Part P Notification: How and When to Notify

Notifiable electrical work in a home must be reported to building control — and if you are registered with a competent person scheme you do that by self-certifying, which is faster and cheaper than the alternative. Part P of the Building Regulations covers electrical safety in dwellings in England and Wales, and getting notification right is what gives your customer the certificate they will need when they sell. Here is how it works, when it applies, and what it costs.

What Part P actually requires

Part P sets the standard for electrical safety in and around homes. It does not replace BS 7671 (the Wiring Regulations) — it sits alongside it, requiring that fixed electrical work in a dwelling is designed and installed so it is safe, and that certain work is notified so it can be checked or self-certified as compliant.

The key word is notifiable. Not all electrical work has to be notified, but the work that does cannot simply be done and forgotten — a record has to reach building control one way or another, and a certificate has to reach the homeowner.

Which work is notifiable

Broadly, the bigger and riskier the work, the more likely it is notifiable. A new circuit is notifiable. A new consumer unit (fuse board) is notifiable. Work in special locations — the zones in and around a bathroom or shower room, for instance — carries tighter rules. Additions and alterations that involve installing a new circuit fall in scope.

Minor work usually does not need notifying: replacing a socket or switch, adding a fused spur or a light fitting to an existing circuit, like-for-like repairs. But even non-notifiable work still has to comply with BS 7671 and should be tested and certified appropriately — “not notifiable” does not mean “no standards apply”. If you are unsure whether a specific job is notifiable, confirm before you start rather than after.

The two routes to notify

There are two ways notifiable work gets reported, and the one you use depends on whether you are scheme-registered.

Route one: self-certification through a competent person scheme. If you are registered with a Part P competent person scheme — NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA and others — you certify your own work as compliant and the scheme notifies the local authority building control on your behalf, usually within 30 days of completion. You do not submit a building control application, there is no separate inspection visit, and the homeowner receives a compliance certificate through the scheme. This is the route the overwhelming majority of working electricians use because it is quick and keeps the job in your hands.

Route two: notify building control directly. If you are not scheme-registered, you must notify the local authority building control before starting the work. They (or a third party they appoint) inspect and test the installation, and charge a fee for doing so. It is slower, it costs your customer more, and it puts an inspector in the middle of your job. For anyone doing electrical work regularly, scheme membership pays for itself against this alone.

Timing: when notification has to happen

The timing differs by route, and it matters. Under self-certification the notification goes in after the work is done — the scheme submits it, typically within 30 days of completion. Under the building control route, you have to notify before you start, because the point is that they inspect the work as it happens. Getting that the wrong way round — starting notifiable work with no scheme membership and no prior building control notice — is exactly the situation that leaves a homeowner with unnotified work to untangle later.

Cost, and who pays

Self-certification has no per-job notification fee beyond your scheme membership, which is an annual cost you carry as part of running the business. The building control route carries a fee per notification, paid by whoever commissions it — usually passed to the homeowner. That gap is why a scheme-registered electrician can quote a cleaner price for the same job: no building control fee, no inspection delay.

The certificate the customer gets

This is the part homeowners care about, so it is worth explaining to them. For notifiable work they should receive a Building Regulations compliance certificate — issued through your scheme when you self-certify, or by building control on the other route — confirming the work meets Part P. Alongside it they get the electrical certification for the work itself (an Electrical Installation Certificate or Minor Works Certificate as appropriate). Those documents are what a buyer’s solicitor will ask for when the property is sold, so getting them into the homeowner’s hands is part of finishing the job properly.

FAQ

Do I have to notify replacing a consumer unit? Yes. A consumer unit replacement is notifiable work. If you are scheme-registered you self-certify it; if not, you notify building control before starting.

Is adding a socket to an existing circuit notifiable? Generally no — adding an accessory or a fused spur to an existing circuit is minor work and not notifiable, unless it is in a special location like a bathroom. It still has to comply with BS 7671 and be certified.

Can I self-certify Part P work without being in a scheme? No. Self-certification is only available to members of a competent person scheme. Without it, you must go through building control.

How quickly does the notification have to be submitted? Under a scheme you self-certify and the notification is typically lodged within 30 days of completion. Through building control you notify before the work starts.

What certificate does the homeowner end up with? A Building Regulations compliance certificate for the notifiable work, plus the relevant electrical certificate. They will need these when they sell the property.

Win the electrical jobs that value doing it right

Homeowners who care about certificates and compliance are exactly the customers worth having — and they are the ones Trade Pilot sends your way. It is free to join and only charges when a real local job lands in your inbox, with each lead sold to no more than three trades, so you are quoting against a couple of others rather than a crowd. Do the work properly, hand over the paperwork, and build the reputation that keeps the referrals coming.

This article is general guidance for electricians working in England and Wales, not legal or technical advice. Always check the current Approved Document P, BS 7671 and your competent person scheme's own rules before relying on it.

Related reading: do I need Part P · NICEIC vs NAPIT · EIC vs MEIWC vs EICR · BS 7671 Amendment 4