EIC Required

Discussion in 'Electricians' Talk' started by GasKate, Feb 1, 2022.

  1. GasKate

    GasKate New Member

    Evening all,

    My husband is a fully qualified electrician (NVQ3 AM2, 2391 5 yrs apprenticeship etc) and has been work as such his whole life. He works for a national company that regularly “checks” the cps schemes (they do the same for gas safe) for workers being registered and this normally leads to dismissal so he has never registered on the sly.

    He has always done work on the side, mostly for a friend who runs a charity which has houses (700+) for adults with learning difficulties. He had a friend that signs off this work for him (he was my husbands apprentice) but he sadly passed away in a car accident in the new year.
    He is now being chased for the certificates for 2 boards he did just before Xmas and one lady is being very threatening as she know he works for this large company!
    He is obviously cut up about his friend and now has someone threatening to ruin him even after he offered to give her the money back just to shut her up.

    Is there anything he can do as one property is being sold and solicitors are demanding an EIC after an EICR was suggested to get around the issue (fully rewired)

    thank you
    Kate
     
  2. Comlec

    Comlec Screwfix Select

    Yes. The owner should apply to the Local Authority for a process called regularisation. Each LA do this slightly differently so it is worth checking with the specific LA where the property is for sale. Once applied for the LA will send out an inspector (usually sub contracted to a local firm) to carry out a special type of EICR. If this is satisfactory then all will be well and retrospective building notification will be approved. If the installation is unsatisfactory then the owner will have to commission a contractor to do the remedial work and send the appropriate certification to the LA, retrospective building notification will be approved.

    This process is not usually cheap and will cost a few hundred pounds, but costs do vary. However, it is the only legal way of doing it.

    There is no reason why your husband cannot issue electrical certificates for his own work. His problem is with the notification to the LABC under Part P of the building regulations.
    It is also the legal responsibility of the homeowner to notify under Part P not the contractor. However, if the homeowner had been led to believe by way of contract the notification would be done through a self-certification route (CPS) then I do think your husband will just have to pick up the bill and learn a valuable lesson.
     
  3. Tony Goddard

    Tony Goddard Screwfix Select

    First, very sorry to hear about your husbands mate, tragic and of course he will be cut up about that.

    Points I would make:-

    1/- Your husband can issue an EIC, but he cannot notify it without being registered, not notifying is a breach of building regs, but in fact it's the householder who is in breach, not your husband, they can though obviously chase your husband. It is possible an EIC would shut the solicitor up and you'd hear no more about it. It does seem if they have something on file they are happy! (I've had a few customers selling with no paperwork for a whole re-wire done by someone, who knows who, but when they have presented a minor works certificate for the outside light I fitted that seems to satisfy, in other words the solicitors clerk is just box ticking)

    2/- As Com has just said above, regularisation, if your husband has completed paperwork then this will all look better!

    3/- If your husband advertised or sold his services as providing notification or insinuated he was an NICEIC etc member then he may be in a bit of warm water, but if he didn't state he would notify the work then technically he's not broken a law.

    4/- Saying the above, it's up to him to sort it out morally, contact LABC as com says, pay the fees get it sorted - the customer here can't go after your husband if there was nothing wrong with the work he did and picks up the bill.

    5/- Register!! Join the happy throng!!, do it under a trading name, then his employers can't find out he's moonlighting - I don't think an employer could legally dismiss someone for being a member of a professional body anyway, I think that would win him an unfair dismissal case instantly!!!

    6/- Don't worry too much about the customers threats, if he offers to refund or sort out they can't really do anything, and to try will cost them £££ - but I would issue them an EIC, that confirms the work has been done to the regs and tested as such, the buildings regs part P thing is a separate issue, but if he has produced paperwork the customer can't make out the work is in any way unsafe.

    Hope something in that ramble helps!!
     
  4. Bogle Crag

    Bogle Crag Screwfix Select

    How does he stand regarding insurance doing jobs on the side, I guess we have all done it but not usually for the likes of a housing charity
     
  5. Tony Goddard

    Tony Goddard Screwfix Select

    Hadn't thought of that!! I'm assuming he has insurance, which anyone can get - if not he should get it ASAP, but it clearly won't cover retrospective works.

    Presumably he's using his work test gear which would be calibrated anyway.

    I pay about £130 per annum through a local broker who always get a competitive price and give good service.

    If the OP doesn't want to get registered he should steer well clear of notifiable works, I know a couple of guys who work for a big energy supplier, they arn't registered in their own right so any weekend jobs they do they are very careful to only do non notifiable "small stuff" happily they recommend me for the rest!
     
  6. Comlec

    Comlec Screwfix Select

    Better not join Napit then. We are all listed as operatives, with a handy picture, on the website. Admittedly, difficult to search though.
     
  7. Tony Goddard

    Tony Goddard Screwfix Select

    Easy, wear a mask and shades in the photo, covid secure business etc..:)
     
  8. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    @GasKate did the guy who died actually do any work at the house and get as far as testing it?
     
  9. MGW

    MGW Screwfix Select

    The EIC forms are a free down load from IET web site, I would simply complete the EIC up to owner what they do with it.

    However son had a problem some years ago, he was working as a sole trader, and his wife divorced him, so he went cards in, and went to live in a narrow boat, he completed most jobs before starting at new cards in job, but one the owner was not ready for him to complete, in fact it was 6 months before he was ready, and since son of no fixed abode son did not know ready until another 6 months had lapsed.

    His new job did not permit him to do any electrical work which was not through the firm, so he could not complete the work, but he could issue an EIC for the work done, he used the three signature form and the design and installation only were signed, he noted on the forms in the comments, work not completed, and there was nothing else he could do, for one thing his insurance had run out, so to do any work if it when wrong he would have no cover.

    However you say
    you don't need to be a member of a scheme to sign the EIC, you do to get a compliance certificate, but you can also get a completion certificate from the LABC although work should be registered before starting unless an emergency.

    If he says the old consumer unit was damaged and it was renewed as an emergency he may get away with it, but to produce no EIC basic says I knew I should not be doing this work, so he needs to complete the EIC, he can claim he thought the house owner was dealing with the LABC, hard to prove he is lying unless he admits it.

    I ended up on the other side, builder ran off, had no contact number for electrician, thought the builder had done it all correctly, so told the LABC I was taking over the job, seems builder had not registered the work, and the LABC told us in no uncertain terms it was the responsibility of the house owner to ensure it was done, unless the electrician had indicated he was a scheme member, builders often did it for the owner, but was down to owner to ensure it was done.

    I did get a completion certificate in the end, and that is the only way you can get work regularised if some one dies.

    What is important is that the electrician did not tell the owner he was a scheme member. Where it would all go wrong is if he ever turned up to the job in a van with a scheme members logo on it. Specially if some one can prove he did.
     

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