The Wonders of the Private Rental Sector Scheme.

The importance of Residual Current Devices

Every year thousands of lives are saved by a device installed in or near your fusebox/consumer unit. This essential piece of kit guarantees the speed of disconnection of the electrical supply should a fault occur. Put simply, this device saves lives. It's quite easy to check if you have one installed, it should be either part of your consumer unit, or, if you have an older style fusebox it may well be located near to this item. It will always have a test button installed on it and it will have the letters RCD clearly printed on it. Some older installations may have its predecessor installed, this was called an earth leakage device and works quite differently and crucially not as effectively. We are currently offering a free inspection service to make sure you have this critical item installed in your home or business, while at your property we will check that your device is working correctly and disconnects the power within specified times, we will also check the integrity of your earthing system. All this for free. Contact your local office to arrange an appointment and make sure you and your family area properly protected.

Building Regulation Part P for electrical installations within a domestic property.

I am constantly amazed how many homeowners contact us when they are either planning on selling or renting their home explaining to us that they have had electrical work carried out in their property but have not received a Part P Building Regulations Compliance Certifciate for the work. Invariably the purchasers solicitor, surveyor, letting agent or in some cases an insurance company are requesting both the installation certificate issued at the time the work was carried out by the electrician, and asking why there is no Part P Building Regulations Compliance Certificate lodged with the local authority. In a lot of cases this is due to the owners not being aware of this crucial piece of legislation that was first introduced in 2005. Since then it has been necessary that certain works carried out within a domestic environment, or works carried out within certain areas within that home are certified as complying to Part P of building regulations. This has to be done by the electrician that carried out the work, anyone using a third party to certify their work is breaking the law and are subject to prosecution from the local authority. Properly qualified and registered electricians and electrical contracting companies are regularly assesed on their work and are able to certify that their work complies with the relevant regulations and registers each notifiable job through their governing body. Their governing body then issues a Part P Compliance Certificate to both the homeowner as well as the local authority responsible for the area that the property is in. Unfortunately, the homeowner is ultimately responsible for making sure that the electrician they use is properly registered, and able to carry out and then certify the notifiable work. We hear every week from homeowners that the electrician they employed informed them he was properly qualified and registered before the work began, but then either wasnt able to issue the certificate or was relying on another electrician that was registered to certify the work. So time goes by and the homeowner is blissfully unaware that not only could they have had a potentially dangerous job carried out but they will have trouble selling or letting the property later on. In the majority of cases we have encountered it was impossible to guarantee the integrity of the installed cable etc as it had been covered during the works or for some other reason it was not possible to inspect the circuits completely. When this occurs the only choice for the homeowner is to employ a properly registered electrician to carry out the work again. There is no such thing as ignorance of the law as a defence and local authority's will only accept a Part P certificate issued by the company responsible for the installation, inspection and testing of the work. Buyer beware should be at the forefront of any homeowner contemplating certain electrical works within their home. We are also regularly contacted by homeowners that have carried out their own work.  "It's my house, I can do what work I want in my own home" they state.  Sadly they can't. Everyone is aware that for gas work within your home you must only employ a gas engineer who is GasSafe registered. At the time this law was introduced a great deal of time and money was spent by the government educating members of the public about this essential and common sense law. There could be an argument that in 2005 only a small fraction of public money was used to educate people to the electrical requirements compared with the CORGI introduction. Notwithstanding, Part P has now been with us for over a decade and so ignorance is no excuse for what usually amounts to homeowners trying to save a few pounds to get the job done. Even electricians that have been happily working within the industry for over 40 years were told at the time that unless they had adequate qualifications to inspect and test their work they would not be able to carry out certain works within a domestic environment. Those of us that have the required qualifications, are properly registered and pay the additional fees each year to maintain our ability to certify work to local authorities have little sympathy for these cowboys that continue to leave members of our communities at risk. For more information regarding Part P of the building regulations and what your options are if you have not received a Part P Compliance Certificate check our website www.electriciansoncall.com

How Safe is Your Home

Simple checks can save your life.
Millions of people in the UK expose themselves and their families to potentially fatal electrical accidents in the home by making simple blunders, down to a lack of knowledge about the dangers of electricity.
It is important to make sure that the electrical installation in your property is well maintained, and we recommend that you use an approved electrician like ElectriciansOnCall to check that it is safe.

However, there are a number of simple, visual checks that you can carry out yourself:
• Check that you have RCD protection in your fusebox (If in doubt arrange to have one of our engineers carry out a visual inspection, this simple and cheap procedure can quickly point out anything that could be a potential hazard with your existing installation without the lengthy and costly process of testing your circuits).
• Make sure that your plug sockets are not overloaded.
• Ensure that plugs and sockets are not damaged
• Check that visible cables and leads are in good condition
• Check that your light fittings are not visibly damaged and that downlighters are in good working condition
• Check that you are not storing combustible materials around your fusebox, electricity meter or electrical intake
• Don’t use the top of the microwave for extra storage
• Never trail cables under carpets or rugs
• Never take mains-powered electrical items into the bathroom
• Always switch off your electrical items when they are not in use for some time or when your planning to be away for a time

