electrical safety a condition of mortgage?

Nail_Lad

Buyers of our house have had a survey done then based on then an additional electrical survey done (not entirely sure why as all wiring is fine). Additional electrical survey has suggested 2k of work - yowsers. Hearing this is apparently a condition of the mortgage which is something I've never heard of before - can anyone confirm?

Have asked for proof though but suspecting we'll be asked to pay despite letting the house go for a song!

maninthestreet

£2K of work sounds like a re-wire. How old is your house?

kingstreet

Their surveyor has looked around and believes some aspects of the electrical system are not upto current spec.

He has asked for a specialist report to establish what work is needed and the likely cost.

This has been fed back to the surveyor and hence to the lender and the lender has added a condition that the work be carried out. Have they specified if the work needs to be carried out quickly and is subject to retention, or is it simply work which can be done later as it's an upgrade, rather than a repair?

What has the property been valued at in its current condition and after these repairs have been carried out?

Nail_Lad

House was built in 1970

kingstreet wrote: »

Have they specified if the work needs to be carried out quickly and is subject to retention, or is it simply work which can be done later as it's an upgrade, rather than a repair?

It hasn't been mentioned, when you say subject to retention what do you mean?

Thanks

kingstreet

Nail_Lad wrote: »

It hasn't been mentioned, when you say subject to retention what do you mean?

The lender holds back a portion of the purchaser's mortgage advance until evidence the work has been done is produced.

G_M

Very few properties comply with 'current regs'. The regs change.... regularly, and noone updates their wiring (or roofing, or insulation, or foundations) just because the Regulations change. Compliance is only required with the regulations in force at the time when work is done. So 10 year old wiring that complied 10 years ago, is perfectly legal and safe, even though it may not comply with curent Regulations. A 1970 house should be fine, unless lots of bodged DIY wiring has been done.

You need to find out exactly what is wrong with the wiring, and, as Kingstreet says, whether the Lender is refusing to lend, is withholding an amount (£2k?), or just requiring work be done in the future.

Of course, the buyer may not tell/show you exactly, and may be using this (or even exaggerating!) to get a discount off h price.

Ultimately it's up to you whether you feel the price agreed is fair, whether to reduce by £2K, whether to call their bluff and say "we've agreed a price - take it or leave it", or reach a compromise.

A lot depends how keen the buyer is to buy (and how much they've already spent on surveys etc and won't want to waste), and how desperate you are to sell.

daisymay2008

When we bought our current house (1930's) a condition of the mortgage was a full re-wire and they kept a retention of £1500 which they forwarded to us once i sent them the electrical certificate to prove the work had been carried out.

We are now selling our house so our purchaser won't have to mess with the electrics as they are 5 years old,

the house we are buying is a 70's/80's and i will be asking for an electrical safety certificate I want to make sure the all the electrics are fine so i don't have to fork out £2000 for a re-wire!

mrs-h_3

We have just had a periodic inspection report done on our own property it cost £80 and our house was built in 1975, like previous posters have said your house wont fail just because its older, a house wont fail just because it isnt BS compliant. I would imagine you are well within your right to have a look at the PIR yourself, or could you not have one done yourself just to see what it shows.

80schild

The house we have just bought is clearly in need of rewire as it looks like it probably has not been done since the house was built in the 1960s-nothing came up on the mortgage survey though and they lent us the full amount (although we bought rhe house cheap so maybe that is beacuse the price reflected the need for modernisation)

Nail_Lad

The house doesn't need a re-wire. Its in excellent condition. There were a few bodged DIY jobs done by the previous owner which a builder friend of ours made safer (new consumer unit, breaker point before outdoor electric - it was previously just plugged into a socket in the house!). All this work was done 10 years ago though and we have no safety info for it but it is absolutely fine and has never ever caused us a problem.

The 1 hour long visual electrical inspection happened yesterday afternoon by the buyers family electrician. This morning the agent phoned and told us of the likely bill but made no mention as to what specifically was wrong. The agent inferred it was a requirement of the mortgage to get it done but gave no further detail than that but the prompt response this morning doesn't add up to me. I would have thought a mortgage company would have taken a few days to get back with what they want to happen.

Anyway, we're readying up for a bit of a battle. The house was reduced massively since we marketed it last year and we have already discounted significantly on the asking price plus additional gas work has been completed since as well. The purchase of our new house isn't dependent on us selling so we could still move and just rent this place. Armed with all this info and the feedback here. We're just waiting to see what happens. I think our buyers just want more money off, oh well can't blame them for trying!

kingstreet

I personally (and would advise any client) would answer any request for a reduction with two requirements;-

- a copy of the buyer's valuation report to show the conditions and current value of the house and if the value goes up after the work is done

- a copy of the electrician's report detailing the work required and the estimate of costs.

Once you have these, you can establish whether the issue is a try-on, or if it's a genuine situation you should be prepared to negotiate through.