy and just make sure he's used a 30mA RCD.

Any buyer asks, yes you've had some electrical work done and then flash them a certificate showing them all the wiring checks out.

 

[pundabuyer]

I will do and I'll get that checked too. Thanks again

 

[mfarrow]

How to solve this problem?

You can't solve it, however, ask yourself this:

- How many people ask building control for a copy of their records when they buy a house?
- How many people ask the seller for completion certificates (even for large extensions) when they buy a house?
- Who would walk away from a sale in 10 years time because an EIC wasn't present, even though there's a certificate in front of them saying the wiring was OK a month ago?
- How do people who don't keep paperwork (EICs, MWCs, Gas-Safe, Windows & Doors, etc) manage to sell their house if people are that controlling over their purchases?

I'm not saying the actions are excusable (the 'electrician' should be reported through the necessary channels - if only for his own good), but if someone's been genuinely ripped off then their's no point them worrying about needing another rewire (which they will even if that's not the intension).

 

[martinxxxxxx]

To be honest guys and girls I have no idea what to do. I think I'll fix the probs have a pir done and deal with the EIC issue in 10 years when I sell!

I don't think it's anything to get too excited about or lose sleep over. Get a PIR done now, and get one when you sell. The electrician you've used hasn't done you any favours by wiring it to the 16th not the 17th (leaving aside the Part P argument), but the board looks tidy and just make sure he's used a 30mA RCD.

Any buyer asks, yes you've had some electrical work done and then flash them a certificate showing them all the wiring checks out.

It is amazing how people will hit the thanks button if someone write something soothing (but quite incorrect), but fails to thank thank the people who go to the trouble to quote chapter and verse from the laws of the land and offer a probable remedy for the hole he and the wonderful retiree electrician has dug for himself. Two PIRs are going to cost the thick end of £500 and will not resolve the BCO completion Certificate issue.

Or resolve the problems that he has today.

Ignore the BCO certificate now at leisure, but you may regret later.

Martin

 

[riveralt]

How many people ask building control for a copy of their records when they buy a house?
- How many people ask the seller for completion certificates (even for large extensions) when they buy a house?

Standard questions now on solicitor fact statement required from sellers - solicitors covering themselves.

- Who would walk away from a sale in 10 years time because an EIC wasn't present, even though there's a certificate in front of them saying the wiring was OK a month ago?

I don't think many would walk away when a PIR is available - but this standard of work would be severely criticised by the report.

- How do people who don't keep paperwork (EICs, MWCs, Gas-Safe, Windows & Doors, etc) manage to sell their house if people are that controlling over their purchases?

Its a buyers market - no certifcation of completion or EIC equates to money off the price of the house.

I'm not saying the actions are excusable (the 'electrician' should be reported through the necessary channels - if only for his own good),

This electrician doesn't belong to a Competent Persons Scheme so which channel do you report him to - after all he is a 'good guy'.

but if someone's been genuinely ripped off then their's no point them worrying about needing another rewire (which they will even if that's not the intension).

I don't think anyone said he should have a rewire just bring the CU up to 17th edition standard and provide an EIC for that change.
BTY I don't think these rules apply to the USA.