Improving a bathroom

A new bathroom often means a plumber, an electrician and a fitter working in one small room. Some of that work comes under the building regulations.

Work that may need approval

In England, GOV.UK says you must check whether you need building regulations approval before you change a building in certain ways. It lists alterations that might need approval. These include:

If you cannot tell whether your project needs approval, GOV.UK says to check with a building control body. That can be your local authority's building control department or a private registered building control approver.

Building regulations approval is separate from planning permission, and a project might need both. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules, and GOV.UK links to them.

Electrical work

In England, Approved Document P is the government's guidance on electrical safety in homes. It explains when electrical work has to be notified.

Using a registered installer

Under a competent person scheme, tradespeople prove they can do certain work to the required standards. An installer registered with a scheme can self-certify that the work complies, so you do not have to apply for approval yourself.

GOV.UK says the installer will tell your local authority about the work on your behalf where needed. They will also give you a certificate within 8 weeks of finishing. That certificate shows up in solicitors' searches when you come to sell your home.

GOV.UK says competent person schemes have insurance-backed warranties and complaints procedures. You can check that a tradesperson belongs to a scheme on the Competent Persons Register. Electricians have their own register, the Electrical Competent Person Register.

If the work is not signed off

GOV.UK says the person doing the work could be prosecuted and fined if it does not comply with building regulations. Your local authority could make you pay to fix faulty work. Without approval, you will not have the certificates of compliance you may need when you sell your home.

What a fitter owes you

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets out what a business owes a customer for a service. Section 49 says the trader must carry out the service "with reasonable care and skill".

Where the contract fixes no time for the work, and no way of setting one, section 52 says the trader must do the work within a reasonable time.

The bath, basin and other goods the business supplies must be of satisfactory quality under section 9.

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