Vendor sold house with very unsafe electrics

pleasedelete

my house previously belonged to a bodger. The electric bulb added to the gas fire to give a better glow was a good one. The cooker was condemned on the 1st day as leaking gas where he had removed something as he departed. Almost forgot the light bulbs set into the bannister which were incorrectly installed.

The best was arriving home to a gaggle of electrician apprentices in my hall. We were having the house rewired and they had found such dodgy home rewiring that anyone using a switch in the bedroom could have been electrocuted at any time- so they wanted all their trainees to see it.

penguingirl

A new kitchen does not necessarily prove electrics installations were done. AFAIK replacing plugs etc like for like is not notifiable if no new wiring is done. I know we did a bit of research when we did our old house up and there didn't seem to be a problem with doing thist this, but if we'd started doing new wiring etc and adding sockets it would have become notifiable (and for this reason we didn't bother)

We moved in April and our electrics were terrifying! We had a light on the plug circuit, transformers buried in a wall, bare wires in the loft etc plus switches that we never worked out (and our electrician never fully did either), internal electrics in the leaking shed etc. We've had to have a partial rewire. Sucks, but it's part of buying a new house. We knew the electrics were a bit quirky when we offered but didn't realise how much, but didn't get an electrics survey pre-purchase as we have bought in a fast housing market so knew vendors wouldn't negotiate on price.

jimbog

The_Shadow wrote: »

We have recently bought and moved into a house and found a number of very serious defects with the electrical system. The issues are live exposed wiring in a number of places and kitchen appliances connected to trailing extension leads on the floor behind kitchen units and undersized wiring, we are also getting electric shocks when touching the kitchen sink.


We have forwarded a very competitive estimate to the vendor to have work put right but he is unwilling to pay.


These defects would not have shown up on a full structural.


Any advice would be most welcome


The Shadow

Your post could equally start with:
'Buyer bought house with very unsafe electics'

Homersimpson

One thing to bear in mind (and I speak as an electrical design engineer of nearly 20 years experience in all building services sectors), you are looking at the work and stating that it has been bodged (which may well be the case), however all work is measured against BS7671 (The IET Wiring Regulations) which does not necessarily require the same standard that you are looking for.


As an example if the garage is wired in 1.5mm2 Twin & Earth to feed the lights and sockets, provided that the cable is protected by a fuse/circuit breaker of the correct rating then the cable may be adequately protected and therefore comply with BS7671. If the garage has been 'spurred' off the house ring main then its probably compliant as the fuse will be 13A max (although this is not great).


The same applies to using extension leads, BS7671 would not be interested in these as they don't form part of the 'fixed' installation.


Its also worth noting that the work only needs to comply with the edition of BS7671 that was in force when it was carried out.


For example my house would no longer comply with BS7671 as the consumer unit (fuse board) is plastic and the latest edition now states that it needs to be within a fire resistant enclosure. BS7671 does have a note in the first few pages that installations to previous editions are not necessarily unsafe for continued use.


Just be a bit careful because if you pursue the vendor for the cost and they lose all they will need to do is pay for the work to be improved to comply with BS7671 and no more. This is unlikely to be to the standard that you require.