Legislative changes have made it mandatory for a home owner to be in possession of a valid Electrical Certificate of Compliance (ECOC). With over decades of expertise, Schmidhauser Electrical is your port of call. Since the changes in 2009, home owners have been legally required to provide the ECOC to not only prospective buyers, but to home insurance companies as well. The certificate is proof that the electrical installation is safe. Failure to produce the document could result in the insurance company rejecting the claim, and/or the sale of your property being unsuccessful.
Before 2009, the ECOC remained valid indefinitely and unless changes to the electrical installations were made, could be transferred without limitations. This essentially meant that the seller could provide the buyer with the same certificate they received when they purchased the home, irrespective of how long ago it was when they moved in.
During the sale process, these days there is a need for the conveyance to obtain the original certificate from the seller, before the sale process can begin. If the certificate is older than two, or if any changes have been made to the electrical installations during this time, the seller is required to get a certified electrician to inspect the installations.
The original compliance certificate must eventually be retained by the buyer after it has been presented to the conveyance attorneys, as legislation requires a property owner to produce a valid certificate of compliance on request to an inspector.
Below is a list of what is covered in a compliance certificate and what is not;
| YES | NO |
| Distribution board | Fixed appliances; examples, stoves, hot water, |
| Internal circuit breakers | Cylinders, under floor heating mats. |
| Internal wiring | Secondary wiring to under floor heating mats |
| External wiring | Extraction fans |
| Earthing | Motors |
| Earthing of all extraneous metallic parts | Ceiling fans |
| Eg: Hot water cylinders, satellite dishes, aerials. | Lighting fixtures |
| light switches | Changing of globes |
| Plug points | Heater towel rails |
| Isolators examples, cooker units, extraction fans, fan motors | Anything fed from a plug top. |
| Light points (junction and wires that protrude from ceiling) | Misuse or tampering of installation. |
| cable that runs from isolator to a fixed appliance; | Bore hole pumps, Speed heats, Extension leads |
| Eg: from a cooker unit to the appliance | Cooker units |
| Itself. | Garage and gate motors |
| Swimming pool distribution boards | Maintenance irregularities |
| Cable that runs from board to pool light. | wiring past the council mains |
| Pool light point | Pool globes |
| Timers | Inaccessible areas – which are noted in bold on |
| photo cells | report and certificate |
| Transformers; eg: for down lights transformers | Energy dispensers |
Contact Schmidhauser Electrical if you want your Electrical Certificate of Compliance (ECOC) updated.