Not Registering Electrical Certs - Fraud ? Worth Reporting ?

[V8RX7]

I've discovered an Electrician who mostly has been upgrading Consumer Units is issuing Electrical Certificates directly - ie is not registering them either with Elecsa nor the Council.

When he did the Certs he was registered with Elecsa but he isn't any more as he's now working as a subbie

I'm unsure whether this is serious or not - he was registered at the time and AFAIK his work was ok but effectively all his clients don't have a valid electrical certificate

I've spoken to Elecsa and they say to raise a complaint but as he's no longer registered with them is there any point ?

Presumably all his clients need to get his work checked / signed off and could sue him for that cost (but probably won't bother as each claim is likely to be sub £200)

I don't understand why he did it because I gather it only costs around £2 to register the certificates, needless to say he won't answer his phone (and has moved house)

[bobtail4x4]

contact your local council BCO
its an offence

[martinbiz]

Agree would seem crazy not to renew when the cost is so minimal, so maybe he was never full qualified before, if working for an electrical contractor that's perfectly normal and legal practice providing the work is overseen and signed off by a properly certified spark.

As above I would report it

[ellingtj]

The yearly membership to elecsa is more like £500+. To be a member you also need the correct insurance, keep meters calibrated, have the latest regs book, done the latest regs course etc. So the cost of membership is much more than just the building control fee. If he is no longer considered a competent person then building control would need to sign off the consumer units. In order to do this the test results need to be verified that they were made using a calibrated meter, as well as a visual inspection of the board. If he is no longer registered then Elecsa/niceic won't care.

Ellingtj (registered electrician)

[V8RX7]

To be clear, at the time of the work he was registered

BUT he sent the Certificates directly - seemingly to avoid the £2 fee

He is no longer registered - from a few months ago

I was chasing a cert that he hasn't sent a friend - after I recommended him, that led me to call Elecsa as he said he'd sent it and I then started questioning his past work.

Although having gone back through my emails I find that I have emails from Elecsa directly. with Certs which they couldn't find when I called - so their system clearly has flaws too

[ellingtj]

OK read the first post quickly and missed that he was registered at the time.
The certs can be sent by him (it was so long ago I was with elecsa I can't remember whether there was an automated form macro to send to customer) , the building control notifications should go via elecsa and be copied to the customer.
Sounds like you're sorted now, did the building control notifications get done?

Edited by ellingtj on Tuesday 20th October 14:04

[smokey mow]

bobtail4x4 said:

contact your local council BCO
its an offence

Whilst I agree with you, there’s very little action that a local authority can take against the electrician in this instance. The regulations are quite clear that it is the property owner who is ultimately responsible for compliance with the building regulations not the people they employ to work on their behalf.

If a contractor is claiming to be part P registered when in fact they are not then that would be a matter for trading standards to investigate.

[bobtail4x4]

we had a local sparkie with a self printed part P cert,
issued loads until he was caught

the governing body who`s name was on the certs falsely took a prosecution against him.

[Alucidnation]

None of the schemes will give fk, unless as posted above, their name is being used fradulently.

[donkmeister]

V8RX7 said:

I don't understand why he did it because I gather it only costs around £2 to register the certificates, needless to say he won't answer his phone (and has moved house)

Tax dodging? Registered certs are proof that work has been done, and can lead to a reasonable estimate of how much has been earned.

I had a similar experience with a gas fitter back when CORGI was a thing... I found his details on their website, he did the work, I paid up and thought no more about it. A year later I was selling the place and buyer asked for the certificate... What certificate?!
I spoke to CORGI and when they checked the database he'd only registered two jobs in the previous few years. Turned out he was just really bad at doing admin and I was the first customer who'd pushed the matter.

Definitely wasn't tax dodging by hiding all the work he did. Definitely.

Can't hurt to raise the issue with elecsa. In my case with CORGI it resulted in me getting the certificate I needed for a minimal effort and no cost.

[sospan]

Just under 2 years ago we moved house. During the sale the buyer’s solicitor asked for elec certs for work done on certain dates shown by searches. No work had been done. I phoned Building Control. Bottom line is that they had made an error in putting the Elecsa notification onto their(BC) database, the work was done at a nearby house with different postcode but same house number. I spoke to the person at the other address and he confirmed the work (I showed him copies of paperwork from solicitors and BC. It was corrected by BC. The cert issue would not have stopped the sale as our solicitor initially suggested indemnity insurance “just in case” that was not needed in the end. It added an unnecessary complication/cost to the sale. Luckily it was easy to sort out and BC were very good at dealing with it. No idea of what, if anything, actions were taken about the error.