Part P Building Regulations Explained for Homeowners in England

What Part P actually requires

Part P of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010 sets one performance requirement for electrical installations in dwellings: they must be designed and installed so that people are reasonably protected from fire and electric shock. Electrical work first came under the Building Regulations on 1 January 2005. The government's Approved Document P, currently the 2013 edition, explains how to meet the requirement and when work has to be notified.

Two ideas are easy to mix up. Compliance applies to all electrical installation work in a home, garden, outbuilding or conservatory, whatever its size. Notification applies only to certain jobs. A replacement light switch does not need to be notified, but it still has to be installed safely and to the national wiring standard, BS 7671.

Which electrical work is notifiable in England?

Regulation 12 of the Building Regulations 2010 lists three kinds of notifiable electrical work in England: installing a new circuit, replacing a consumer unit, and adding to or altering an existing circuit in a special location. A new circuit covers jobs such as a dedicated supply for an electric shower, a cooker, an EV charger, a garden office or the sockets in a kitchen extension.

A special location is the zone around a bath or shower, and the whole of any room containing a swimming pool or sauna heater. In a bathroom, the zone runs 0.6 metres out from the edge of the bath or shower tray and up to 2.25 metres above the finished floor, or to the height of the shower head if that is higher. Where there is no tray, it extends 1.2 metres from the centre of the shower head.

Work that is not normally notifiable

Adding a socket or light to an existing circuit outside a special location is not notifiable in England, and nor are like-for-like replacements of accessories, light fittings or a damaged length of cable. Kitchens and gardens stopped being treated as special cases in England in April 2013. None of this removes the duty to work safely and test properly: a competent electrician should still issue a Minor Works Certificate for an addition or alteration.

Route one: a registered competent person

Most notifiable work is handled by an electrician registered with a government-authorised competent person scheme, such as NICEIC or NAPIT. The registered business carries out and tests the work, then notifies its scheme, which records it with building control. You do not need to contact the council or pay a building control fee.

Under regulation 20, you should receive a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate no more than 30 days after completion. It is separate from the electrician's own test certificate. If it does not arrive, contact the installer first and then the scheme they are registered with. You can check an electrician's registration on the Registered Competent Person Electrical register before you agree a quote.

Route two: building control

If the person doing notifiable work is not registered with a scheme, a building notice or full plans application must be made to a building control body before work starts, and a fee is payable. Building control will then want evidence that the installation was inspected and tested by someone competent, and issues a completion certificate when satisfied.

This route can suit a wider building project already under building control, but it adds an extra party and cost to an electrical job. For a stand-alone new circuit or consumer unit, a registered electrician is usually simpler because the notification is part of their service.

Electrical Installation Certificate or Minor Works Certificate?

These certificates record the electrician's design, installation and test results against BS 7671. An Electrical Installation Certificate, or EIC, is used for a new installation, a new circuit or a consumer unit change, and includes a schedule of test results for each circuit. A Minor Works Certificate covers smaller additions or alterations that do not create a new circuit, such as an extra socket on an existing ring.

Neither one is the same as a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate, which confirms notification. For a notifiable job you should end up with both kinds of document. An Electrical Installation Condition Report, or EICR, is different again: it reports on the condition of an existing installation rather than certifying new work. BS 7671 Amendment 4 was published in April 2026, so ask which edition your certificate is issued against.

What happens if notifiable work was never notified?

Without notification, the local authority has no record that the work complies. That gap often surfaces when you sell, because conveyancing forms ask about electrical work and the matching certificates. Government guidance warns that failing to comply can lead to prosecution and unlimited fines, and a local authority can require non-compliant work to be altered or removed.

The usual way to put things right is regularisation under regulation 18. The owner applies to the local authority, which may ask for parts of the installation to be opened up or tested. Building control commonly asks for an inspection and test report from a qualified electrician as evidence. If satisfied, the authority issues a regularisation certificate. If you are selling, speak to your solicitor before approaching the council, because some conveyancing options depend on the order of steps.

Can I do my own electrical work under Part P?

The regulations apply to the work, not just to electricians, so a homeowner doing notifiable work must notify building control before starting and pay the fee. You also need the knowledge and test equipment to prove the installation is safe, which most people do not have. TRACEFORM's advice is simple: leave fixed wiring, consumer units and bathroom circuits to a registered electrician. Safe homeowner actions are limited to things like switching a circuit breaker off.

This guide covers England only

Wales has its own version of the Building Regulations with a different list of notifiable work, and Scotland and Northern Ireland use separate systems. If your property is outside England, check the rules for that nation before relying on the routes described here.