Can You Fit a Normal Light in a Bathroom?

Short answer: sometimes, depending on where it goes. Bathrooms are the one room where the fitting has to suit its exact position, because water and electricity share the space.

The zones

BS 7671 Section 701 divides a bathroom into zones, and each carries a minimum IP rating. IP is ingress protection: the first digit is solids, the second is water. IP44 resists splashing from any direction. IP65 resists jets.

• Zone 0 is the inside of the bath or shower tray. Anything here must be IP67 and low voltage, and very little belongs in it.
• Zone 1 is above the bath or shower to 2.25m. IP45 is the minimum in the regulations, though IP65 is what gets fitted in practice.
• Zone 2 extends 0.6m beyond Zone 1 and to 2.25m high, covering most of the area around a basin. Minimum IP44.
• Outside the zones is the rest of the room, where standard fittings are allowed subject to the rules below.

The catch is that a small bathroom can be almost entirely Zone 2, which is why "it is nowhere near the shower" is worth measuring rather than assuming.

So can you have a pendant?

Outside the zones and with enough ceiling height, yes. In Zone 1 or 2, no. A pendant has an open lampholder and no meaningful ingress protection, and a bare lamp in a batten holder is worse still.

We see bare lamps in bathrooms regularly, usually because a fitting was removed for decorating and never replaced. It is one of the more common observations on an EICR in a bathroom, and it is a quick job to put right.

The replacement is usually an IP-rated LED bulkhead or a sealed downlight. Both are sealed units, both give more light than the pendant they replace, and neither needs the lamp changing for years.

The rest of the rules

Every circuit serving a bathroom needs 30mA RCD protection, without exception.

Supplementary bonding connects metal pipework and metal parts together so they cannot sit at different voltages. It can be omitted where the installation meets specific conditions, which is a judgement to make on site rather than assume.

Socket outlets are not permitted within 3m of a bath or shower, other than a shaver socket to BS EN 61558-2-5.

Switches belong outside the room or on a ceiling pull cord. A standard wall switch inside a bathroom is not acceptable in the zones.

Is it notifiable?

Yes. Electrical work in a room containing a bath or shower is notifiable under the Building Regulations in England and Wales. It has to be certified and either notified to building control or carried out by someone registered under a competent person scheme.

That covers a new light in a bathroom. Replacing a faceplate or a like-for-like fitting is not notifiable, though the replacement still has to be right for the zone it sits in.

If you have a bare bulb in your bathroom

It is not an emergency, and it is worth sorting. A sealed IP-rated fitting is a small job, and it removes a standing observation from your next EICR.