New builds and warranties
The new consumer unit is labelled and no circuit was tested by the surveyor. What electrical certificate is still a separate paper?
The electrical certificate for the installation is still a separate paper. A labelled new consumer unit shows names on the ways. It is not a test. The surveyor did not test any circuit, so the report has not produced an electrical installation certificate, and it has not confirmed that labelling matches the cables. Those certificates come from the person who did the electrical work, or from a later inspection by someone instructed to test. The home survey recorded a labelled board and stopped. Labels are not that certificate.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
New homes are expected to come with electrical paperwork from the installer. A consumer unit can be neat, labelled and still be unchecked by the surveyor, because a home survey does not carry out circuit tests. Recorded test results belong on an electrical certificate, not on a walk around the board. The surveyor can see a missing label, a cracked cover or an obvious scorch. None of that was a test of the circuits, and none of it issues the paper.
Ask the solicitor for the electrical installation certificate, or the installer's completion paperwork, as a document in its own right. Do not ask the surveyor to backfill test results they did not take. A lender who wants evidence about the installation is asking for that certificate, not for a sentence that the board was labelled. If no certificate is in the pack, that absence is a paper chase. It is not a test the survey quietly completed.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you leave every circuit untested?
- Is the electrical certificate still outside this report?
- Were the consumer-unit labels recorded without a test to match them?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor for the electrical installation certificate.
- Treat the labelled consumer unit as untested by the survey.
- Do not describe the survey as having passed the circuits.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If every way is labelled, can you treat the installation as certified?
No. Labels are names written on the board. Certification is a separate paper from the installer or from someone who tested. The surveyor tested no circuit. A full set of labels does not create the certificate, and it does not prove each cable goes where the label says. Ask for the paper. Do not read the plastic strip as the test.
Does a new unit mean the old wiring was replaced?
Not on this evidence. A new consumer unit can be fitted to wiring that is older. The surveyor did not test any circuit and did not trace the cables. The certificate, if it exists, is the separate paper that should say what work was done. The survey only recorded a labelled board. It has not decided the age of the wiring.