Thanks everyone for advice and thoughts. I have written to the Planning office asking how i can feel secure i am being given the correct fee information when their own price sheet has very confusing and misleading statements.
Please also ask them why they think that Part P is the name of a qualification, or competent person scheme, and why they suggest that electrical work can be done which doesn't comply with Part P.
Whoever wrote that document deserves a good kicking.
The implication on the fee sheet that rewiring is not Part P,
No.
Read p2:
East Devon District Council may charge an additional supplementary fee where appropriate in the event of:
.
.
f) Where building work includes the installation of controlled fitting or services and where they are not being fitted by a member of competent person scheme e.g. Part P, HETAS, OFTEC, Gas Safe Register etc.
They think that Part P is a Competent Person scheme - what Table C contains are the fees for notifying electrical work not done by a member of a Competent Person scheme.
the further implication that a rewire falls under minor works,
No - there are two rows in the table for electrical work:
Re-wiring or new installation in a dwelling
Other minor works
Rewiring is separate from minor works.
and further, that minor works will be charged a planning fee.
The word "planning" does not appear anywhere in that document.
Ignoring the last discrepancy above, If i was trying to "get around" the system or just an ordinary member of the public, i could quite honestly state that reading their price sheet i believed, a rewire is not part p
Well - the problem with that is that whatever grossly inaccurate terms used by the idiot who wrote it, that document does clearly state that there is a fee to notify a rewire.
and is minor work and therefore as i know minor work is not notifiable
Some minor work is notifiable. Adding a socket in a kitchen, for example.
So you would be wrong to say "as I know....".
(my friendly spark told me this or the man at B&Q told me this etc etc) I did not bother BCO.
That would never work - you don't gain exemption from legislation by asking people who don't know what they are talking about.
An extreme i know but not impossible especially if i was Joe Public with limited awareness of all this part P stuff and i did have a cowboy quoting to do the work.
People will always be at risk from cowboys, particularly if they don't know what's required.
Then there is the whole issue of the section headed up on their sheet as Alterations, change of use, installation of fittings or services, structural alterations, other works etc:
This i s the bit that gets me back to the old charging regime.
Sorry - I really don't see why that's an issue.
I can't grasp the concept of anybody being so daft as to think that that part applies to electrical work when there's a specific entry for electrical work a few rows below.
And re the "old charging regime":
In the past when i have done notifiable work, admittedly on a smaller scale, lights in bathrooms extra sockets in kitchens etc the fee has been around £90 with the VAT.
The fee for that is now £51.06 + £38.29 = £89.35 including VAT.
I don't see what the problem is.
If they have a good explanation for the way the sheet is written, i still have the question how can they justify an increase in building control charges for a piece of notifiable work of over 400%.
1) You don't know what the charge used to be, as you have not previously notified a rewire.
2) The fee for a rewire is now £51.06 + £114.89 = £165.95, so it's hard to see how that can be a 400% increase over what they used to charge.
