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Although it is legal to do your own electrical work in UK, doing it by yourself can cost you your house insurance. And it’s not an opinion, it’s a fact.
It might not be straight away, but in case of any issues be sure your insurance company will ask for a certification of any works done inside of your house.
Failing to prove that any major work has been done by a competent person will give your insurance company a reason to back out from any previous agreements. As a result they will be allowed to refuse your insurance claim.
I know, that hurts.
Luckily, there are multiple things you can do to avoid it and we are presenting them in the article below so be sure to check it out!
Failing to prove that any major work has been done by a competent person will give your insurance company a reason to back out from any previous agreements #partP #DIY
Before we start getting into details let’s make an important safety note at the very beginning. Dealing with electricity is not a joke.
Please be 120% you know what you are doing and you are following all legal requirements to do it properly. We will include all necessary documents below so please read and apply them thoroughly.
It is not only a matter of a fine, insurance or other material consequences.
If it’s done incompetently it can cost a life of your own or your closed ones. With any electric works safety comes first, so please switch it off in the room you are about to do any work or entire house if it’s necessary.
Next, please turn on some appliances to check if it actually has been switched off.
As mentioned before it is NOT illegal to do your own electrical work in UK. What is required, however, is that you follow the regulations included in so called Part P document available here.
On top of that you need to be in accordance to Site Guide Regulations (BS 7671) available here. Failing to prove all the works have been carried out correctly is considered a criminal offence.
Following above regulations will make safe when it comes to control checks, insurance and most importantly – safety of your family and neighbours. You can find in the next paragraph which types of work exactly can and which cannot be done freely by the owner.
However, to make a long story short. You can assume you can do any sort of works as long as you:
In either of the last point case scenarios you need to pay a some sort of a fee for a service. Please note, however, that many of registered and certified electricians will not do such sign off.
The reason behind is that they are signing it off with their own name. In case of any issues they will be held accountable. You just have to admit it’s totally understandable.
In most cases it actually makes much more sense to hire a qualified electrician to do the job.
Especially if you think about all the learning curve, actually doing the work and then getting it signed off. Nonetheless, if you do not feel discouraged there is a portion of good news in the paragraph 🙂
The good news are that regulator has included certain electric works that do not need to be notified to your Local Authority Building Control. As a result you do not need them to be signed off by the officer or certified electrician.
So in fact there is a list of certain electrical works that can be done in UK without a license. Thanks to that you can do them on your own and save around £240. Which is always a good thing.
So in fact there is a list of certain #electrical works that can be done in UK without a license. #DIY #electricity
Below you can find a full list of electrical works you can do in your house in UK. The list comes from DIY Doctor and it’s an amazing page where you can find lots of valuable information about DIY so be sure to check it out!
The list is constantly updated, but as of 16th of December 2018 it is as per below:
| Work type | Notification required? – Areas outside of bathroom, shower room and kitchen | Notification required? – Within a bathroom, shower room or kitchen (special location) |
| New installation or complete rewire | Yes | Yes |
| Consumer unit change | Yes | Yes |
| Installation of a new shower circuit | Yes | Yes |
| Installation of an additional socket | No | Yes |
| Installation of an additional light | No | Yes |
| Addition of fused connection unit to ring final circuit | No | Yes |
| Installation of a new cooker circuit | Yes | Yes |
| Connection of a cooker to an existing connection unit | No | No |
| Installation or upgrade of main or supplementary equipotential bonding | No | Yes |
| Replacing damaged cable for a single circuit | No | No |
| Replacing damaged socket outlet | No | No |
| Replacing light fitting | No | No |
| Installation or fitting a storage heater, including final circuit | Yes | Yes |
| Fitting and final connection of a storage heater | No | No |
| Installation of extra low voltage lighting (not CE market sets) | Yes | Yes |
| Taking a new supply to a garden shed | Yes | N/A |
| Installation of a socket in a garden shed | Yes | N/A |
| Installation of a light fitting in a greenhouse | Yes | N/A |
| Installation of a pond pump, including supply | Yes | N/A |
| Installation of a hot air sauna | Yes | Yes |
| Installation of a solar photovoltaic power supply | Yes | Yes |
| Installation of ceiling or floor heating | Yes | Yes |
| Installation of a small scale generator | Yes | Yes |
| Installation of electrical underfloor heating | Yes | Yes |
Source: https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/partp.htm
One of the things that do not require to be notified and signed off by LABC or registered electrician is replacing damaged socket.
The same applies if you would like to add additional socket that does not involve implementation of new circuit or installation of double socket in place of single one. If you would like to wire a double socket from single socket then you need to certify it.
You can find it well explained in the article available here.
As with all electrical jobs, first you need to switch off the power in that room or entire house if necessary. Once you’ve done that please check with special voltage tester to be 100% sure.
In case you would like to install a double socket instead then the easiest way to do it is to use a socket surface box. You can check it out here.
Thanks to this solution you will be able to fix the box on top of the wall without a need to remove the old box inside the wall.
Otherwise you would be required to make a bigger hole to fit the double box.
If that’s exactly what you would like to do you can watch the below video to get a better feeling of what is necessary. If you are still not sure what and how to do it you can always drop us a line at diy@poldabuilders.com or via our chat.
Safety comes first when it comes to this job as well so before connecting any cables please switch off electricity. Either specific circuit only or by main switch as required and check with voltage tester.
Please note that to fit a security a light you will need to add additional circuit. Hence, this is one of these jobs that require to be verified and signed off by LABC or certified electrician.
Instead of light switch you can use a light with motion detector that will perform a role of a switch #DIY #lights
The easiest way to accomplish this task is to follow the below steps:
Safety note: Polda Builders do not hold any responsibility for misjudgment of what is sufficient for specific plumbing jobs. The above solutions are proven to work, but in this shape are purely informative and greatly dependent on how it’s being implemented.
Please take every possible effort in order to work safely and without unnecessary risks, especially with power tools and even more with electricity as mentioned throughout the article several times.
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