Separating wiring across two halves of property

[andyps]

We have a house which is in two parts but currently all wired from one side. As we are considering letting half of it at some point in the future, and that half is not the one with the fuse boards and meter I am trying to figure the best way to wire the two sides.

One thought is to have a completely separate installation in each half with a meter etc. which would obviously involve EDF providing a second supply to the half which currently does not have its own supply. The other thought is to try and wire it in such a way that the side we may rent out cannot trip anything in the other side but I am not sure if this would be possible - effectively it would need a non fused supply into it, with the fuses all in that side. Main reason for this is that we wouldn't want to have to provide access to "our" side of the house to anyone who was renting off us.

Is the second option possible, and if so how? Alternatively, what would be the implications of a new meter? In the long run we may decide to do it as one house not two so this wouldn't matter, and it would be good to be able to convert it to one at a later stage if we create it as two now anyway. Any advice gratefully received.

[Callie]

Andyps - the idea of having a separate fusing system/meter for the other half is good and practical.  But I would strongly recommend you keep control of them on your side.  We have a very long longère, and we live one end with a gite the other end.  There are a couple of workshops in between.  Whilst we have never put in a separate meter, we have retained the fuse box on our side because it allows us full control without having to go into the gite.  If we subsequently wished to install a meter, it would be easy (but expensive!).

[Callie]

Sorry, just realised, my posting wasn't very clear..... must be the storms.

We have, in fact, 3 fuse boxes :  one in our kitchen, and two in our workshop.  One of these two has all the fuses for the gite.  All three have their own trip systems. 

In fact, if you were worried about the renters not being able to switch on again if their tripper went, then it would be a good idea to put it in your gite.  But I would definitely keep the fuse box locked - unless you don't have a problem with the renters accessing it.  For example, we do not provide heating in the summer, so we defuse the heaters.  We can also do this if people go out all day and leave the heaters on.....(we don't have people in winter !)

[Nick Trollope]

The ideal solution would be to have a new supply to the "other half" of the property, as you surmise. You would need a new suppy from EDF (probably not too expensive), but you would also need certification from CONSUEL (with all that implies) for the wiring in that bit if the property. If the wiring is up-to-date, then it should not be too much of a problem....

That way, your tenants would accept all responsibility for the electricity charges (standing charges and electricity costs). Any other alternative puts the onus on you to pay the bills. Bear in mind that you are not allowed to sell electriciy, you could include the electricity in the rent, but you can't charge them for their consumption, even at cost.

[Callie]

[quote user="Nick Trollope"]

That way, your tenants would accept all responsibility for the electricity charges (standing charges and electricity costs). Any other alternative puts the onus on you to pay the bills. Bear in mind that you are not allowed to sell electriciy, you could include the electricity in the rent, but you can't charge them for their consumption, even at cost.[/quote]

Yes, there would be a difference if you were letting long term, rather than for holidays.

Just bear in mind that the cost for putting in a second supply, meter etc is expensive, but then as Nick says, at least the tenant would be responsible for the bills etc.  No risk of moonlight flits !

[andyps]

Thanks for the replies - in terms of the type of rent we are not sure if it would be long term or holiday, but we would prefer holiday so we have more chance to use it if we want for friends etc.

I guess ideally what I would like is a fusebox in the second part which has its own control but works off the meter in the main house - is this possible? I don't have a problem with putting in a separate meter if necessary (as long as cost is OK) and hopefully the wiring should all be OK, it will be new but I am hoping to do most of it myself, all to French specs once I can translate the book!!