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[reddragon77]

Hi - I could do with some advice on a problem I have ...

I had an office installed in my garden last year and I brought in an electrician to do the work for me. He ran an armoured cable from the main consumer box in the house down to the office (c30m) and put a new board and electrics in the office.

After the job I received a Periodic Inspection Report & nothing else.

I'm now selling the house and having reviewed the questions being asked by the conveyancer & the documentation I have it seems as though the work is notifiable and I haven't received anything back from Building Control.

Any idea what I should do?

[ericmark]

First you need the installation certificate from the electrician or minor works the inspection report will often do instead though.

And you need to contact council and pay their fees.

This is to me one of the failings of the Part P system. It is down to the owner to ensure Part P is complied with and although where only electric work is completed this will normally be done by the electrician be being a member of a scheme and self certifying where other building work is being completed at the same time which requires LABC involvement then it could be cheaper to do it all under the LABC the same applies where the work is for the disabled.

It work make sense if the LABC issued a permit to work then any electrician working without a permit or being a member of a scheme would know he was working illegal and could easy be brought to task. However not all councils issue permits to work which gives the electrician the easy get out and by claiming he though the job was under LABC control it is hard to prove he committed the offence rather than you. However not issuing the correct paper work i.e. A PIR instead of installation certificate shows he did realise he was wrong.

The other way would be to claim the work was planed before 2004 and then Part P would not be required. I have loads of Plans. But you will still need the installation certificate.

[sparx]

The problem is the 'electrician' who did the work needed to be registered with a 'competant person scheme provider' to self certify the work to LABC.
He should have issued an 'Electrical Installation Certificate' NOT a
'Periodic Inspection Report' which is only for an existing installation.
Unfortunately his error means YOU have unwittingly broken the law!
I would suggest you contact him but as he is probably not registered i doubt he will want to talk to you.
FYI when a regd. comp. person does work of this nature he issues a IEC,
then goes 'on-line' to his reg. body (there are a number of them such as BSI,Elecsa, NAPIT, Niceic) logs the job details, address etc with them.
They then send a notification to your LABC & a copy direct to you within 28 days.
Clearly your cowboy didn't so now what to do?
I would contact the conveyencer ASAP, they will be used to this!
Although the above system has been law since 2005 there are still many unauthorised jobs being done.
Ask if getting a full PIR of the whole property will be acceptable alternative, since you realise the situation and can't do anything about it at this late stage.
LABC unlikely to be interested BTW, as no budget to follow up discrepances until OCTOBER 2010 when new powers made in APRIL last come into effect.
They will then be able to claim full & unlimited costs from the homeowner for such transgressions, putting their own inspectors in with powers to strip out sections of wiring to check correct routes followed etc. the homeowner has to correct/make good etc.
So don't delay, fortunately not retrospective yet!
best wishes for good outcome,