Electrical Survey

So the report has come back this morning. It's an EICR, and it's pretty indepth, and now frankly, I'm not touching any of the power in that house! Most of it has been marked as C1 (Danger Present) and C2 (Potentially Dangerous), and the photos of some of the wiring is literally terrifying.

There are metal backings to light swtiches with no earth, overloaded circuits, kitchen downlights which aren't very old not meeting any fire regulations. The place appears to be a bit of a death trap.

BUT, this is the problem, we still want the house and are going to undertake the work either way - we're just going to have to ask the question. We put an offer in with consideration of the cosmetic work the house needed - as an ex rental the place is just a bit tired - but it was effectively "sold" to us by the estate agent as only needing that. Other than an old fuse box (which I'll be honest I didn't notice, but my husband did on our 3rd viewing after we'd put in the offer) there was no indication of any major issues.

The electrician thinks that most of the property was re-wired about 40 years ago, with changes made badly around 20 years ago, with the bathroom being a point of worry - which was only re-done a few years back.

We're still going to hang on for the Homebuyers survey to come back, because having done the maths even if the seller agrees to a 3k knockdown in the price, we will only be about £600 better off in terms of ready cash as the rest will come off the mortgage.

There was no valuation on the electrical report?

We've not yet had our HomeBuyers survey returned and Santander didn't actually visit the property for their valuation as far as we know, but they valued it at what we had offered and had accepted.

We are fortunate that we are living with family after the sale of our own home otherwise this would be a nightmare. Estimates for the rewire suggest 10 days to 2 weeks

HBR just came back. Building is sound, a little damp as it's been empty. Recommended an electrical survey based on the age of the fuse box!

But no 3s, mostly 1s and 2s which is what we expected.

Husband and I have decided that it comes down to the quote for the rewire. We're going to hand over all the reports to our solicitors and take their advice but tbh I think if the rewire is under 3.5k were going to go ahead with the sale without fighting for a reduction- just isn't worth the effort.

Niv wrote: »

Funny how there is such inconstancy with surveys.

I have recently bought a 400 year old farmhouse, mortgage company did a valuation and came back with no comments.

I independently got a full survey full rewire was suggested to be budgeted - but as with most (all?) building surveyors they are just being cautious.

Upon moving in I found that a couple of pendants needed replacing and a couple of rooms simply had all the bulbs blown. One light fitting does not currently work - I have not got round to checking it, but it will not involve much rewiring even worst case.

There was evidence of old wiring in some areas (the twisted cable type) but this was actually just old stuff that was completely disconnected and was simply not removed from the wall / ceiling.

The wiring is old in age but the condition is good. A full rewire is not required.

Total cost to do electrics <£100.

Tbf, the HBR does suggest that we get it looked into, so I'm glad we did. The whole house will need rewiring, it's a mess.

My bigger concern now is that there is no paperwork for the conservatory, or more importantly, the gap that was put into the back wall - it's the full width of the conservatory. I'm hoping there's a steel in there... Last thing we need is to rectify all of that on zero budget.