If you are a company that is registered with one of the schemes you are responsible for the Inspection and Testing of all work carried out, the certification of the relevant work and ensuring that the work is to the appropriate standards, where necessary, notifying the Local Building Control Office. Failure to comply could result in a fine of £5000 for each offence and an additional fine of £50 per day until the work is corrected. In addition to this, the relevant company is likely to be removed from the Part P scheme.

For the DIY'er, or an Electrician that is not registered with a scheme, you must, if required by the nature of the work (See 'What is Notifiable'), notify the Local Building Control Office for the area the property is situated BEFORE the work commences. Failure to do this will, if found out, result in fines as per the paragraph above.

So you think you won't get found out?
Although some Electricians and Diy'ers may think that the local authority will not know that work subject to Part P is being carried out, there are a number of ways in which they and others are likely to find out either during or after completion of the work, such as:

• As a result of a compliant - This could be in the case of the Electrician where a house holder makes a complaint about workmanship. The Building Control Office may become involved if the work comes under Part P. The first thing that is going to be asked for is the Certification for the work that has been carried out and of course it will escalate from here.
• When a property is put on the market - When selling a property you will be required to complete a 'Sellers Property Information Form' which is sent to the buyers Solicitor. The form has a section that asks questions about the Electrical Installation. The buyers solicitor will expect to be able to obtain Compliance Certificates from the Local Building Control Office for any electrical installation work carried out since 1st January 2005. Incorrect information given to the buyer through the solicitors could mean that the buyer can make a claim for compensation from the seller or even refuse to complete the purchase. The seller may wish to pass on any financial liability for such problems to the parties that carried out the work. The local authority is likely to become involved as well.
• Electrical Inspections - If a Periodic Electrical Inspection is carried out, which could happen at a change of tenancy or at the time of a property purchase it could be discovered that work has been carried out since the 1st January 2005. This type of inspection is normally carried out by an electrician with a better than average knowledge of electrical installations. They will require access to all previously issued Certificates and Inspection Reports. With the phasing in of the new colour codes since April 2004, it will be a lot easier to identify recent work. It could be argued that the work was carried out between April 2004 and December 2004 but be warned, electrical equipment carry test date and manufacture date markings in the form of labels or physically being marked on the equipment.
• When other building work is carried out - When other building work, such as extensions, loft conversions etc. is notified by others, it will highlight to the Local Building Control Office that there is likely to be associated electrical work.