Survey shows flat electrics 20 years old- is this a problem?

JTI

Hi all, I am a first time buyer, buying with my girlfriend. The flat we are buying has just had a homebuyers survey done and the surveyor has estimated that the electrics are 20 or so years old...I dont know anything about electrics so wondering whether this is normal, or whether this means me may need to re-wire in the not too distant future?

I am basically trying to work out whether we should proceed as normal, or whether we should try and get a % of a re-wire off our offer price? (Its a 1 bed flat if this matters)

Thanks to anyone in advance who can offer advice.

clutton_2

many many properties in this country have electric systems that are far far older than this and they are quite safe. If you are concerned get an Electrical Periodic Inspection done to give you the most accurate information.... on a 2 bed house in the north west that could cost £100-£150. Make sure you have a fully qualified NICCEIC electrical engineer to do the survey for you.

googler

JTI wrote: »

Hi all, I am a first time buyer, buying with my girlfriend. The flat we are buying has just had a homebuyers survey done and the surveyor has estimated that the electrics are 20 or so years old...

2 years ago, I sold my parents' house after they'd both passed.

Built in 1971, still with the original wiring, sold in 2009, so 38 years old at that point.

Still safe.

Leon_W

If it was 20 years ago that's quite new !


The copper in the wires will be as good as the day it was fitted, and the greenies tell us that PVC takes about a billion years to bio-degrade. So I would say the wiring should out live you.


Get it checked to be safe though. The wiring itself is likely to be fine, it's the connections of the switches, lights and other appliances to it that causes the trouble.

FireWyrm

I once lived in a house that had ceramic circuit breakers which used a piece of naked copper wire, Victorian/Edwardian I understand. When you think that the house I grew up in was built in 1983 and doesn't need a re-wire, I wouldn't panic in the slightest. If you're concerned, pay for an electrician to check it over before you exchange, but I really think you're making mountains out of molehills here. Id be more concerned by the possibility of damp, leaking roof etc.

Werdnal

When I bought my house in '93, it still had the old round 2 pin non-earthed plugs, and the previous owner had part rewired it himself :eek:.

Surveys tell you everything in the property more to cover themselves for being sued by you later if they miss something vital, rather than indicating everything that is necessarily a concern. Drive down any suburban street and I would guess the majority of houses in it say, 30 years and under, still have original wiring. The survey is just noting that it is not up to modern building specs, but only houses being built this year will ever be 100% up to the current regs, and next time the regs are reviewed, which happens regularly, they will no longer be up to it either.

dotchas

FireWyrm wrote: »

I once lived in a house that had ceramic circuit breakers which used a piece of naked copper wire, Victorian/Edwardian I understand. .

My Dads house has those and some wiring is sheathed in lead instead of PVC ,the water pipes are lead too :eek::eek::eek:

dimbo61

So the copper wiring should be fine but what kind of fuse box have you got ?
Modern RCB unit
Have you got a friend who is an electrician to check it out

poorlittlefish

The house I've just sold was built in 1952 and still had all the original electrics but we never had a single problem in 11 years of living there. Things built a long time ago were often built to last.

Badger_Lady

I bought my house 5 years ago and it hadn't been updated since 1971. We had the old-fashioned fuse box where you have to change the wires (rather than just flicking a switch), but it was all perfectly fine. My Dad insisted on going over it with one of these to give us an indication of quality.

I decided to have the house rewired 2 years ago purely because I wanted to start decorating, and I thought I may as well get the walls destroyed first rather than waste good wallpaper! It cost me £4k for a large three-storey house and was over within a month.

The main difference is usually the number of sockets - count them up in each room and you may find that you'd prefer to have extra installed for things like your audio-visual setup and home office.

Badger_Lady

In answer to your question, no I don't think you should ask for a particular amount off for rewiring unless the flat actually needs rewiring (and age alone is not an indicator of that).

Of course I'm sure your offer does consider the possibility of having to do maintenance work in future... you would probably pay slightly more if it was newly done, right?