If an Electrician finds a fault, is he by law obliged to fix it if it's dangerous?

Hi there, he is not obliged to fix the problem. Even during certification this fault would be marked as dangerous and needing immediate attention but it's your responsibility to employ someone to rectify the fault. I'm sure he can provide you with a quote for the work and will then be happy to put it right for you. Best of luck, Rob

I agree with what Deacon says, but why is it that the majority of homeowners are under the impression that there is some kind of 'law' that can be brought into force when problems are discovered? The Electrical Safety First site give a description of a C1 classification code on an EICR as "The persons using the installation are at immediate risk. The person ordering the report should be advised to take action without delay to remedy the observed deficiency in the installation, or to take other appropriate action (such as switching off and isolating the affected parts of the installation) to remove the danger. The inspector should not wait for the full report to be issued before giving this advice." You did not have a condition report just building work that brought the matter to light. You also seem to have a very dim view of the first person as you class him as an "Electrician"! who just 'masked' a fault, was he an electrician or just someone who does electrical work?? If you are spending money having an extension built why not pay someone to actually fix the problem rather than (so it appears) trying to point the finger of blame at another in the hope that a non existent law can be applied? It's your call, if you do nothing then this will always be at the back of your mind and will, at some point, require remedial works possibly after all the new work has been done. How many times have other sparks been at a job and discovered problems or wrong doings whilst working on something completely un-related to the job they were called into fix?

If your question is does he have to fix it without being paid to, then your own common sense should answer that for you. He has lowered the mcb rating so in fact left it much safer than when he arrived and informed you of the issue leaving you with the responsibility to employ someone to put it right. An electrician is only obliged to leave a job no worse than when he arrived in terms of safety issues, you need to pay for anything else.

No ' Laws ' apply in this case. But common sense does, after he discovered it what was your reaction? Did you ask him to fix it, not fix it, leave it etc. He is working for you and goes on your instructions, how would you have felt if he had disconnected it for safety reasons and left you with no circuit at all. Personally I would have seen it through to the end and persuaded you to get it fixed entirely. Bit of miscommunication on both sides, I don't know both sides of the story though.

Your electrician is a duty-holder who must comply with Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. Your home is his/her (albeit temporary) place of work and they must leave that place in a safe condition. This may involve performing necessary repairs or it may mean disconnecting a circuit that does not comply with the working regulations. I would humbly suggest that you should demand no less, agreed? As is often said: It's easy to make a circuit work, it's far harder to make a circuit work safely.