Do I need an electricalCertificate of Compliance?

When you are likely to need one

• Selling a property. This is the common one. The transfer usually cannot go through without a valid certificate for the installation.
• Renting out a property. Landlords are generally expected to be able to produce one.
• After new electrical work. New circuits, a rewire or a new DB board normally need to be certified.
• When an insurer asks. Some policies and some claims will call for it.

How long a certificate stays valid

A certificate covers the installation as it was on the day it was inspected. If work has been done since it was issued, that work generally needs to be certified too. Certificates also have a shelf life, so an old one in a file drawer is not automatically good enough for a sale.

What gets inspected

Broadly, the fixed installation rather than your appliances: the distribution board and its protective devices, earthing and bonding, the wiring itself, socket outlets and lighting points, and anything outdoors such as pool or borehole equipment.

What usually fails

• No working earth leakage protection, or one that does not trip when tested.
• Missing or inadequate earthing and bonding, especially around water heaters.
• Old or overloaded DB boards with no space and no labelling.
• DIY additions — the plug point in the garage that somebody’s cousin ran.
• Exposed or damaged wiring, and junction boxes hidden inside walls or ceilings.
• Outdoor fittings and pool wiring that were never done to standard.

How to make it painless

Get it looked at early, not the week before transfer. If there are problems it is far cheaper to fix them on your own timeline than under pressure from an attorney with a deadline. And keep paperwork for any electrical work you have had done — it makes the next inspection quicker.