Electrical Condition Report and more

[AdrianD]

Hello, my name is Adrian and I had not really nice conversation over phone today with one of the companies which done my ECR.

I've been ask to proved ECR for wall light I did it myself. Local Council gave me number to the company I should call, as far I remember I asked only for this light to be check but the electricians came to my house and said that they need to check everything, all the electrical circuit. Okay I agreed with it but then they all of the sudden went back to car and changed my 3 wall sockets and 2 socket outlets, apparently for safety and they have to do by law. Now they asking me to pay £261 for everything.

Do they have right to do it without my permission, just need advice from you guys about it. (don't even know if it's right section of forum to write that)

 

[Darkwood]

Welcome to the forum AdrianD ,

To set the ball rolling just a few questions:-

Can you confirm exactly what work you did and what room it was in, was it an addition, alteration or complete new circuit?
Are you a council/private landlord tenant under a tenancy agreement - if so what is the agreement regarding doing such works, this may vary from council to council.

 

[telectrix]

they have no right to carry out work without you agreeing the cost and authorising them to do it. they were contracted to test/inspect the work you has done. the only other test/inspection the should have done was to check the earthing and bonding and ensure that the circuit you have worked on is safe. no moer, no less.

by law, they should have given you a quote before doing any work other than inspection/test. it's your prerogative to accept or reject this.

 

[hightower]

Yeah pretty sure it says in electrical safety council best practice guide that even repairs for c1 and c2 codes can only be carried out after agreement by client so this sounds a bit dodgy

 

[Midwest]

Sounds like the council has found out that DIY man has been messing with their electrics

 

[Englishman]

If he's a council/housing association tenant, it would have been in the contract he signed when he took up the tenancy that he wasn't allowed to have any electrical work done without permission and that he was liable for any work that had to be done to rectify anything done by him. If he done things himself and they were unsafe/not to regulations, then he is liable and they can charge him.

That saying, he has to be given proper reasons so as to aid fraud prevention.

 

[Octopus]

Hello, my name is Adrian and I had not really nice conversation over phone today with one of the companies which done my ECR.

I've been ask to proved ECR for wall light I did it myself. Local Council gave me number to the company I should call, as far I remember I asked only for this light to be check but the electricians came to my house and said that they need to check everything, all the electrical circuit. Okay I agreed with it but then they all of the sudden went back to car and changed my 3 wall sockets and 2 socket outlets, apparently for safety and they have to do by law. Now they asking me to pay £261 for everything.

Do they have right to do it without my permission, just need advice from you guys about it. (don't even know if it's right section of forum to write that)

Is the invoice itemised to show the inspection cost? If so you should pay that element of the bill.

If the invoice is not itemised, then ask, in writing, for an itemised bill - then pay for the EICR.

However, ONLY pay for the EICR if you have been given a copy.

Sounds like you have been robbed by some chancer!

And changing by socket because its "the law" is UTTER GARBAGE.

 

[Darkwood]

It seems the tenent has been badgered into a corner through mis-information, he has agreed to a full survey because he was led to belief this was required where as in fact it wasn't, as already mentioned, all that needed testing was the associated circuit which had the wall light on and the earthing and bonding adequency.

As the council refered the tenent to this company then I would be refusing the bill and ringing up the council to put in an official complaint, then emailing the Electrical company that payment has been withheld whilst you look to legally challange the bill due to unecessary work been done due to claims it was required.

All correspondence should now be done in a documented form where you can use it if neccessary as part of the defense.

 

[andyb]

Taking the OP at face value he fitted a light. This may of been a new or extended circuit or just fitting a light to an existing point.
It is not unusual nowadays for councils/landlords to require some sort of certification for works carried out by tenants.
However, only the work undertaken by the tenant requires testing and that is all he should pay for. You do not need an eicr for every little job. If in the course of an inspection other defects are found, then I would of thought it was up to the council to remedy and pay for this.

I had a lady call me the other day because she was moving out of her rented house and the landlord wanted a certificate to say that the cooker had been disconnected by an electrician.

 

[AdrianD]

Thank you all for answering my simple question, I am renting the council house and yes I fitted to lamps myself and connect them to the lamp holder in hall. On inspection I was ask to proved the testing on this light, soon as they came in to my house I told them I just need to
check this lamps which are fitted in hall not entire house, electrician told me that they are not able to do just one thing. this is what I received from them.

 

[Englishman]

So they had to change metal light fittings to plastic as there was no CPC, this would have been a C2 and potentially dangerous and should have been done. As for the socket faceplates and boxes, if these were smashed or broken, or had holes then I would code as C1 and these would also need rectifying. The council should be billing you though, and not the private company, unless you agreed with the private company that you wanted them to do the work.

 

[hightower]

So they had to change metal light fittings to plastic as there was no CPC, this would have been a C2 and potentially dangerous and should have been done. As for the socket faceplates and boxes, if these were smashed or broken, or had holes then I would code as C1 and these would also need rectifying. The council should be billing you though, and not the private company, unless you agreed with the private company that you wanted them to do the work.

But surely even though c1 and c2 codes, these should only be done after agreement with the client?

 

[Englishman]

But surely even though c1 and c2 codes, these should only be done after agreement with the client?

Well the company should have been working direct with the council and may well have checked things with them before he completed the work. And we still don't know if the tenant allowed the work or not.

 

[Octopus]

What "C" codes did they give these items on the report?

Why do you need to "move" holes?