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CU Change When Its Distribution Cct Could Be Improved, & DNO Involvement

Farmboy

In a block of two Flats (one on top the other), there’s a 60/80A service head (TN-S supply) by the communal front door. By the head, there’s a meter for the upstairs Flat that supplies a 45A rewireable switch fuse (above the meter), with a (what appears to be a 25mm2) split-concentric distribution cct then running up to the Flat that runs within the fabric of the building [within boxing up from the meter cupboard but then into the walls/floors, with no indication of location, then reappearing in the loft space before dropping into a rewireable fuse box (with just 3 ccts: cooker, sockets, lighting) within the flat]. This setup is duplicated for the downstairs Flat [the Gas (supplying just the upstairs flat) MPB is done at the electricity meter position. The water service pipe, entering by the front door, is plastic, then copper splitting off into two, supplying both Flats, with no evidence of MPB]. No work/testing has been done; this is all just by observation.

The upstairs Flat owner wants the fuse board changed. So, with the likes of 132.16 in mind, can it be changed given the distribution cct could be improved [given e.g., its route is unknown, there’s no additional protection and zones (and a bad idea anyway to have the whole installation on one 30mA device), and it doesn’t have an earthed metallic covering] and the owner doesn’t want any work done on it, re expense and the décor, or would you insist the distr cct be replaced or installed appropriately (e.g. surface mounted or armoured, etc)?

Also, does the DNO need to be consulted re the 45A rewireable switch fuse just after the meter, re the length of tails and ownership? The tails from the meter into the switch fuse are only about 0.5m long, with the split-concentric then running from the switch fuse, but there’s been technical advice that the DNO be consulted to determine whether they are involved in any ownership of the switchgear and distribution cct, but mainly to determine whether the 45A rewireable switch fuse offers sufficient fault current protection for the tails and split-concentric (as far as the owner is concerned, the switch and cable is his) - the suggestion is that 45A fuse has been deliberately kept low to offer such protection, given it’s a 60/80A service fuse. Personally, I think said technical advice is a bit confused somewhere, but they could be correct. So, would you change the CU, leaving the distr. cct alone, and should the DNO be consulted re the switch fuse providing adequate protection?

Thanks

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    If there's a BNO, then the switch fuse and cable belongs to them.  Otherwise, it's the flat owner

     

    Agree if it is a BNO, but that is pre-metering,  but here if I have it right the metering is before the sub-main. 

    I suspect that few leasehold agreements allow the individual  flat owner to do anything to services in the common areas that belong to the building owner= freeholder, or to any cables passing via other leaseholders rooms.  At best there will be a process of getting a permit from the freeholder, and at worse the free holders may insist on their own contractors and then passing the charges on to the leaseholder.

    Usually the leaseholder's property stops at or halfway in to  walls of the flat and at the floor boards and ceiling joists. Now changing a surface mounted cable in the common area is unlikely to be a concern, but anything involving holes or plastering is more complicated and will need free-holder agreement if it is that sort of building. 

    (and if you want to see how messy that sometimes gets, just look at the legal fun and games associated with  who owns the cladding on flats now considered unsafe, when the building is leasehold flats bought as units inside a freehold building. The answer seems to be no-one knows, and they all want to pass the cost to someone, anyone, else. )

    Mike.

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  • 0

    If there's a BNO, then the switch fuse and cable belongs to them.  Otherwise, it's the flat owner

     

    Agree if it is a BNO, but that is pre-metering,  but here if I have it right the metering is before the sub-main. 

    I suspect that few leasehold agreements allow the individual  flat owner to do anything to services in the common areas that belong to the building owner= freeholder, or to any cables passing via other leaseholders rooms.  At best there will be a process of getting a permit from the freeholder, and at worse the free holders may insist on their own contractors and then passing the charges on to the leaseholder.

    Usually the leaseholder's property stops at or halfway in to  walls of the flat and at the floor boards and ceiling joists. Now changing a surface mounted cable in the common area is unlikely to be a concern, but anything involving holes or plastering is more complicated and will need free-holder agreement if it is that sort of building. 

    (and if you want to see how messy that sometimes gets, just look at the legal fun and games associated with  who owns the cladding on flats now considered unsafe, when the building is leasehold flats bought as units inside a freehold building. The answer seems to be no-one knows, and they all want to pass the cost to someone, anyone, else. )

    Mike.

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