Failed Electrical Report - who pays?

sophiec83

Our mortgage lender requested that we get an electrical report done as a few things came up in the initial survey that they wanted to check. We got that sorted straight away and the electrician advised that the house had failed on a number of basic safety issues and some needed to be resolved immediately.
We sent the electrical report onto the estate agent so they could inform the vendor but the agents seem to be under the impression that in order to proceed, we (the buyers) need to arrange for the remedial work to be done!
I don't think this is right - we haven't bought the house yet and haven't even got a confirmed mortgage offer because it all depends on the electrics being sorted first. Surely it's the current owners' responsibility? I don't think we should be paying for work on a house that doesn't belong to us yet, as technically until we have exchanged contracts, the vendors can pull out at any time

dodger1

Just reduce your offer by the cost of the repairs.

NervousHomeowner

We had a similar issue recently with electrics in a flat that we're buying. We ended up getting quotes for the work and then got our solicitor to contact the vendor's solicitor, to ask that they pay for the cost of the work. In the end, we agreed to go halves on the work

Have you got quotes for how much the work will cost? If so, I would send these to your solicitor and ask him to pass these along to the vendor's solicitor, along with what you want to happen next (Either they pay for all the work or you split the cost).

Just remember that they don't have to pay for the work so it might be a case of compromising, eating the cost yourself or walking away, depending on what the vendor says.

Missme

Is it not the case that once an EA is aware of a sale falling through because of a defect arising from a survey, they must inform other buyers? Reduce the offer as dodger1 says and perhaps remind the agent of what is to come if they insist on chatting [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL].

cattie

Perhaps if you can state what the issues are then you might just get a bit more advice. It's not unknown for electricians to fail a house's electrics on certain aspects simply because particular aspects are not up to current standards/regulations. Sometimes in the hope of getting work as a result of the report.

This doesn't mean the electrics are dangerous, just that the regulations are changing all the time & what was ok say 7 years ago would have to be done differently on a new installation today. It's pretty much the same with gas installations.

sophiec83

There are a number of issues, the most worrying one being that there is no earthing point on the incoming supply cable (!) which our electrician has advised needs to be done as a matter of urgency.

Missme - that's what I thought too, surely it's in the agent's best interests to help us resolve it because if we end up pulling out they'll just end up with the same problem with anyone else wanting to buy the place.

NervousHomeowner - thank you for that, it's good to get the perspective of someone who's been through a similar thing and how you resolved it.

dodger - this would be my preferred choice!

Thanks all

Dan-Dan

sophiec83 wrote: »

There are a number of issues, the most worrying one being that there is no earthing point on the incoming supply cable (!) which our electrician has advised needs to be done as a matter of urgency.

Quite a `regular` occurence on older houses , and not something a normal sparky will be able to sort , i think this is done by or via UK Power

ValHaller

sophiec83 wrote: »

There are a number of issues, the most worrying one being that there is no earthing point on the incoming supply cable (!) which our electrician has advised needs to be done as a matter of urgency.

While worrying, the fix is relatively straightforward.

I suggest you post the detail here and we can tease the issues apart.

At this point, the argument over who is responsible to fix it is moot. There is no defined responsibility!!!! Basically if you don't want to pay, the you don't buy and if the vendor does not want to pay, he does not sell. So it is dealt with by negotiation.

If you post the details of the issues here, perhaps we can suggest what it would be reasonable to expect in negotiation.

theGrinch

sophiec83 wrote: »

There are a number of issues, the most worrying one being that there is no earthing point on the incoming supply cable (!) which our electrician has advised needs to be done as a matter of urgency.

Thanks all

That's quite a quick job. We had it done in under 5 minutes.

ValHaller

theGrinch wrote: »

That's quite a quick job. We had it done in under 5 minutes.

Yours might have been quick, if your incomer is lead sheathed. If OP's supply is overhead, it will be a different matter

witchy1066

we had to have that done a few months ago ,we would never have known had we not been changing our CH from oil to gas , Welsh utilities came out and it took about half an hour in after a lot of umming and aring and a few who did your electrics comments,

cost £28 plus VAT

they did say it was illegal not to have it an earthing point ,