Part P of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010 says that fixed electrical installations in dwellings must be designed and installed so that people are reasonably protected from fire and electric shock. All domestic work has to comply with it; only some of it has to be notified. In England, since 6 April 2013, that means three things: a new circuit, a consumer unit replacement, and an addition or alteration to a circuit in a special location. In Wales the older 2006 list still applies, so kitchens, outdoor work and other "special installations" are notifiable too. This guide sets out what to notify, the three routes for doing it, and the deadlines that catch people out.
- Part P applies in England and Wales only, to fixed installations in dwellings, their gardens and outbuildings, common parts of flats, and business premises sharing a dwelling's supply.
- England: notifiable work is a new circuit, a consumer unit replacement, or an addition or alteration in a special location. Kitchens and outdoors dropped off the list in April 2013.
- Wales: additions and alterations in kitchens, special locations and special installations (outdoor power, PV, underfloor heating, non-CE-marked ELV lighting) are still notifiable.
- Scheme members self-certify: compliance certificate to the occupier and notice to building control within 30 days of finishing.
- Unregistered installers notify building control before starting, or appoint a registered third-party certifier before starting.
- The compliance certificate and the BS 7671 EIC or Minor Works certificate are different documents. Every job gets the second; only notifiable work gets the first.
What does Part P actually cover?
Part P is short. Requirement P1 says reasonable provision must be made in the design and installation of electrical installations to protect people operating, maintaining or altering them from fire or injury. The detail is in Approved Document P, the 2013 edition for England and the 2006 edition (as amended in 2010) for Wales.
The scope is wider than "inside the house". Regulation 12(6) and Approved Document P bring in: dwellings (houses, flats, maisonettes); dwellings and business premises with a common supply, such as a shop with a flat above on one meter; the common access areas of blocks of flats (corridors, stairwells and shared amenity areas, but not lifts); and outbuildings such as sheds, garages and greenhouses, plus garden lighting and power, supplied from a dwelling. An outbuilding on its own supply is not a dwelling and falls outside Part P, which matters for the certificate you issue but not for BS 7671, which applies regardless. See Outbuilding and Garden Supply: SWA, TT or PME Earth? for the wiring side.
Part P is not a licence: anyone may do electrical work in a dwelling provided it complies and, where required, is notified. Nor is it BS 7671: the Wiring Regulations are the accepted way of showing compliance, but a Minor Works certificate on its own is not proof the Building Regulations have been met.
Which work is notifiable in England?
The Building Regulations &c. (Amendment) Regulations 2012 cut the notifiable list on 6 April 2013 to three items, listed in regulation 12(6A):
- Installing a new circuit.
- Replacing a consumer unit.
- Adding to or altering an existing circuit in a special location.
A special location is either a room containing a swimming pool or a sauna heater, or the space around a bath or shower. That space runs vertically from finished floor level to 2.25 m (or to the shower head where it is fixed higher) and horizontally 0.6 m from the edge of the bath tub or shower tray. Where there is no tray, it extends 1.2 m horizontally from the centre of the fixed water outlet. These dimensions are Approved Document P's, not the BS 7671 Section 701 zones, and they are not identical; a fan fixed at 2.4 m above a bath is outside the Part P special location but may still be in zone 1 for IP-rating purposes. Compare with Bathroom Zones Explained: Section 701 of BS 7671.
Everything else is non-notifiable in England: extending or altering a circuit anywhere other than a special location, and any replacement, repair or maintenance work wherever it is. Approved Document P gives two examples worth remembering. Fitting a built-in cooker is not notifiable unless it needs a new circuit. Connecting an electric gate to an existing isolator is not notifiable, but running a new circuit to that isolator is.
Which work is notifiable in Wales?
Wales did not adopt the 2013 changes. The 2006 list still stands, so notifiable work is any new circuit, any consumer unit replacement, and any addition or alteration to a circuit that is in a kitchen, in a special location, or connected with a special installation.
A kitchen is a room or part of a room containing a sink and food preparation facilities. Special locations are places with a bath or shower, a swimming or paddling pool, or a hot air sauna. Special installations are outdoor lighting and power, electric floor or ceiling heating, generators such as solar PV and small wind turbines, and extra-low voltage lighting that is not a pre-assembled CE-marked set.
Still non-notifiable in Wales: replacing accessories without new fixed cable, replacing a damaged single-circuit cable like-for-like on the same route, installing or upgrading bonding, and adding points to an existing circuit outside a kitchen or special location.
| Job | England | Wales |
|---|---|---|
| New circuit (shower, cooker, EV charger, garden supply) | Notifiable | Notifiable |
| Replace a consumer unit | Notifiable | Notifiable |
| Alter a circuit within 0.6 m of a bath or shower tray | Notifiable | Notifiable |
| Add a socket to a kitchen ring | Not notifiable | Notifiable |
| Outside socket or light off an existing circuit | Not notifiable | Notifiable |
| Extend a PV array on an existing inverter circuit | Not notifiable | Notifiable |
| Add a light to a bedroom lighting circuit | Not notifiable | Not notifiable |
| Like-for-like electric shower on the existing circuit | Not notifiable | Not notifiable |
| Replace a damaged accessory or a length of cable like-for-like | Not notifiable | Not notifiable |
| Install or upgrade main bonding | Not notifiable | Not notifiable |
Rules as at 27 September 2026, from Approved Document P (2013 edition, England; 2006 edition as amended, Wales).
What about the grey areas?
Most arguments on site come from jobs that sit on the edge of the definitions.
Consumer unit swaps. Always notifiable, in both countries, even where every circuit stays as it was. The certificate is an EIC, not a Minor Works, because the whole distribution board is new work. Consumer Unit Replacement: Which Certificate and What to Check covers the paperwork and the checks before you start.
