Electrical code compliance: when is it actually required?

It's the question we get most often on the phone: "my wiring is old — am I required to bring it up to code?" The honest answer usually surprises people — there is no general obligation in France to bring an existing, working installation up to current code. What creates the obligation is one of three specific situations. Let's see whether you're in one of them, and what it means in practice. For the method and pricing of the work itself, our electrical renovation page covers the whole picture.

The three cases where compliance is required

You're redoing the installation

Once the circuits and the panel are entirely reworked, the installation counts as new: the NF C 15-100 standard then applies in full, and a Consuel certificate becomes necessary before the meter is reconnected. It's the most common case on our projects.

You're letting the property

A rented home has to meet decency requirements, and that includes the safety of the electrical installation. The landlord carries the responsibility: a tenant can refer a dangerous installation to the departmental conciliation board. It isn't the full standard that applies here, but the safety points listed below.

You're selling, and the installation is over fifteen years old

Careful with this one, the misunderstanding is widespread: at sale, what's mandatory is the electrical inspection report, not the work. You can sell a property whose report flags anomalies. The buyer is simply informed — and will use it to negotiate. Many of our clients have the work done for that economic reason rather than any legal obligation.

Outside these three cases, nobody will force you to rewire. Which doesn't mean nothing should be done: a dangerous installation stays dangerous, obligation or not.

The six points an inspection checks

The electrical inspection verifies six fundamental safety requirements. They're what separates an installation that is "old but sound" from one that is genuinely at risk:

1. A main switching and protection device, accessible — the service breaker that lets you cut everything off.
2. A high-sensitivity residual-current device (30 mA) protecting the whole installation against electrocution.
3. Overcurrent protection on every circuit, matched to the cable size — a breaker or fuse at the right rating.
4. Equipotential bonding in wet rooms, and respect for the safety zones around showers and baths.
5. No worn or unsuitable equipment, and no live parts accessible to the touch.
6. No conductors left without mechanical protection — no bare wiring running along a wall.

These six points are our reading grid whenever we open a panel. They make it quick to separate what's a comfort issue from what's a safety issue — and therefore to tell you what's urgent and what can wait.

"Up to code" doesn't mean the same thing everywhere

This is the nuance few people know, and it changes a lot on the quote. In a new build, NF C 15-100 applies in full: socket counts per room, dedicated circuits, mounting heights, a technical duct. None of it is negotiable.

In renovation, the same standard is a target, not a guillotine. You can't always create a technical duct in a Haussmann-era flat, or run a dedicated circuit through a stone wall without destroying what gives the property its value. Our job is to reach the safety level of the standard within the real constraints of the building. An electrician who promises full compliance on a heavy renovation without having seen the walls is telling you a story.

In older buildings these trade-offs are daily — we go into them on our page about rewiring an old apartment.

What compliance work costs

There's no single price, because the starting point changes everything. Two concrete markers:

If the installation is sound but the panel is dated — the most frequent case — what you need is an electrical panel replacement, from €400 incl. VAT per row. We replace the protective devices, distribute the circuits, label everything, and the six safety points are covered.

If the circuits themselves are the problem — no earth, undersized cables, wiring under timber moulding — you move into full rewiring, from €150/m² incl. VAT.

Between the two lies a whole range of targeted jobs: adding a missing residual-current device, creating a dedicated kitchen circuit, reworking the bathroom. Settling that is exactly what the assessment is for: it stops you paying for a full renovation when half of one would do. We cover it free of charge when it goes with a quote. On the funding side, our page on electrical renovation grants sorts out what exists from what doesn't.

How we work

A visit first: we open the panel, check two or three junction boxes, test the earth and the tripping of the residual-current devices. We leave with a precise picture of the installation, and within a week you receive a detailed line-by-line quote that clearly separates safety from comfort.

The work itself is then carried out dead, room by room where possible, with power restored every evening. And if your project calls for a Consuel certificate, we fill it in and support you through to reconnection.

If your installation worries you because it keeps tripping, start with the breaker keeps tripping page instead: the symptom often points to the diagnosis. Otherwise, our electrician pricing in Paris is public, and you can contact us directly.