To notify or not, that is the question?

Except as identified in the chart below, notification of proposals to carry out electrical installation work must be given to a building control body before work begins, unless the work is undertaken by a person or firm registered with a Part P self certification scheme.
Whether or not work is notifiable is dependant on the nature of installation work proposed and its location within a dwelling. The location is important because some 'special installations or locations', such as kitchens and bathrooms, may pose a greater risk to people.

Examples of work	Notifiable?
	Areas not in a kitchen*, garden or special location†	Within a kitchen*, garden or special location†
A complete new installation or rewire
Consumer unit change
Installing or upgrading main or supplementary equipotential bonding
Installing a new final circuit (e.g. for lighting, socket-outlets, a shower or a cooker)
Fitting and connecting an electric shower to an existing wiring point	N/A
Adding a socket-outlet to an existing final circuit
Adding a lighting point to an existing final circuit
Adding a fused connection unit to an existing final circuit
Connecting a cooker to an existing connection unit
Replacing a damaged cable for a single circuit, on a like-for-like basis
Replacing a damaged accessory, such as a socket-outlet
Replacing a lighting fitting
Providing mechanical protection to an existing fixed installation‡
Installing and fitting a storage heater, including final circuit
Fitting and final connection of storage heater to an existing adjacent wiring point
Installing extra-low†† voltage lighting (other than pre-assembled CE marked sets)
Installing a new supply to a garden shed or other outbuilding	N/A
Installing a socket-outlet or lighting point in a garden shed or other detached outbuilding	N/A
Installing a garden pond pump, including supply	N/A
Installing an electric hot air sauna	N/A
Installing a solar photovoltaic power supply
Installing electric ceiling or floor heating
Installing an electricity generator
Installing an additional socket-outlet in a motor caravan	N/A	N/A
Installing telephone or extra-low†† voltage wiring and equipment for communications, information technology, signalling, control or similar purposes
Connecting an item of equipment to an existing adjacent connection point
Replacing an immersion heater
Installing a socket-outlet or lighting point outdoors

Note: For situations not covered in the chart, reference should be made to Approved Document P to find out whether or not the work concerned is notifiable. In cases of doubt, the building control body should be consulted.

* A kitchen is defined in The Building (Amendment) (No.3) Regulations 2004 as 'a room or part of a room which contains a sink and food preparation facilities'. (A utility room, though it may contain a sink, does not fall within the definition of a kitchen if it does not contain food preparation facilities.)

† 'Special locations' include locations containing a bath or shower, swimming or paddling pools and hot air saunas.

‡ If the circuit protective measures and current-carrying capacity of conductors are unaffected by increased thermal insulation.

††Extra-low voltage is defined in BS 7671 as 'normally not exceeding 50 V a.c. or 120 V ripple-free d.c., whether between conductors or to earth'.