Adding an RCBO or RCD to an existing board. Not a consumer unit replacement, and not a new circuit, so in England it is non-notifiable unless the circuit serves a special location. It still needs a Minor Works certificate with the RCD test results recorded.
Electric showers. A replacement on the existing circuit is not notifiable; a new circuit is. See Electric Shower Installation Certificate: EIC or Minor Works?.
EV chargers. In England a charger on a dedicated new circuit is notifiable as a new circuit; one wired from an existing garage circuit, where the design allows, is not. In Wales it is outdoor power and notifiable either way. EV Charger Installation Certificate: Section 722 and the EIC has the Section 722 detail.
Bathroom fans and lights. Notifiable in England only if the work is inside the special location envelope. A fan on the ceiling of a 2.4 m bathroom is above 2.25 m and outside it, unless the shower head is fixed higher; a fan on the wall above a bath usually is inside it.
Remedials after an EICR. The EICR itself is never notified; it is inspection, not building work. Replacing a damaged socket coded C2 is non-notifiable; replacing the board because it has no RCD protection is notifiable. See Unsatisfactory EICR: What Happens Next (Landlords & Electricians).
How do you notify Part P work?
There are three routes, and the choice depends on whether you are registered with a competent person scheme.
| Route | Who it is for | When to act | Who notifies building control | Typical cost to the customer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competent person scheme (NICEIC, NAPIT and others) | Registered electricians | After completion: certificate to occupier and notice to building control within 30 days | The scheme, from your online notification | Scheme's notification fee, usually a few pounds per job, built into your price |
| Registered third-party certifier (England only) | Unregistered installers | Appoint the certifier before starting; notify them no more than 7 days after finishing | The certifier's registration body, within 30 days of a satisfactory report | Certifier's inspection and test fee; in practice few certifiers are registered |
| Local authority or registered building control approver | Anyone not self-certifying | Building notice or full plans before starting; work may begin 2 days after a building notice | Building control inspects (often via an independent electrician it appoints) and issues a completion or final certificate | Council charge for electrical work, commonly a few hundred pounds including the inspection |
Self-certification is regulation 20. Within 30 days of completing the work the occupier must receive a Building Regulations compliance certificate and your scheme must notify the local authority; you log the job on the scheme portal and it does both. A pattern of late notifications is the kind of thing a QS assessment picks up. How to Become NICEIC Registered: Routes and Assessment and NICEIC vs NAPIT: Which Scheme Should an Electrician Join? cover getting registered; Qualified Supervisor (QS) Sign-Off Explained covers who signs what.
Third-party certification is regulation 20A, added in 2013 so an unregistered installer could have a registered certifier inspect and test the work instead of paying building control. Appoint the certifier before work begins and notify them no more than 7 days after completion (Approved Document P's 2013 text says 5 days, so do not cut it fine). The catch is availability: the register of certifiers has stayed small since it opened, so the route is rarely used.
Building control is the fallback. Submit a building notice or full plans application before you start; under a building notice you may begin two days after it is received. Building control decides how much to inspect, may take your BS 7671 certificate and qualifications into account, and often appoints an electrician to test on its behalf and passes that cost on. If an emergency repair cannot wait, the notice may be given as soon as reasonably practicable after starting; keep evidence of why.
What does the customer receive?
Two documents, and they are not interchangeable.
The BS 7671 certificate goes to the person who ordered the work: an Electrical Installation Certificate for a new circuit or a consumer unit replacement, or a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate for an addition or alteration that does not include a new circuit. Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) Explained and Minor Works Certificate: When to Use It (and When Not To) explain which is which. Every job gets one of these, notifiable or not.
The Building Regulations compliance certificate goes to the occupier for notifiable work only: a scheme or third-party certificate, or a completion or final certificate from building control. For rented property it can go to whoever ordered the work, with a copy to the occupier. Keep your own copies; Electrical Certificate Retention and GDPR for Electricians covers how long.
What happens if notifiable work is not notified?
The work is non-compliant, whatever the test results say. Building control can require it to be exposed for inspection and made good at the owner's expense, and the person who carried out the work can be prosecuted under section 35 of the Building Act 1984, where the fine in the magistrates' court has been unlimited since 2015. In England, the Building Safety Act 2022 extended the time limit for enforcement notices under section 36 from one year to ten years for work completed on or after 1 October 2023, so the "it was over a year ago" defence has gone.
The commercial consequence usually arrives first. Conveyancing solicitors ask for compliance certificates for electrical work done since 2005, and a missing one for a consumer unit or new circuit turns into an indemnity policy, a retrospective inspection or a price reduction. Electrical Certificate for Selling a House: What You Need explains what owners are asked for.
Does Part P apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
No. Part P is a requirement of the Building Regulations 2010, which apply in England and Wales only. Scotland uses the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004: some electrical work needs a building warrant from the local verifier, and a scheme member registered as an Approved Certifier of Construction can certify it instead. Northern Ireland has no equivalent notification requirement for domestic electrical work. BS 7671 applies across the UK regardless, and so does the requirement to certificate the work. Landlord rules also differ by nation; see EICR Landlord Requirements in Scotland and Wales (vs England).
How Certio helps
Certio produces the EICR, EIC, Minor Works certificate and PAT records on the BS 7671 model forms and turns them into branded PDFs. Photograph the consumer unit and the circuit schedule drafts itself; point the phone camera at a Megger MFT-X1 and the reading goes straight into the schedule of test results, or dictate it while your hands stay on the probes. Suggested observation wording with the regulation reference is there for you to check and confirm. The judgement stays yours; the typing goes. Starter is free for 7 days, then £4.99 a month.