Building Regulations for Electrical Work: What Is Notifiable

Which electrical work is notifiable under Part P

The Planning Portal lists three kinds of notifiable electrical work, shown below with an example of each. Notifiable work has to be certified as complying with the building regulations, and who can certify it depends on whether your electrician is registered.

Notifiable work	Example	Where it applies
Installing a new consumer unit or fuse box	Replacing an old fuse box with a new consumer unit	Anywhere in the home
Installing a complete new circuit	A ring or lighting circuit, or a new circuit for a cooker, shower or immersion heater	Anywhere in the home
Altering an existing circuit	Adding an extra power point or lighting point	Only in special locations: the space around a bath or shower, or a room with a swimming pool or sauna heater

Replacing a fuse box, the example in the first row, costs £450 to £800 on Checkatrade’s job prices, an average of £625 excluding VAT.

Planning permission is a separate question. A house rewire does not need planning permission, but the work must comply with Part P of the building regulations, Checkatrade’s rewiring cost guide says.

Does a new socket need building regulations approval?

Adding an extra socket or lighting point to an existing circuit is notifiable only in a special location, the Planning Portal says. Regulation 12 of the Building Regulations 2010 defines a special location in England as a room with a swimming pool or sauna heater, or the space around the bath tap or shower head in a room with a bath or shower. That space runs up from the floor to 2.25 metres, or to the shower head if it is fixed higher, and out 0.6 metres from the edge of the bath or shower tray, or 1.2 metres from the shower head where there is no tray. A socket that is part of a complete new circuit is different, because the new circuit is notifiable in its own right.

A socket installation costs £55 to £75, an average of £65 excluding VAT, on Checkatrade’s job prices.

Worked example: an electric shower and a light by the bath

Say you want an electric shower on a new circuit of its own, plus an extra lighting point on the existing lighting circuit in the space around the bath. Both parts of the job are notifiable, for different reasons. The shower circuit is a complete new circuit, the second row of the table, and the lighting point is an alteration to an existing circuit in a special location, the third row.

So the whole job needs sign-off, not only the shower. Describe both parts when you ask an electrician whether the work is notifiable, because an answer about the shower alone leaves the lighting point out.

Who signs off notifiable electrical work

The Planning Portal says it is best to use a registered competent person, an installer registered with a competent person scheme, who can self-certify that the work complies with the building regulations. Ask about it before you agree the job.

Before you choose an electrician for notifiable work, look the firm up on the electrical competent person register at www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk, the check the Planning Portal recommends. Among the ten Nottingham electricians we compare side by side, A4S Elite Electrical, which upgrades fuseboards across NG5, Arnold, Gedling and Mapperley, is NICEIC registered and Part P approved, and Atlas Electrical in Rise Park is a NICEIC Approved Contractor and NICEIC Part P Domestic Installer.

If your electrician is not registered

An installer who is not registered cannot self-certify notifiable work. Instead, the work must be inspected, approved and certificated by a building control body, meaning the council or a private registered building control approver, or, in England only, by an electrician registered with a third-party certification scheme, the Planning Portal says.

Certificates to get after notifiable work

Work by a registered electrician comes with two certificates. The electrician should give you a completed Electrical Installation Certificate showing the work has been tested for safety, and should arrange for you to receive a Building Regulations compliance certificate within 30 days and for the council to be notified, the Planning Portal says.

For a new consumer unit, Checkatrade’s consumer unit guide says the electrician provides an Electrical Installation Certificate and confirmation of Part P compliance once the replacement is done.

A landlord’s EICR is separate from building regulations sign-off: it is the inspection and test by a qualified person that the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require in a privately rented home at least every 5 years.