Been away - I'm going to try and pick out just a few points, as most of it has been churned over and over - apologies in advance if I end up unnecessarily repeating what's already been said and/or miss anything.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the person who did the work may be, the position with regard to testing and inspection for Part P is clear.
When you notified the work and paid the building fee, was the council offering you a specific reduction in the fee if you supplied a certificate? From the price mentioned, I suspect not.
At £100 it might well be - that's towards the low end of the range for normal LABC charges.
If you did not notify under that caveat to get a reduced fee, then legally the council has no authority to demand that you supply them with a certificate at all. Certain local authorities are still trying to demand that, but they have no legal backing and have been told to stop, so don't let them intimidate you with nonsense about "You must do this" etc.
I agree, but it's a bit late now. smoothcrm has paid his fee, and I;m sure that the council policy, no matter how wrong it might be, is documented on their website. If he doesn't want to acquiesce I can't see that he'd have any option now but to sue them.
If you paid the full applicable fee, then if the council wants a certificate it's up to them to arrange testing or pay for it out of the fee you gave them.
And if they just say "no", as I'm sure they will, what can smoothcrm realistically do?
Thanks for your reply – all beit seems more of a rant at me despite the fact, I have tried to do all the right processes as dictated by the council !!!
It wasn't a rant.
Which council is it? I'd like to see their website to see exactly what they say about electrical work.
it's that you used a dangerous and incompetent cowboy instead of a proper electrician.
you say this purely based on the fact he has no test equipment ?
Absolutely, without any question or hesitation. Doing a job like the one he did without testing and certifying is utterly unacceptable. No electrician with a shred of decency or professionalism would contemplate it.
cant say I see that as fair, if he still is qualified etc
Qualified drivers regularly kill people by doing appallingly dangerous and incompetent things on the road. Their qualifications are irrelevant, just as are the ones your guy had, if he did. It matters not one iota how qualified he was - the job he did was inexcusably bad.
But as i say I asked and informed the council that the sparky was not part p, the council chap came around and checked the work before and after he installed the board and said it was fine but just wants to see the tests, which as i said i wasn’t excepting, i thought that was their job? as i paid them etc.
That is their job, but if they told you in advance that their policy was not to do their job....
Link to their website, please?
so this really helps me doesn’t it? Completely makes the whole process pointless doesn’t it.
Yup.
Do you want to try suing them?
I didn’t go with a part P person just simply because of the difference in costs
It costs a registered electrician a couple of quid to notify a job to the council.
It costs you £100 to use a non-registered electrician. For him to be cheaper overall he's going to have to cut a lot of corners.
the policy on the councils site does not clearly state anything regarding this work other than to fill out the form and inform them etc
If that's the case then you may be able to fight them, for if they don't say what their policy is then you have no reason not to expect it to conform to the guidance in Approved Document P and the ODPM circular.
And im supposed to know, read and understand part P document am I
Well, actually, yes.
You knew that there was such a thing as Part P, so the prudent thing to do would have been to find out about it. The prudent thing to do when employing any tradesmen to do work in areas unfamiliar to you is to see if there are any relevant trade associations, and find out from them about standards and regulations.
dont want to have an untested circuit,
And you should not have any, but sadly you have been let down by a cowboy.
i have no doubt that the sparky has replaced the board correctly.
I think you are alone in having no doubts.
its neat, tidy and i watched him do it etc i have seen it done before correctly as well.
Bit he did not do any testing, and he did not leave you with a certificate to say that his work complied with any recognised standards.
or formal guidance on this is what you need to do
We'll see what their website says.
plead with them to send one of their electricians round to test as they would do if you had done the work.
That might not be their policy, and taking them to court might be the only remedy.
Unfortunately, and this is quite misunderstood on here, the council have the power to make you pay for this test.
I don't think they do.
They have the power, but not the right.
would it be best to simply get a full periodic by a proper part p sparky????
There's no need for an electrician to be registered to be able to do PIRs.
But until we know if
your council says he has to be...
It is my understanding that you can be a domestic Part P qualified installer but you need not be registered.
Part P is not a qualification, it is one of the parts of
The Building Regulations.
People often use the term as a shorthand for being registered, so there cannot be any such person as a "Part P qualified installer" who is not registered.
or correctly done and you still will not have the correct paperwork for the work thats been done.
