Home › Blog › Bathroom Electrics and Building Regulations: 2026 Rules
In England, altering an electrical circuit inside the zone around a bath or shower is notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations, as is installing a new circuit or replacing a consumer unit. Moving or adding plumbing in a bathroom is also notifiable; swapping a bath, basin or WC like for like is not. Separately, 15 October 2026 is the date the previous version of the UK wiring standard BS 7671 is withdrawn, so certificates and condition reports issued after it should cite the 2026 amendment.
This page is an archived reference guide. Colour and Craft no longer trades, and nothing here is a service, quotation or professional advice. For a decision on your own property, contact your local authority building control team or a Registered Building Control Approver.
What changed on 15 October 2026
The technical standard domestic electrical work is designed and tested against is BS 7671, the IET Wiring Regulations. The Institution of Engineering and Technology published Amendment 4 as BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 on 15 April 2026, with a six-month transition during which either version could be used.
That transition ends on 15 October 2026. According to NICEIC’s guidance on Amendment 4, the earlier version — BS 7671:2018+A2:2022+A3:2024 with its 2023 corrigendum — is withdrawn on that date, and from then on Electrical Installation Condition Reports should be carried out to Amendment 4. Certificate form references differ between the two (18.3 for Amendment 3, 18.4 for Amendment 4), and work designed to the older amendment before 15 October can still be signed off to it afterwards provided the client is told.
Two changes matter to householders. A new chapter covers stationary secondary batteries, relevant if you are weighing battery storage alongside solar panels. And the grading of inspection reports has changed: NICEIC states that an FI (“further investigation”) code no longer by itself makes an installation unsatisfactory, with only C1 and C2 codes doing so, and FI and C3 observations now recorded separately.
One wrinkle: the statutory guidance in Approved Document P (2013 edition) still says installations should follow “BS 7671:2008 incorporating Amendment No 1:2011”. It has not been reissued, but the standard it cites has been amended four times since. Competent installers work to the current version.
Which bathroom and decorating jobs are notifiable
Approved Document P sets out, under regulation 12(6A), that notifiable electrical work is limited to three things:
- installing a new circuit
- replacing a consumer unit
- any addition or alteration to existing circuits in a special location
Everything else — additions and alterations outside a special location, plus replacements, repairs and maintenance — is non-notifiable. The Approved Document is explicit that non-notifiable work should still be designed, installed, inspected, tested and certificated to BS 7671.
On the non-electrical side, the government’s homeowner guidance on building work, replacements and repairs to your home lists bathroom work as notifiable where “new plumbing is installed or existing plumbing is altered”, and exempt for “like-for-like replacements of baths, toilets, basins or sinks”. Replacing window and door units is notifiable. So is installing a new or replacement heating system or boiler, whatever the fuel — although that notification is handled for you if the installer is registered with a competent person scheme. Note that this page carries a last-updated date of 3 November 2014 and applies to England, so treat it as a starting point rather than the final word.
What counts as a “special location”
This is the detail most often got wrong: it is a measured volume, not “the bathroom”. Approved Document P defines it, in a room containing a bath or shower, as the space around the bath tap or shower head:
- Vertically: from finished floor level up to 2.25 m, or up to the shower head’s position if the head is mounted higher than that
- Horizontally, where there is a bath tub or shower tray: 0.6 m from the edge of the tub or tray
- Horizontally, where there is no tub or tray: 1.2 m from the centre point of the shower head
A room containing a swimming pool or sauna heater counts as a special location in its entirety, and socket-outlets should not be within 3 m of a bath tub or shower tray. So an extractor fan, shaver socket, downlight or heated towel rail wired inside that volume is notifiable work, while an identical fitting in the hallway outside is not.
The three compliance routes and the paperwork
Approved Document P sets out three ways notifiable electrical work can be signed off:
- Self-certification by a registered competent person
- Third-party certification by a registered third-party certifier, appointed before work starts where the installer is not registered
- Certification by a building control body, notified before work begins
Under the first route, the registered competent person completes a BS 7671 electrical installation certificate for every job, and a Building Regulations compliance certificate should reach the occupier within 30 days of completion. The GOV.UK page on using a competent person scheme states that registered tradespeople provide a certificate within eight weeks of completion, that it is evidence of compliance, and that it shows up in solicitors’ searches when you sell.
That page also points to two official registers — the Competent Persons Register for trades generally, and the Electrical Competent Person Register for electricians. Search by business name or registration number rather than relying on a logo, and confirm the registration covers the specific type of work: a firm registered for heating is not thereby registered for electrical installation.
Lead paint in older properties
Decorating an older house carries a hazard unrelated to Building Regulations. The Health and Safety Executive states that lead pigments were widely used in paints for homes, schools and offices until the 1960s, and that lead was not removed from all commonly used paint until the early 1980s — so it can sit beneath newer layers. HSE’s frequently asked questions on lead identify dry sanding old paint and stripping it with blow lamps or gas torches as among the highest-risk jobs, and say paint should only be removed if it is flaking, chipping or a risk to children.
Where removal is necessary, HSE recommends chemical stripper, wet abrasive paper and on-tool extraction using an H or M class unit, keeping hot air or infrared equipment below 500°C, and respiratory protection with an assigned protection factor of 20 such as an FFP3 mask. Sound paintwork should simply be rubbed down with wet abrasive paper to key the surface. HSE also advises keeping children and pregnant women away from the work area. The legal duties on employers sit in the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002.
What is coming in 2027
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published Building Circular 01/2026 on the Future Homes and Buildings Standards on 24 March 2026. The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2026 come into force on 24 March 2027, with updated statutory guidance for Approved Document L volumes 1 and 2 and Approved Document F volume 1. The headline requirements, including a new functional requirement on on-site renewable electricity generation, apply when a dwelling is erected — so this is primarily a new-build change.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Building Regulations approval to fit a new extractor fan in a bathroom? It depends where the wiring goes. If the work adds to or alters an existing circuit inside the special location as defined in Approved Document P, or involves a new circuit, it is notifiable. A fan wired outside that measured volume on an existing circuit is not, though Approved Document P still expects the work to be tested to BS 7671.
Is replacing a bath or basin notifiable? Not if it is a like-for-like replacement, according to the GOV.UK homeowner guidance. It becomes notifiable if new plumbing is installed or existing plumbing is altered.
Does my existing electrical certificate stop being valid on 15 October 2026? No. A certificate records work carried out at a point in time against the standard then current. What changed is which version of BS 7671 new work and new condition reports should follow.
What if I cannot find a certificate for past work? Contact your local authority building control team. A regularisation route exists for unauthorised work; as of October 2026, fees and procedures vary between authorities.