New home electrical fault, what are buyers rights? (Scottish Law)

Alan_A_2

Hi All,

My daughter has just purchased a flat. She got the keys on the 8th January, a Friday at 4pm. The flat needs some work done in all the rooms but she expected that. Two of the rooms had no light bulbs in the ceiling lights which seemed to be the most minor of their problems.

On Thursday the 14th January her partners brother, who is an electrician came to have a look at some of the tasks he was going to help them with. On checking the wiring he told them that there was a wiring fault in the lighting circuit and someone (assuming an electrician) had rewired the main box using the earth cable to allow the ceiling lights to work. In his view it was dangerous and intrinsically unsafe and disconnected the lights. An attempt was made to contact the Lawyer the next day who did not return their calls. On Saturday morning an email outlining the problem was sent to the Lawyer. Now their Lawyer is telling them as their complaint is outwith the 5 Working Day notification period there is nothing they can do.

She is expecting her first child in February and obviously doesn't need any more stress than you would reasonably expect while moving house. I have not gone into too much detail and would have difficulty in explaining the fault as I'm not an electrician but if anyone could offer some advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for looking!

All the best
Alan A

davidmcn

Firstly, it depends what it says in the contract, and we haven't seen that (and I'm guessing you haven't either). Your daughter should have had the missives copied to her during the course of the transaction (along, hopefully, with advice on what they mean). Assuming they follow the Scottish Standard Clauses, you can download those and a guide to them here.

The only warranty is that the electrics are in working order, rather than safe or compliant with regulations, and it sounds like they were working, so she wouldn't have had a claim even if she had been in time. If she had wanted to check whether the electrics were safe she should have got the electrician round before concluding missives. Sorry!

societys_child

If the lighting problem has been made safe, why not use table lamps in those rooms until it can be sorted in the future? No stress involved.

I very rarely use ceiling lights in any rooms.

agrinnall

Presumably her partner's brother can sort it at minimal cost, so I'm not sure how much stress there would be - she's certainly in a better position than those of us without an electrician in the immediate family.

[Deleted User]

I had no bedroom lights before I moved out of my last place (rental).., bare wires had been twisted together, lasted four years then fizzed a couple of weeks before I moved out.

I just used bedside lamps.

googler

Alan_A wrote: »

... their Lawyer is telling them as their complaint is outwith the 5 Working Day notification period there is nothing they can do.

If the missives do, indeed, state 5 days (check with own solicitor - some standard clauses have 10 days), then nothing can be done. That was the contract the buyer agreed to. As regards question in title, the buyer's rights were to report any major defect in the household systems within the period allowed in the missives, otherwise to accept the flat as is.

Evidently the lights were working satisfactorily between 8th and 14th, and they're only now not working because the electrician took an executive decision. As others have said, table, bedside and freestanding lamps will suffice until the electrician's return.