From 1st January it will become a criminal offence for householders to carry out most electrical work without getting council approval. And, as from January 1 it will similarly become an offence, punishable by fines of up to £5,000, to sell a property without a certificate for any electrical work carried out after the new law comes into force.
"After January 1, any of us wishing to carry out any but minor electrical works in our homes may find that, under the new "Part P" of the Building Regulations, we have fallen foul of one of the more bizarre legislative shambles of recent years. The new regulations, introduced by Mr Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister only last summer, to conform with an edict from Cenelec, the Brussels-based "Committee for the Normalisation of Electrotechnology", impose draconian new rules on anyone needing to carry out electrical work in the home.
Apart from simple jobs such as the replacement of a cracked light socket, electrical work will be legal only if carried out in one of two ways. First, every electrician, however experienced, will have to be certified as a "competent person". This will require him or her to pay between £350 and £1,500 to be "monitored" for six months by employees of one of a handful of private companies appointed by the ODPM as "certifying bodies". During that time, the electrician will be disbarred from carrying out any but minor works, except while his work is being monitored, possibly by someone very much less experienced than himself. He will subsequently have to pay a similar annual fee to have his certificate renewed.
The only alternative, applying to householders themselves as much as to professional electricians, will be to submit plans of most electrical work in advance to the building control department of the local council. This will include work of any kind in a kitchen or bathroom. The council will then have to be paid to inspect the work."
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