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 Yes Yes
Consumer unit change Yes Yes
Installing or upgrading main or supplementary equipotential bonding No Yes
Installing a new final circuit (e.g. for lighting, socket-outlets, a shower or a cooker) Yes Yes
Fitting and connecting an electric shower to an existing wiring point N/A Yes
Adding a socket-outlet to an existing final circuit No Yes
Adding a lighting point to an existing final circuit No Yes
Adding a fused connection unit to an existing final circuit No Yes
Connecting a cooker to an existing connection unit No No
Replacing a damaged cable for a single circuit, on a like-for-like basis No No
Replacing a damaged accessory, such as a socket-outlet No No
Replacing a lighting fitting No No
Providing mechanical protection to an existing fixed installation‡ No No
Installing and fitting a storage heater, including final circuit Yes Yes
Fitting and final connection of storage heater to an existing adjacent wiring point No No
Installing extra-low†† voltage lighting (other than pre-assembled CE marked sets) Yes Yes
Installing a new supply to a garden shed or other outbuilding N/A Yes
Installing a socket-outlet or lighting point in a garden shed or other detached outbuilding N/A Yes
Installing a garden pond pump, including supply N/A Yes
Installing an electric hot air sauna N/A Yes
Installing a solar photovoltaic power supply Yes Yes
Installing electric ceiling or floor heating Yes Yes
Installing an electricity generator Yes Yes
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
No Yes
Connecting an item of equipment to an existing adjacent connection point No No
Replacing an immersion heater No No
Installing a socket-outlet or lighting point outdoors Yes Yes

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'.