Before title to a home in Western Australia is transferred, its owner must have residual current devices (RCDs, often called safety switches) properly installed: at least two on any home with more than one circuit. If the seller misses it, the new owner has two months from the transfer to install them, and the reasonable cost is a debt the former owner owes.
General information, not legal or electrical advice. This page is read from the Electricity Regulations 1947 and from Building and Energy, part of WA’s Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety. A licensed electrical contractor can say what a particular switchboard needs; a lawyer can advise on a particular sale.
What an RCD does
Building and Energy calls RCDs “the single most effective measure” against electrocution, serious electrical injury and electrical fire. Circuit-breakers and fuses protect the wiring from overloads and short circuits, but a current strong enough to kill flows long before either of them trips; an RCD cuts the supply at once. The regulations define the device by what it does:
“residual current device means a device designed to isolate supply to protected circuits, socket outlets or electrical equipment in the event of a current flow to earth that exceeds a particular value”
Electricity Regulations 1947 (WA), regulation 12. Sourced from the Western Australian Legislation website at 8 October 2026. For the latest information on Western Australian legislation, visit www.legislation.wa.gov.au. © State of Western Australia, CC BY 4.0
What “properly installed” means
The sale rule asks for RCDs to be “properly installed”, and regulation 12A spells that out. A final subcircuit, in the regulation’s terms, is a circuit feeding a socket outlet, a lighting point or a hand-held appliance wired in directly.
| Item | What the regulation requires |
|---|---|
| How many | At least 1 if the home has a single final subcircuit; at least 2 if it has more than one. |
| Lights | Where there are 2 or more RCDs, the lighting points are spread between them. |
| Load | Each RCD protects no more than 3 final subcircuits. |
| Sensitivity | A maximum rated residual current of 30 mA. |
| Standard | Each device complies with AS/NZS 3190:2016. |
| Position | At the switchboard where each circuit it protects begins. |
Building and Energy treats two as a floor, not a target: more than two may be needed, and a licensed electrical contractor works out the number and rating for the switchboard.
Who must act, and when
| Whose duty | RCDs properly installed before | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| An owner who lives in the home | Title is transferred; or the home is let under a residential tenancy, offered as short-term rental accommodation, or made available for hire. | 13 |
| An owner who does not live there | Title is transferred; a new tenancy begins (tenants in place since before 9 August 2009 are treated differently); the home is offered as short-term rental or for hire; or building work that needs a building permit is completed. | 14 |
| A new owner, where the seller did not comply | 2 months after the transfer, or 6 months where the new owner gave a notice of intended demolition, unless demolition has begun by then. | 15A |
| The owner of common property, such as a strata scheme’s | The regulation names no particular moment: the RCDs simply have to be properly installed. | 15 |
Each of these carries a fine of $15,000 for an individual and $100,000 for a body corporate. Schedule 1 also lets the offence be dealt with by infringement notice, with a modified penalty of $1,000 for an individual and $4,000 for a body corporate. Both figures are as at October 2026.
Two softer edges exist. A seller charged under the sale rule has a defence if the buyer gave written notice, before the transfer, of an intention to demolish within six months. And the Director named in the regulations may grant an owner a written, temporary exemption, but only for special circumstances that are themselves temporary and leave no undue risk of injury.
One transfer, two deadlines
Worked example: illustrative dates, not a real sale
An established house changes hands. Title is transferred and the buyer takes possession on 3 February 2027. The seller fitted neither RCDs nor compliant smoke alarms, and the buyer gave no notice or declaration of intended demolition.
- RCDs: regulation 15A gives the new owner until 2 months after the transfer, which is 3 April 2027.
- Smoke alarms: regulation 57 of the Building Regulations gives 12 months beginning on the transfer day, which runs to 2 February 2028.
- Costs: under both rules, the new owner’s reasonable costs of complying are a debt the former owner owes, recoverable in court.
The dates are counted the plain way; a lawyer can confirm the exact last day for a real transfer.
The smoke alarm side of this is set out in smoke alarms when a home is sold.
The paperwork, and the test button
In WA every piece of electrical work must be done by someone holding the right electrical licence, and it is illegal for an unlicensed person to do it. A contractor’s licence number starts with EC; an individual electrician’s starts with EW.
After installation work, other than maintenance or a like-for-like replacement, the electrical contractor must hand over an electrical safety certificate within 28 days. Where it does not arrive, Building and Energy says to ask the contractor first and then the local network operator, which for most homes is Western Power or Horizon Power.
Once fitted, an RCD needs checking. Building and Energy says an owner who feels confident to do so, and whose meter box is in good condition, can open the meter box and press the test button, marked T, on each RCD, every three months or as often as the maker says, whichever is more frequent. If the switch does not drop to off at once, or will not stay on when reset, it says to call a licensed electrical contractor, and a faulty RCD must be replaced immediately.
Regulation 14’s link to building work matters for a home its owner does not live in: the RCDs are due before work that needs a building permit is finished. Work that never had its permit is the subject of unauthorised work and building approval certificates.