Regular Inspection and Testing

Buying or selling a property is a stressful enough experience without the potential delays that could be forced upon you by the other side demanding checks be carried out to the electrical installation. All electrical installations deteriorate with age and use and although legally a Domestic Electrical Installation Condition Report is not required prior to selling a property,  more and more potential buyers are insisting upon it before they complete. If any Part P notifiable work has been carried out since 2005 a record of this work should be available from the local authority, that is of course if the homeowner was aware that this work should have been certified to them in the first place, and of course if the electrician that carried out the work issued the required certification. Although these regulations were introduced in 2005 they were not heavily advertised at the time and the consequences of not having a properly registered electrician carrying out notifiable work was hardly mentioned. The majority of householders simply carried on doing their own electrical work or having a friend of a friend do it for them. Only now that they are trying to sell the property does this uncertified work come to light. The consequences of uncertified work can be quite serious, should, God forbid, an electrical fire happen within the property the local fire investigation officer will file a report with the homeowners insurance company as a standard part of the claim, the first thing the insurance company will do is check with the local authority that any notifiable works carried out since 2005 were properly certified, if the relevant certificates are not filed with the local authority the insurance company could claim the works were unsafe and not carried out by a properly competent person and refuse to pay out on the claim. This of course is a worst case scenario, there can of course be much more likely problems that can occur when the electrical installation within a home has been worked on by an unregistered or incompetent person. Badly installed or extended circuits can be a fire hazard, cables installed that are not fit for purpose can burn through or melt causing damage to the property as well as the electrical installation. The most common situation however are faults occurring through the property that could initially be intermittent and almost impossible to find, the constant inconvenience of the electrics tripping could indicate a much larger problem just around the corner. As a homeowner that's selling, or as a potential buyer the only way to be sure is to have an electrical inspection carried out, although it's impossible to examine in detail every inch of cable installed within the property it will certainly ascertain whether the installation has been changed from its original design or circuits have been added or extended. Testing of the circuits within the property will also indicate if they have been installed safely and are still in a condition for continued use. Once the inspection and testing procedure has been completed a comprehensive report is then issued to the person ordering the inspection, should any deviations to the current wiring regulations be found a covering letter explaining these deviations is included together with a complete written quotation for any remedial works that may be required in order to bring the installation up to a safe standard.


A Domestic Electrical Installation Condition Report will:

• Reveal if any of your electrical circuits or equipment are overloaded.

• Find any potential electric shock risks and fire hazards.

• Identify any defective electrical work.

• Highlight any lack of earthing or bonding.

• The adequacy of earthing and bonding.

• The suitability of the switchgear and controlgear. For example, an old fusebox with a wooden back, cast-iron switches, or a mixture of both will need replacing.

• The serviceability of switches, sockets and lighting fittings. Items that  may need replacing include: older round-pin sockets, round light switches, cables with fabric coating hanging from ceiling roses to light fittings, black switches and sockets mounted in skirting boards.

• The type of wiring system and its condition. For example, cables coated in black rubber were phased out in the 1960s. Likewise cables coated in lead or fabric are even older and may well need replacing (modern cables use longer-lasting pvc insulation).

• Sockets that may be used to supply portable electrical equipment for use outdoors, making sure they are protected by a suitable residual current device (RCD).

• The presence of adequate identification and notices.

• The extent of any wear and tear, damage or other deterioration.

• Any changes in the use of the premises that have led to, or may lead to, unsafe conditions.


All periodic inspection and testing should be carried out by experienced and competent electricians. They will check the condition of the electrics against the UK standard for the safety of electrical installations, BS 7671:2015 – IEE Wiring Regulations

The person ordering the inspection will then be issued with an Electrical Installation Condition Report detailing any observed damage, deterioration, defects, dangerous conditions and any non-compliances with the present-day safety standard that might give rise to danger.

If anything dangerous or potentially dangerous is found, the overall condition of the electrical installation will be declared to be 'unsatisfactory', meaning that remedial action is required without delay to remove the risks to those in the premises.

ElectriciansOnCall have been carrying out these inspection for sellers, buyers and landlords since 1997, we have the relevant experience and professional qualifications to make sure that your purchase or sale is not held up unnecessarily. Should you require further information regarding the inspection of an electrical installation please feel free to contact your local office. 

Older style fuseboxes

I still can't believe how many times I'm called out to a problem concerning an older style fusebox. Wrongly rated fuse wire installed causing excess heat to build up and eventually burn out the live conductor, or worse still silver foil wrapped around the whole fuse carrier leaving a potentially deadly fire hazard. Tonight was no exception, after visiting the property, where the client had reported a burning smell coming from under the stairs it seems the incoming neutral conductor had burnt about 6" and completely taken out the neutral bar, the result was that the family has to go without power or lighting until Monday morning until a new consumer unit can be installed. The problem might not have been so bad had a residual current device had been installed, but as usual the only thing that was installed at the time was undersized main meter tails

The client had a very well kept house and a lovely family which he obviously cares about very much. Why then, if this is the case would he leave a potential fire hazard in the house. After explaining the issues and showing the client the benefits of a new consumer unit he agreed that should he have been told about the hazards earlier he would have done something about it. A lesson for a great many people perhaps, if you're pried or concerned about the state of repair of your fuse box give your local office a call, we will arrange for one of our highly qualified engineers to call at your convenience and inspect your existing fusebox. Safety shouldn't be left to chance.