Regulations and Part P

Part P of the Building Regulations covers electrical safety in dwellings in England and Wales. In England, notifiable work is: installing a new circuit, replacing a consumer unit, and additions or alterations in a special location (a room containing a bath or shower).

Wales is broader and still includes kitchens and outdoor work. Non-notifiable work such as adding a socket to an existing circuit still has to comply with BS 7671 and be certified — it just does not need notifying.

Two routes. An electrician registered with a competent person scheme can self-certify and notify the work, and you receive a Building Regulations compliance certificate. Otherwise the work must be notified to local authority building control in advance, and they inspect and certify it.

Work already done without either can sometimes be regularised retrospectively through building control, though that usually requires opening up and testing.

There is no ban on a homeowner doing electrical work in their own home, but it must comply with BS 7671, and notifiable work must still be notified and certified. Like-for-like replacement of an accessory outside a special location is the usual DIY territory.

The practical catches: you are unlikely to have the test equipment to prove the work is safe, and missing certificates for notifiable work surface later when you sell. Anything involving the consumer unit, a new circuit, or a bathroom should go to an electrician.

BS 7671 — the IET Wiring Regulations, currently the 18th Edition with its amendments — is the national standard for electrical installation in the UK. It is not itself law, but compliance with it is the accepted way of showing that work meets the legal safety requirements.

It is updated periodically, which is why installations are assessed against the edition in force when they were installed, plus a judgement about present-day safety.

No. BS 7671 is not retrospective: an installation that complied when it was installed does not automatically become unlawful when the standard changes. That is why an EICR can record a C3 — improvement recommended rather than a failure.

The exception is where the departure from the current standard creates a genuine danger — then it is coded C1 or C2 regardless of when it was installed.

Insurers generally expect the installation to be maintained in a safe condition, and a claim arising from wiring known to be defective — or from unnotified, uncertified work — can be disputed. Some policies ask directly about the age of the wiring or the date of the last inspection.

Mortgage lenders sometimes make a retention pending electrical work flagged by a valuation survey. Check your own policy wording rather than relying on a general answer.