I presume I don't have a leg to stand on

geordiepaul2001

Hi all,

When I bought my house 4 years ago I had a standard mortgage valuation conducted. Initially it came back slightly short of what we had agreed to pay but a 2nd valuation valued the house at the agreed price, the valuation included advice to get the wall ties renewed.
After we moved into the house some of the neighbours advised us that the second valuation had been carried out by a friend of the owners son.

Yesterday I had an electrician come to test the electrics prior to my house sale and he has said that the fuse board doesn't comply to regulations that were brought in about 10 years ago. Also, the previous householder has wired in plug sockets directly to the main feed and without fuse protection.
He is at a loss as to how this wasn't picked up on our valuation survey as he says it is obvious by just looking at the fusebox.
All in all he is guestimating that it will cost £300/£400 to put right.

I am now kicking myself for not at least getting the next level of survey (homebuyers report).
Am I right in presuming that they were under no obligation to check the standard of electrics to the property with the level of survey I chose? I just want to make sure I have no form of recourse for any form of negligence on their part.

Paul

Rain_Shadow

You are right. You have no chance.

A mortgage valuation is just that. An opinion of what the property is worth. It isn't an inspection.

Dan-Dan

Even with a homebuyers this probably wouldnt have been picked up ? (happy to be corrected!)

maninthestreet

If the house is older than 10 years it shouldn't surprise anyone that the 'fuse board' does not meet regulations that were brought in only 10 years ago. However, there is no legal requirement to upgrade your house electrics to meet new regulations.

geordiepaul2001

We are currently part exchanging our house with a house builder and part of their process is for us to gain an electrical inspection certificate and a gas certificate.
Unfortunately the part exchange manager is away on holiday and I can't run the situation past her. I presume they will want the work carried out prior to completion or they will deduct the cost of the work from the part ex value.

Paul

hazyjo

A surveyor would just have said for you to get an electrician in to inspect. Regulations change all the time so of course it won't meet current regs.

I would definitely get a second opinion.

Of course it's 'obvious' to him - he's an electrician!

Nothing to do with the valuer at all.

Jx

ValHaller

geordiepaul2001 wrote: »

Yesterday I had an electrician come to test the electrics prior to my house sale and he has said that the fuse board doesn't comply to regulations that were brought in about 10 years ago. Also, the previous householder has wired in plug sockets directly to the main feed and without fuse protection.
He is at a loss as to how this wasn't picked up on our valuation survey as he says it is obvious by just looking at the fusebox.
All in all he is guestimating that it will cost £300/£400 to put right.

Get a second opinion - preferably an informal one from someone who really understands electrics but does not do electrical work. Do this urgently.

As others have said, the fact that it does not comply with regs 10 years old is irrelevant. It only matters that it complied with the regs at the time of installation and has not physically deteriorated.

As for sockets being connected direct to incoming feed, this is a very serious matter which you need to get to the bottom of and rectify - disconnecting the sockets until it is sorted. But given the misleading advice about compliance with regulations, this may be total blarney. Which is why I say get it checked out urgently.

I suggest you take this aspect to the DIY forum http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=39 for more relevant expertise

_Andy_

Standard val isn't going to pick up things like that.
This is why I find it strange that people spend tens/hundreds of thousands on a house but scrimp on a few £100 by not getting a survey.

Chalk it up to experience and move on. It's not a massive amount of money.

Ivana_Tinkle

Did your electrician turn off the dangerous sockets? I'm not an electrician, but I'd have thought that if they really are wired in directly to the main feed he would have insisted on disconnecting them. If he didn't, I'm inclined to agree with Valhaller about the possibility of a bit of "blarney"!

And the others are right that no survey would have picked up on this - only a proper electrical test by an electrician, which would have cost you £100 or so.

G_M

* You had a 'Valuation' done, not a survey.That was your choice.

* Surveyors are not electricians. Even if you'd had a survey done, it would have recommended an electrical inspection.

* You chose not to have an electrical inspection

* There is no requirement for properties to meet current (Building Regulations) standards. Only new work has tomeet current standards. (My house is 150 years old - the foundations are far too shallow for current standards. Do I have to knock down the house, dig the foundations down, and then re-build?? :rotfl:). Provided the fuse box met the standards in force at the time it was installed (eg 11+ years ago), it is fine.

mcfisco

All in all he is guestimating that it will cost £300/£400 to put right.

Standard val isn't going to pick up things like that.
This is why I find it strange that people spend tens/hundreds of thousands on a house but scrimp on a few £100 by not getting a survey.

Cheaper than the full survey would have been then