Potential House Re-wire - who's responsible?

lunalyra

Hi!


I have recently bought my first home (cash buyer, sale gone through, we have the keys, legally it is now ours). Since we have started to move our stuff in, we have noticed some potentially big issues,


Notably, many sockets, light switches etc are not working, one light fitting smells of burning when switched on, wires that don't appear to be connected to anything sticking out of walls...
Also, around many of the windows, the plaster is coming away, and we can see through to the outside. I had started filling some of these, but realised I was soon fighting an endless battle and would need plaster work doing


None of these issues came up in the surveys I had done prior to the sale.
If a re-wire is required, and then followed up with plastering, this could turn out to be quite expensive..


Everyone at work I chat to thinks I should go back to the seller and ask them for an electrical inspection, but am I right in thinking that now that the property is legally ours, money handed over etc, that there is nothing we can do, and it is now our responsibility?


Thanks!

stator

Well it's your responsibility.

What type of survey and inspection did you have?

A Building survey should highlight obvious issues, but it will usually say "you should have the electrics and gas inspected by a competant person". So if you didn't do that (most people don't) then it's your responsibility.

If you did pay someone to check then you need to talk to them about what they missed. If they are a professional they would have insurance you could claim on if they were negligent.

Best thing now is to get someone competant to give you a complete breakdown of what is required.

The seller is'nt liable unless they lied to your or misled you.

lunalyra

I had a buildings&structural survey (or at least that's what I thought I'd paid for), who later turned out to not be fully accredited, so we got a second structural survey done by someone who was accredited..


All that came back was:
some re-wiring will be necessary in the not too distant future


I was advised that this was common, and that houses should be rewired every 10 years anyway..there was no advice on further action for this point


I'm reluctant to go back to the seller at this point anyway, it certainly doesn't look like her fault (although how she lived with so many holes in the walls and faulty plug sockets I don't know!!), but it looks more and more like I've been had by my surveyors..


nothing to do but pick up the pieces and get on with fixing it I guess!


Thanks,

jbainbridge

What level of survey did you have?

I'd be surprised if it didn't advise you to get the electrics independently checked.

As has been said - unless the seller lied to you it's got nothing to do with them. The time for an electrical inspection was before exchange.

Davesnave

lunalyra wrote: »

All that came back was:
some re-wiring will be necessary in the not too distant future
I was advised that this was common, and that houses should be rewired every 10 years anyway..there was no advice on further action for this point,

The report was accurate then. A structural survey isn't primarily about matters like plumbing, drainage or electrics, although comments will be made if anything warrants further investigation.

You should not have been told that rewiring is needed every 10 years, mainly because it isn't true. There are plenty of 1970s installations still performing satisfactorily, but they may be short on sockets for today's needs. Systems therefore are often extended or upgraded, as a full rewire is quite disruptive.

lunalyra

At no point was a further electrical survey advised :undecided




I'm not going to go back to seller, knew it was unlikely to be her fault, but everyone around me keeps saying it's what I should do!
Just wanted to check I wasn't wrong in thinking I should just get on with it.


My fault for missing/overlooking it

lunalyra

I've got an electrician coming on Wednesday, hopefully it won't be too bad!

Ebe_Scrooge

Where abouts are you ? In Scotland they have what they call "Scottish Standard Clauses", and amongst other things it stipulates that the seller is obliged to make sure that things like the heating and electrics are in working condition. But if you're in England then I'm afraid it's now your responsibility.

phill99

Struth. Here we have another 'it's not my fault although we didn't undertake due diligence and want some body else to pay'.


When will people learn that its up to buyers to satisfy themselves about the state and suitability of a property. No matter what your well intended but completely mis-guided colleagues tell you, you have absolutely no recourse to the seller (providing you are in England and wales.

getmore4less

Did you not turn on few lights, run taps and flush the toilet(s) on one of you viewings?

lunalyra

We did, most of it is ok, but there are a lot of sockets that don't work, that were hidden by furniture during the viewings.
It's not all of the sockets/lights in fairness, but our living room appears to only have one working socket and we can't rely on extension cables for everything