I can understand why we had Part P, kitchen fitters were going daft in the way they were wiring up kitchens. Followed by some of the antics of plumbers at the time. Number of tank thermostats with no earth and earth wire used as live is frighting.
However my problem getting a replacement completion certificate from the council told it would take 4 months, and the fact the council themselves did not issue minor works or other paperwork for work completed in my mothers house, it seems they find the Part P law a nuisance, and have no intention in trying to police it.
And it would have been so easy to say distribution unit instead of consumer unit maybe it was designed so people can get around it? The phase is "let the courts decide" but so unlikely it would ever go to court so unlikely they will ever decide.
So is fitting a FCU a new circuit? Well if the wires already existed no, so if you extend a spur, then realise it does not comply, so add a fuse like this
you have created a circuit but it is not new, it was part of a larger circuit in the past, and using the same fuse to supply a boiler would be no different to a plug, so it depends where the FCU is used as to if part of a circuit or not. The picture shows a grid plate with a 13 amp socket, switch, and 13 amp fuse holder doing same job as a FCU, but likely would not be called a FCU. It was used to reconnect some sockets in error made dead during a rewire. So parts of the circuit were from last century so not new.
I was reading the new English guide for landlords issued by the government and the law it refers to, so
English Guide for landlords said:
The Regulations do not cover electrical appliances, only the fixed electrical installations.
and
New Law said:
“electrical installation” has the meaning given in regulation 2(1) of the Building Regulations 2010(2);
so
Building Regulations 2010 said:
“electrical installation” means fixed electrical cables or fixed electrical equipment located on the consumer’s side of the electricity supply meter;
interesting is what a day is
Building Regulations 2010 said:
“day” means any period of 24 hours commencing at midnight and excludes any Saturday, Sunday, Bank holiday or public holiday;
so 28 days is not 4 weeks, it is not quite 6 weeks.