Part P building regulations

Is this job notifiable, or not?

Since 2013 only three kinds of domestic electrical work are notifiable to building control in England. Most of what an installer does in a day is not on that list. Answer four questions and get the answer, the certificate the work needs either way, and the route to sign it off.

The checker

Is this work notifiable under Part P?

Four questions. Answers update as you go.

Part P notification assessment

Approved Document P, England. Guidance only, not a building control determination.

Reference: Date:

Assessment	Answer
Nation
Premises
Work
Special location

Outcome	Detail
Notifiable
Rule applied
Certificate
Route

Assessed against Approved Document P (electrical safety, dwellings), the England edition. Three categories of work are notifiable to building control: the installation of a new circuit, the replacement of a consumer unit, and any addition or alteration to an existing circuit in a special location. Work that is not notifiable must still comply with Part P and with BS 7671, and still requires certification. This sheet is a working note, not a building regulations compliance certificate and not a determination by a building control body.

The list

What is notifiable under the Part P building regulations

Three categories in England. Everything else is not notifiable.

1

Installing a new circuit

Any new circuit, anywhere in the dwelling. The dedicated circuit for an EV charger is the one installers meet most often, but a new shower circuit or a new ring final counts the same way.

2

Replacing a consumer unit

A board change is notifiable on its own. It survived the 2013 cut because replacing the board means testing and certifying every circuit in the property, not only the unit you fitted.

3

Altering a circuit in a special location

Additions and alterations to an existing circuit are notifiable only where part of the work falls in a special location. Outside one, the same work is not notifiable.

What came off the list in 2013, and what did not

Before April 2013 the list was much longer. Work in kitchens and work outdoors were both notifiable, and a great deal of ordinary domestic work went through building control as a result. Both came off. If you learned Part P before 2013, or from a page that has not been updated since, you are probably still notifying work that does not need it.

What did not change: the work still has to comply with Part P, still has to comply with BS 7671, and still has to be certified. Removing the notification removed a form and a fee, not the standard. "Not notifiable" is not the same as "no paperwork", and it is nowhere near "no rules".

The definition

What counts as a special location

The measurement that decides most borderline jobs.

This is the term that decides most borderline jobs, and it is narrower than people assume. A special location is not "the bathroom". It is a measured zone, and a socket on the far wall of a large bathroom can sit outside it.

The zone around a bath or shower: Measured vertically from finished floor level to 2.25 m, or up to the shower head where it is fixed higher than that. Measured horizontally, where there is a bath tub or shower tray, 0.6 m from its edge; where there is no tub or tray, 1.2 m from the centre point of a wall or ceiling mounted shower head.
A room containing a swimming pool or a sauna heater: The whole room, not a measured zone. Both are treated as special locations in their own right.

Why it matters twice over. The special location decides whether an alteration is notifiable, and it is also where BS 7671 imposes its own additional requirements on what you install. The two questions run together on site but they are separate rules, and being outside the zone for notification does not put you outside Section 701.

Sign-off

Three ways to comply, and the certificate either way

Which route you take depends on whether you are scheme registered.

Self-certify under a competent person scheme

Most installers

If you are registered with a scheme such as NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA or STROMA, you certify the work yourself and the scheme notifies the local authority on your behalf. No building notice, no up-front fee, and the building regulations compliance certificate reaches the customer through the scheme. This is the route almost all notifiable domestic work takes.

Give building control a building notice

Unregistered, or working outside your scheme

Submit a building notice to the local authority before you start. The authority charges a fee, may inspect, and issues the completion certificate. The order matters: this is the route that goes wrong when someone finishes the job first and then discovers it was notifiable.

Have a registered third party certify it

Occasional route

Work that was not notified in advance and was not done by a scheme member can be signed off by a registered third-party certifier. Treat it as the recovery route rather than the plan, and expect it to cost more than either of the other two.

Notification and certification are two different obligations

The certificate comes from BS 7671 and covers the electrical work. The notification comes from the Building Regulations and tells the local authority the work happened. Notifiable work needs both. Non-notifiable work still needs the certificate.

In practice: a new circuit or a board change gets an Electrical Installation Certificate. An addition or alteration to an existing circuit usually gets a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate, and an EIC where the work goes beyond minor works. Neither certificate is a building regulations compliance certificate, which is a separate document that reaches the customer from your scheme or from building control.

Part P is not the notification the network operator wants

An EV charger install can carry two separate notifications and they go to different people. The Part P one goes to building control, through your competent person scheme, because you installed a new circuit. The other goes to the distribution network operator, and it exists because of what the connection does to the network rather than what it does to the dwelling.

Getting one right does not cover the other. A scheme notification is not an ENA notification, and a G98 submission says nothing to your local authority. Solar and battery work adds a third strand again, where the generation threshold decides whether you connect and tell them or apply and wait.

installHUB captures the connection data during the survey and files the DNO notification through ENA Connect Direct without re-keying it, then tracks the response against the job. The certificates you issue stay yours, on the job record, where the customer, the office and the field operative all see the same set.

G98 or G99? Check in 3 questions →Will the supply take it? →How DNO submissions work →

Questions

Part P, answered

What work is notifiable under the Part P building regulations?+

In England, three categories: installing a new circuit, replacing a consumer unit, and any addition or alteration to an existing circuit in a special location. Everything else is not notifiable. Work in kitchens and work outdoors came off the list in April 2013 and are not notifiable on that basis alone.

Does Part P apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?+

No. Approved Document P is an England document. The Welsh Building Regulations were amended on 31 July 2014 and Wales has its own Approved Document P. Scotland works to the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 at standards 4.5 and 4.6, and the IET states that the Part P self-certification schemes used in England do not apply there. Northern Ireland has its own Building Regulations with no Approved Document P. BS 7671 applies across all four nations either way.

Is adding a socket notifiable?+

Not on its own. Adding a socket or a spur to an existing circuit is an addition to an existing circuit, which is only notifiable if part of the work is in a special location. It still has to comply with BS 7671 and it still needs a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate.

Is an EV charger installation notifiable under Part P?+

Almost always, because it usually needs a dedicated new circuit, and a new circuit is notifiable wherever it is in the dwelling. Note that this is separate from notifying the distribution network operator, which is a different obligation to a different body.

Is a consumer unit change notifiable?+

Yes. Replacing a consumer unit is notifiable in its own right, and it stayed on the list when the 2013 changes shortened it. The replacement brings every circuit in the dwelling into scope for testing and certification, not only the board.

What is a special location under Part P?+

The zone around a bath or shower, and any room containing a swimming pool or a sauna heater. The zone runs vertically from the floor to 2.25 m, or to the shower head if it is fixed higher, and horizontally 0.6 m from the edge of a bath tub or shower tray, or 1.2 m from the centre of a wall or ceiling mounted shower head where there is no tub or tray.

Do I still need a certificate if the work is not notifiable?+

Yes. Notification and certification are separate obligations. Notification comes from the Building Regulations, certification comes from BS 7671. Non-notifiable work still needs the appropriate certificate, normally a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate.

Does installHUB handle Part P notification?+

No. Part P notification goes to building control, through your competent person scheme, and installHUB is not part of that. What it does automate is the DNO side: connection data captured during the survey, filed through ENA Connect Direct, with the response tracked against the job. Certificates you issue can be held on the job record so the whole team works from the same set.

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