A few years ago I was called to a no supply in a council house. The bathroom was above the supply intake, the customer was disabled and water went over the edge of the bath and down the wall. You cannot make these sort of events up.

The council placed her into temporary accomodation whilst it dried out and they sorted out the bath problem. I have no idea the result but it makes you wonder!

I have just noticed that what I took for something plastic on top of the CU may be some paperwork. It couldn't be an EIC, could it?

Thanks all for the informative and useful feedback. To answer some of the questions asked here:

 - These two pipes are the waste pipes from an en-suite bathroom above. The bathroom consists of a shower, toilet and sink.

 - The pipes were installed after the electrical work.

 - Unfortunately the bit of paper on top of the CU is just seem switch labelling stickers (I thought it might be a EIRC as well but was disappointed :-) )

For various reasons I need to get an EIRC done on my property. As was noted, the CU was installed in 2014 and I really don't anticipate any issues with the electrical services but I was worried that it could fail because of this issue. The electrician is coming tomorrow so I'll post back the outcome. Sounds like there would be no requirement to move the CU (although I think it would probably be better overall if it was repositioned).

As a side note, the previous owner of this property was a RICS certified surveyor and I'm pretty shocked that a supposedly qualified professional would install this. In addition, no mention of this appeared on my home buyer's report, despite the surveyor noting the position of the CU. Is this something that I should reasonably have expected would appear as a warning on my survey report?

Some years ago I had to install a waterproof outdoor lantern in my friend's porch. When his children had a bath they splashed about so much that water had flowed over the bath tub edges and leaked down through the boarded floor onto the original porch light below with less than desirable consequences.

Z.

Andrew Lees said:

As a side note, the previous owner of this property was a RICS certified surveyor and I'm pretty shocked that a supposedly qualified professional would install this. In addition, no mention of this appeared on my home buyer's report, despite the surveyor noting the position of the CU. Is this something that I should reasonably have expected would appear as a warning on my survey report?

Given that it appears to be safe, I don't really see why it should have been mentioned.

What goes into the report depends upon the small print.

When we sold my late mother's house, all sorts of reports were requested - when was the boiler installed, when was the shower installed, etc? I imagine that some surveyors are more thorough than others.

In any event, I don't think that you can complain. I assume that what we have seen in the photograph would have been readily seen by any prospective purchaser.

" no mention of this appeared on my home buyer's report,"

Why would it be mentioned if it is not a defect?

My car only has three wheels not four, nobody mentioned this to me when I bought it! - it is a reliant robin

............if the waste pipe was metal, and it disappeared into the ground and needed main bonding...........I think is what was meant..............

indeed- like soil pipes in many 19th century buildings, where it goes outside and changes magically to salt glazed earthenware somewhere between leaving through the cellar wall and appearing at the 1st manhole cover. Plastic is much easier.

Mike.

would likely mean that I cannot obtain an electrical installation inspection certificate for my property?

Just to avoid any confusion, it's not possible to obtain a certificate for an existing installation - the wiring regs only issue certificates for new work (where the designer, installer & inspector/tester all sign). For an existing installation you get a report (usually an Electrical Installation Condition Report, or in the old days a Periodic Inspection Report) which is a different kind of beast altogether.

   - Andy.

Looking again at the picture, the left hand pipe that goes through the wall seems to go through at a point where, if there is a beam there holding up the joists above, it is within an area where you shouldn't drill holes, thus weakening the beam.

You didn't mention whether there was a macerator in the bathroom. With such a vertical drop you could get negative pressure in the pipework pulling the water out of the basin/shower traps giving rise to bad smells. Which is why I thought one of the pipes was a vent pipe.

Anyway, the Sparky should have been and gone by now and possibly left his/her report. Hope it went well for you.