Was talking to an electrician about fitting some new sockets in the (built-in) garage near the consumer unit (adding more to some existing sockets). In the course of the conversation he said 'and you'll need to upgrade the consumer unit to add RCDs on your lighting circuits to bring it up to standard if you sell the house'. The consumer unit was fitted (by him) about 6 years ago to replace a 1970s installation. It's a bog standard no-brand consumer unit: can't remember if there are any spare slots on it or not. The lighting circuits are currently on MCBs.
Is this right? I thought that any installation, as long as it's up to code at the time it was fitted, is permissible as far as regs is concerned. So that 1920s lead sheathed wiring is permissible (though not a great idea), as long as it was installed in the 1920s and not more recently.
After various changes of plan it appears that some work will be required to fit extra garage lights and alter the switching arrangements. Again these are pre-existing lighting circuits. Does that alter the need or lack thereof to install RCDs? The charge, in addition to the lighting work, would be 4x £35.
Thanks Theo