Electrical Sign Off

[sazbad123]

Hi
to cut a long story short we had an extension a few years ago on our cottage and had a complete rewire done at the same time. The electrician who carried out the work as far as we were aware had given the surveyor the correct paperwork (this surveyor left the council shortly after). we had other things to complete before sign off and these took nearly a year after the electrics were completed. when we contacted the council for final inspection they said the electrics had not been signed off and that we needed to get in contact with the electrician for a valid certificate.
well the electrician seems to have vanished from the face of the earth so i can only assume he went bust. Obviously we have decorated now and new plastering done in each room.
is there anyway we can get this signed off? the council now say if not they will leave it unsigned and we could have problems selling the house in the future.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[DevilDamo]

Maybe a silly question, but did you not keep a copy of the paperwork for your records?

If you're unable to get in contact with the previous electrician/company, then you may have to employ A.N. Other to have it signed off. What this would involve is another question. Just put your current situation across to them and see how best they advise.

 

[JohnD]

Another electrician cannot truthfully complete documentation as designer or installer, although he can test.

I am told councils will often accept a well-completed PIR.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

having been in a similar situation in the recent past, I can give some advice on this. An electrician I employed to re-wire our house did the dirty on us and turned out he wasn't qualified to issue the relevant paperwork. Luckily for me I found this out before I paid him most of the money.

Firstly, no electrician will (or at least should) sign off another sparky's work, so calling someone out of the Yellow Pages and asking for a Part P certificate isn't really an option. They will inspect and test for you for a fee, but councils won't usually accept this alone.

However, your council should allow you to regularise the work, which involves paying them a fee, and then they send out their own electrician to inspect the work (usually a qualified sub contractor employed by the council for such instances).

How much opening up work (if any) they expect you to do is up to the council.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

I am told councils will often accept a well-completed PIR.

That was basically what we got when we got our installation regularised. I was amazed they weren't more rigourous.