Electrician in Oldham

Oldham has a notably high concentration of pre-1919 terraces, particularly around Werneth, Coppice, Glodwick and Greenacres. These are the homes where we most often find original two-core wiring with no earth on lighting circuits, lead-sheathed cable, or older rubber-insulated cabling that's gone brittle. A modern EICR on an unmodernised Oldham terrace will almost always come back unsatisfactory — and a full rewire is usually the right answer.

The town centre has been changing fast over the past decade, with the Old Town Hall now a cinema and Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre being redeveloped. Around the edges — Royton, Failsworth, Chadderton, Lees — there's a stronger mix of inter-war and post-war housing where less invasive jobs (consumer unit upgrades, partial rewires, EICRs) make up most of our work.

Oldham has one of the highest proportions of HMO licensing in the borough, so EICR and landlord safety certificate demand is heavy. We've worked with several letting agencies in OL postcodes for years and offer fixed-price block deals on portfolio inspections.

Oldham does operate selective licensing - Areas 1 to 5, in force since 4 July 2022, covering nine named wards. The electrical condition is stricter than national law, and it catches people out: Oldham wants an EICR with no Code 1 or Code 2 defects at the point you apply. The national regulations give landlords 28 days to put C1 and C2 items right, but Oldham's licensing process does not, so you cannot licence a property on remedials pending. (Checked August 2026 - confirm your address with Oldham Council.)

Oldham publishes an unusually transparent four-tier building control fee table for electrical work. A competent but unregistered electrician pays £119 for non-rewire work and £205 for a rewire; a non-competent person pays £475 and £634 for the same jobs. Regularising work that was never notified costs 150 per cent, up to £792.50. Very few councils publish anything comparable, and it is worth knowing the numbers before agreeing a price with anyone.

For HMOs, Oldham's kitchen standard is two 13A double sockets at worktop height plus a 45A double-pole cooker switch. One caveat: the council's published HMO standards document dates from October 2010, so confirm current requirements rather than relying on it. On EV charging Oldham has published no cross-pavement policy at all - it indicated support for cable channels in March 2026 but is waiting on a Greater Manchester-wide approach, so at present there is no scheme to apply to. (Checked August 2026.)