Talking to the Building Control man today
he mentioned that Herefordshire council will start charging extra for
electrical testing for DIY rewires etc from 1st April,
Presently they get a £200 fee from us but their electrician charges them
£250,
So I'm going to put in a Building Notice for a total rewire this month!

[g]

"george [dicegeorge]" wrote in message
...
Talking to the Building Control man today
he mentioned that Herefordshire council will start charging extra for
electrical testing for DIY rewires etc from 1st April,
Presently they get a £200 fee from us but their electrician charges them
£250,
So I'm going to put in a Building Notice for a total rewire this month!

[g]


Why bother ? I,ve referbished 3 flats over the last 5 years and had no
problem selling them. Main thing required was an EPC, which the solicitor
insisted on. Sold one myself and two through estate agents. Houses are sold
'as is'. Just don't lie on condition of buildings / works etc.

On 10 Mar, 16:02, "george [dicegeorge]"
wrote:
Talking to the Building Control man today
he mentioned that Herefordshire council will start charging extra for
electrical testing for DIY rewires etc from 1st April,
Presently they get a 200 fee from us but their electrician charges them
250,
So I'm going to put in a Building Notice for a total rewire this month!

[g]

Our Building Control (Coventry) require you to get a certificate from
an electrician. There is no suggestion that they will inspect the
electrics themselves.
Simon.

"sm_jamieson" wrote in message
...
On 10 Mar, 16:02, "george [dicegeorge]"
wrote:
Talking to the Building Control man today
he mentioned that Herefordshire council will start charging extra for
electrical testing for DIY rewires etc from 1st April,
Presently they get a 200 fee from us but their electrician charges them
250,
So I'm going to put in a Building Notice for a total rewire this month!

[g]

Our Building Control (Coventry) require you to get a certificate from
an electrician. There is no suggestion that they will inspect the
electrics themselves.
Simon.

Our (very friendly) BCO said the same thing re certificates several times.
In the end I said that I'd checked with the small print in Part P, and it
appeared to say that as part of a Full Plans building application the
council could do the final test as part of the package if I could not
certify it myself. He sighed, and said they would need a weeks notice. Done,
by electrical subcontractors as a periodic test on the circuits concerned. I
didn't get the paperwork (I assume the council kept it) but the electrical
work was signed off as part of the whole project by the council. No
additional charge....

I suspect our council (Waverly), and probably many others, have a policy of
not mentioning it unless you mention the detail. I also got the impression
that he felt part P was as much of a pain as I did. More or less the first
thing he said was that extending existing circuits was (mostly) not
notifiable, but unfortunately I had both a new ring and lighting in a
bathroom.

What happens if they refuse outright I'm not sure.

Charles F

On 11 Mar, 07:45, "Charles Fearnley"
wrote:
"sm_jamieson" wrote in message

...

On 10 Mar, 16:02, "george [dicegeorge]"
wrote:
Talking to the Building Control man today
he mentioned that Herefordshire council will start charging extra for
electrical testing for DIY rewires etc from 1st April,
Presently they get a 200 fee from us but their electrician charges them
250,
So I'm going to put in a Building Notice for a total rewire this month!

[g]

Our Building Control (Coventry) require you to get a certificate from
an electrician. There is no suggestion that they will inspect the
electrics themselves.
Simon.

Our (very friendly) BCO said the same thing re certificates several times..
In the end I said that I'd checked with the small print in Part P, and it
appeared to say that as part of a Full Plans building application the
council could do the final test as part of the package if I could not
certify it myself. He sighed, and said they would need a weeks notice. Done,
by electrical subcontractors as a periodic test on the circuits concerned.. I
didn't get the paperwork (I assume the council kept it) but the electrical
work was signed off as part of the whole project by the council. *No
additional charge....

I suspect our council (Waverly), and probably many others, *have a policy of
not mentioning it unless you mention the detail. I also got the impression
that he felt part P was as much of a pain as I did. More or less the first
thing he said was that extending existing circuits was (mostly) not
notifiable, but unfortunately I had both a new ring and lighting in a
bathroom.

What happens if they refuse outright I'm not sure.

Charles F

My full plans spec has the supplying of the electrical certificate
included, and they told me I needed to amend the spec to include this,
before they would approve the plans. So I have officially agreed to
supply the certficate.
I did not fuss at the time. I know an electician who hopefully will be
able to test / check what I do without charging me too much.
Simon.

george [dicegeorge] wrote:
Talking to the Building Control man today
he mentioned that Herefordshire council will start charging extra for
electrical testing for DIY rewires etc from 1st April,
Presently they get a £200 fee from us but their electrician charges
them £250,
So I'm going to put in a Building Notice for a total rewire this
month!
[g]

Just after the introduction of Part P I did a full rewire of my house
myself. I notified Building Control (Preston) before starting work and they
said that the bill would be £50 and that they would inspect after 1st fix
with final test and inspection on completion.

Instead of using their own council electricians they sub-contracted to
Smiths Electrical, who charged the council £200. About a week after
inspecting 1st fix, I got a full test and inspection report, and a
completion certificate from Smiths, even though I'd not done any further
work. Told the council, they sacked off Smiths and started to use their own
'in-house' guys but I don't know if that's still the case or what they
charge these days.

[Default] On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:45:25 -0000, a certain chimpanzee,
"Charles Fearnley" ,
randomly hit the keyboard and wrote:

In the end I said that I'd checked with the small print in Part P, and it
appeared to say that as part of a Full Plans building application the
council could do the final test as part of the package if I could not
certify it myself.

What happens if they refuse outright I'm not sure.

To the Council? Nothing.

'Part P' is the legal requirement. It merely says that "reasonable
provision shall be made in the design and installation of electrical
installations...". Approved Document P is the guidance for Part P, but
the preamble to all the Approved Documents say, "there is no
obligation to adopt any particular solution contained in an Approved
Document if you prefer to meet the relevant requirement in some other
way".

In practice, an applicant could appeal to the Secretary of State that
they had met the requirement by allowing the LA to inspect the work at
their expense. The SoS is always at pains to point out (when they are
asked to make a decision) that it's up to the Local Authority to
enforce the regulations in their area. If the SoS ruled in the
applicant's favour, the LA could still refuse to carry out inspections
at their expense. The next step could be to the Ombudsman. If they
rule against them, AFAIK, the Ombudsman's rulings are still not
obligatory. If questions were asked of the head of department by the
Chief Exec or councillors, a report suggesting that a change in policy
could cost the Council tens or hundreds of thouands of pounds per
year, I'm sure TPTB would come down on the side of Building Control.
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have I strayed"?