Anyone know where I stand with this scenario? Started ripping kitchen apart to rewire it before part P came into force. I have now completed it and some of the cabling is in new colours etc. Also 06 production dates on some of the MK Chroma gear used on 2nd fix. As you have to inform building control before the work starts and get them to visit etc, am I then excempt if I sell the house and somebody sees the dates on cables etc.
TIA
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My understanding is that the exemption which applied to projects which commenced before Part P started only lasted for a few months - until 1 April 2005 IIRC?
Given that if you inform Building Control you might have to end up neing told to re-expose the cabling etc (oo-er) I'd have thought your best bet was to keep schtum - or perhaps better, get a PIR done by an independent sparks? You could also show that to a future buyer of your house.
I'm in a very similar situation myself actually; with a rewiring project... one 'precaution' I have been taking is to take about a zillion digital photos at 1st fix stage - hopefully they'll never see the light of day but if the sh*t ever does hit the fan, hopefully they might help my case!
Kinda connected, would someone like to comment on when this requirement of Part P conformity comes into play.
For example the house next door is up for sale and although there has been lots of work done on the property, I very much doubt any of it has been signed off officially.
Now people are looking around and as I understand it are pretty impressed by what they see and no doubt the house will be sold quite quickly.
Personally I would not walk away from a property that I wanted on the grounds that it did not have Part P certification.
Is the only downside, that those not in know so to speak, might indeed not follow through with the purchase or is there some other sanction?
Buyers market - Can you show me that this work was correcly done under Part P? No? Well I will have to drop my offer by £x to cover putting it right. Ok, fair enough, anything for a sale. Sellers market - Can you show me that this work was correcly done under Part P? No? Well I will have to drop my offer by £x to cover putting it right. Ok, sod off, someoneone else will pay my asking price., anything for a sale. Real market - Can you show me that this work was correcly done under Part P? I am afraid that we have no records and you will have to make your own determination (add suitable solictorese guff here). Paranoid market - Can you show me that this work was correcly done under Part P? No? Well I will have to call in the black jaguar helicopter and the SAS and you are going down for a very long time my son.
for sale,prospective buyers sees it/makes offer,nosey estate agents/solicitors start rabbiting about silly bits of paper-you say fine,dont buy it if you dont want to.
Essentially, there is no sanction on any lack of paperwork or standards when selling a house.
IANAL BUT my understanding is that a house that fails to meet arbitrary standards
- can be condemned as unfit for habitation. Stream water and a bucket out the back to crap in are typical things.. This is a health department issue...
- may be uninsurable...wiring that is frankly dangerous for example and a fire risk..open fires in old chimmneys that allow flue gasses into wooden structures or thatch.
- may be subject to reverse gazumping as the surveys reveal 'negotiation points' that are used to bargain teh price down after commitment in principle.
The BCO's powers are restricted to new work only: If new work is done the department can, and has, refused to sign off and insisted on re-working to standards. Lack of a BCO certificate for new work means that you would be buying a house that might need to have an extension torn down, and rebuilt for example. *This can only happen if the BCO is involved in the first place*. Usually because the work is so obvious and extensive that planning permission has to be applied for.
In practice, you don't need approval for anything that the BCO doesn;t get involved in.
And, provided no one spots the work, its not an issue either.
The Regulations are of course used by every single snake oil salesman to try and persuade people that they need new this or that - my mother's house had an old boiler in it - certified SAFE, but mentioned as 'would not meet modern regulations' Took me two lawyers letters to say 'so what: It's safe, and its your problem to replace it if you want'
Likewise the original 1950's wiring.
Most people who buy a house that hasn't been touched for 50-60 years expect to have to rewire and re-plumb it, anyway. That is reflected in the price. Lack of certification this case is utterly irrelevant.
yes, it's just the same scenario as has been going for donkeys years with all the other building regs - "is there building control certification for that extension/loft conversion/replacement windows etc etc"; it's really no different as far as I can see.
Except that it's much less obvious to the casual observer whether any recent electrical work has been carried out, perhaps.
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