Electrical problems not picked up by Homebuyers Report

katehumm

Hi all

Sorry for long post.

We completed on our house about a month ago. We had a Homebuyers Report prepared by a large surveying company prior to our purchase. Since moving in, we have noticed a couple of problems with the wiring, which upon further investigation has snowballed into what looks to be a full rewire.

The survey said of the wiring, "Although I have not tested the system I saw no evidence to suggest defects within the scope of my inspection and report. I am advised that some updating of the system was carried out approximately two years ago although the property was not rewired.". The scope of the report states that, "Accessible parts of the wiring are visually inspected without removing fittings".

Now, here's the thing. What caused us to investigate further is that by the consumer unit are visibly two mains cables simply joined together using insulation tape - a big no no and not entirely safe. Similarly, in the dining room was a socket simply floating on top of the floorboards, with its contacts exposed. Neither of these were mentioned in the report and both were visible and accessible without moving anything.

We've since investigated, pulling up floorboards and have found many instances of loose contacts, lack of ring-main, junction boxes with 5+ wires joined, breakers labelled incorrectly on the consumer unit, etc. An electrician has recommended a full rewire.

If we had known that there were some issues with the system we would have had a full electrical check done, and would have reduced our offer accordingly to cover the cost of a rewire. The survey did not even recommend having an electrical check done.

Do we have any recourse towards the surveyer for this, and if so can we make them pay for the rewire? If so what should our next step be?

Thanks in advance
Kate

go_cat

I think you will find their get out is the " although not tested " bit. Our suveyor was clear in him not being an elecrician and scored the electrics a 3 as they needed testing as he didn't feel qualified to do this

G_M

Surveyors are not electricians. I doubt you will get anywhere by either requesting compensation from them, or by suing them.

Had you wanted the electrics checked you should have used an NECEIC registered electrician.

Gromitt

The surveyors I've used before only pickup the obvious when it comes to electrical faults, the kind you can normally pickup yourself. Other than that, they usually request you to use a qualified engineer to check both electric and gas installation. Expect these to cost about £100 each.

You can't sue them simply because they didn't say "get an electrical check done". Like if the gas pipe is joined together with tape, its not really a surveyors job - more a job for a gas safe engineer.

However, if it was as plainly obvious as you say, surely you noticed at least some of the faults you described on your first or second viewing? This would then have set off alarm bells to have a full check done at the same time as your survey.

Butterfly_Brain

If you didn't get your own electrical check done, then I am afraid that you have no recourse. And I would not go on the word of one electrician I would go for a quote from at least three, you may find that you do not actually need a full rewire.

katehumm

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies. I'm all aware of 'buyer beware' when buying a house, and in the grand scheme of things it isn't a massive expense, but my biggest gripe is that we paid them to conduct a visual inspection of the wiring, and in doing this the surveyor missed two huge, dangerous, problems.

I appreciate that the surveyor is just that, and not an electrical engineer. However, he was asked to conduct a visual inspection of the wiring, and I would expect him to be basically qualified to do this. If he didn't notice that two cables were taped together, and a socket with live contacts was lying on the floor, then surely there is an element of negligence there.

Gromitt - on our viewings I merely looked at the age of the consumer unit, as a lay person. Unfortunately I have very little electrical knowledge myself. Did I notice the cables at the time? Honestly not.

Thanks
Kate

katehumm

go_cat wrote: »

I think you will find their get out is the " although not tested " bit. Our suveyor was clear in him not being an elecrician and scored the electrics a 3 as they needed testing as he didn't feel qualified to do this

In this case our surveyor scored the electrics as a 1 - no immediate repair needed.

chris_m

katehumm wrote: »

I appreciate that the surveyor is just that, and not an electrical engineer. However, he was asked to conduct a visual inspection of the wiring, and I would expect him to be basically qualified to do this. If he didn't notice that two cables were taped together, and a socket with live contacts was lying on the floor, then surely there is an element of negligence there.

How do you know that it was actually like that when the survey was done?
It's not impossible, surely, that the connection to "something" was removed near the consumer unit as the vendor was clearing their stuff to move out, or that the socket could have been knocked off the wall during the move?

poppysarah

Take some photos of what these defects look like and upload them.

How long has part P been in place? Some work has to be registered but I spose it depends where the stuff 2 years ago was done.

I would probably start by ringing round electricians and getting quotes for the work being done - but get someone to come out and have a look at it as they'll tell you how urgent it is.

Anything bodged together like yours sounds would worry me immensely though.
Make sure your smoke alarms work properly.

baldelectrician

G_M wrote: »

Had you wanted the electrics checked you should have used an NECEIC registered electrician.

Why NICIEC only- they don't write the regs- they just think they do

You should use a competent person for the work, links below
In Scotland:
Individuals registered;
http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/register/ListAC.asp
Companies
http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/register/SearchCo.asp?T=Construction&ID=2
In England and Wales:
http://www.competentperson.co.uk

daveyjp

Were these problems there when he inspected? Between survey and completion is a long time.