Checking Electrics and Gas after survey

FunkyMunkey

Hi guys,

We're in the process of buying a house in Leeds and have just received the Homebuyer's Report. It's mentioned a couple of things which had previously been checked and quoted for (new dpc, historic furniture beetle infestation), but it has also suggested getting the electrics and gas checked.

The vendor doesn't have any certificates or guarantees, and I did notice that the fuse box is quite old and in a strange place (above the wall units in the kitchen), so i definitely want to get this stuff checked out. So...

As we have only recently moved to Leeds and won't be able to get personal recommendations, should I ask the estate agent to recommend someone, or should I just look on the NICEIC and CORGI websites for contractors?

Approximately how much will these inspections cost? Should I negotiate?

Does anyone here have any personal recommendations?!

Any help would be much appreciated.

cattie

Sometimes the ea themselves have tradesmen who will check out electrics & give you advice & quotes free of charge.

Gas is different as you need the boiler & ch system & any appliances checked, so will in all likelyhood have to pay to have this done. But again the ea can often recommend people so always make them your first call if you have nobody else to recommend somebody to you.

A boiler check may cost you around £40-£50 from what I gather from other people.

Tiger_greeneyes

I'd always check with the EA first - they come across this type of thing on a very regular basis. It doesn't matter how you find the contractors, so long as you can see their NICEIC and CORGI identification, that's fine. You may want to shop around as their charges can differ.

You may find that you have to pay for both of these trades to carry out checks - I got my electrics checked for £47 - which was subtracted from the final bill when I had the upgrading works done.

I didn't have the gas checked because the boiler was clearly on it's way out.

annie-c

I asked my estate agent who recommended local people. The EA had an arrangement that if you used their recommendations then they would allow them to call in directly for the keys to the property. My reservation about this was that I didn't really want the EAs to find out the outcome in case it affected my bartering power (since the EA is the seller's agent, not the buyer's ). But, like you, I didn't have many options, being new to the area, and in the event they were fine.

The electrician cost £30 for a full inspection with certificate. They discovered that the house needed complete re-wiring (it had no ring main!) and so I was able to knock £3k off the agreed selling price to cover re-wiring.

The Gasman cost £25 and he reassured me that the CH system and boiler was in proper working order.

A local builder did a damp-proofing report for £25 fee, which he then knocked off the price of some work I later engaged him to do.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this route. For £80 I got sooo much more value than the £400 that I paid for a survey.....

FunkyMunkey

annie-c wrote: »

My reservation about this was that I didn't really want the EAs to find out the outcome in case it affected my bartering power (since the EA is the seller's agent, not the buyer's ).

Yeah, I'm kind of in the same position. Because we got the house quite cheap, the notification of sale states "bought as seen. no further negotiations" (is this normal?).

But they can kiss my buttski if they think i'm not gonna renegotiate if we have to pay £3000 for re-wiring!

annie-c

In my case, the wiring was so bad that the house was unsafe to be in - so had the vendors not agreed to drop the price then they would have had to complet the work themselves before further viewings could take place.

I've never heard of 'bought as seen' before. You're buying a house not a second hand car!!! There is some sort of legal reason why, once you have agreed a price and commenced solicitor's action then you cannot further negotiate the price down. But what happens is that there is some legal term for a deal whereby the seller makes a concession on the price to cover whatever specific thing needs to be done. In my case, the original agreed sale price is the one that shows up on the housenetprices website, but the amount I paid, and the amount of my mortgage was the price that reflected the £3k reduction.

I would add that although the surveys showed both re-wiring and damp-proofing was required, I ended negotiations by agreeing to cover the cost of damp-proofing myself on condition they made a concession for the price of re-wiring. I suppose I could have pursuied it furtther but I wanted the house and so I acknowledged that the earlier haggling would cover some of the renovation work.

My top tip. Fax copies of the reports of inspections to the EA ASAP so that further negotiation will be done on the basis of evidence not your word against thiers. And check the EA passes this onto the seller (mine didn't until I nagged!).

Tiger_greeneyes

Mine was unsafe too, Annie.

On that note, for my £47, I found out that the lighting was run off the sockets, there was no earthing anywhere in the house, there was old rubber cabling and old single strand cabling, junction boxes were left uncovered, there were three different circuits (one for each floor), there was a floorboard nail through the cabling, the cabling for each of the floors was connected to the adjoining floor with tape - plus a few other horrors.

Even though it's a big house (11 rooms plus hall, two sets of stairs and two landings) with outside toilet and lighting, our bill for bringing the whole installation up to standard was £2,100.

I consider the £47 the best investment I ever made - we could be living in a death trap waiting to happen.

It's frightening what people do in their own homes

FunkyMunkey

Thanks for your comments guys. I've booked an electrician in early next week for £41.

I rang the plumber up and he said not to bother, as we're having central heating installed just after we move in.