Electrical inspection on proposed purchase property

smudge2013

Hi All! I am in the process of purchasing a new house and recently had a HomeBuyer report scheduled. The report flagged up that the electrics had some deficiencies and needed further investigation from an electrician. I booked an electrician to go round and do an electrical installation condition report.

The electrician noted that the fuse board looked in an old condition and needed replacing. In order to do full testing of the system and the wiring, he needed to access the fuse board which was partially obstructed by a wooden frame (apparantly installed like that by the builder many years ago). The electrician said that at worst there may be a little minor damage lifting the frame off, but nothing significant. The seller then refused for them to do this, meaning the inspection had to be aborted.

The seller wants me to schedule the inspection again for post-exchange, but of course that is too late if any serious issues are found with the electrics. I don't feel comfortable proceeding without getting a basic electrical check done, but on the other hand I don't want the chain to collapse either!

Any advice?

Miss_Samantha

The electrician can have a feel by looking at the sockets and switches, including about the wiring. He should be able to tell you whether he would advise a re-wiring.

Re-wiring is the expensive bit. Fitting a new consumer unit and testing all the circuits would only be £200-£300.

It is for you to decide whether to maintain your offer or to reduce it to take into account any contingency.
Note, though, that reducing your offer by, say, £1000 does not usually result in you having an extra £1000 cash in the bank to pay for repairs.

lol_omg_wtf

Not ideal when the vendor doesn't seem to understand you a buying a property and some inconvenience to them will be expected.

As samantha has mentioned the works could be a few hundred or into the thousands.

I would be tempted to fire an email to the estate agent, suggesting as there is obvious issues with the electrics and the vendor is not willing to comply with further investigation pre-sale you can only presume a full re-wire is required. State you are willing to proceed with the sale holding back funds of £xx.xxx to ramify any issues. post sale you will return any or the reminder if applicable.
You can say this is not ideal but without knowing the extent of the issues you can not in good faith pay full asking.

This is a bit of a sledgehammer approach and if i really liked the house i might try go more softly softly.

In essence this is what the vendor has expected of you only in revers.

unforeseen

Or offer the vendor a £500 deposit to cover any damage you contractor does. Only refundable if the Purchase goes ahead.

glasgowdan

The seller's not under any obligation to let you send a contractor to damage bits of their house, given that there's always a chance, in their mind, that you'll pull out and leave them with it. In your shoes I'd buy, and assume a bit of cash will be spent on the electrics in the first 5 years.

Cakeguts

Not being able to buy this house without assuming that you might need to rewire it isn't anything to do with the seller. If the house doesn't suit find one that does.

lol_omg_wtf

glasgowdan wrote: »

The seller's not under any obligation to let you send a contractor to damage bits of their house, given that there's always a chance, in their mind, that you'll pull out and leave them with it. In your shoes I'd buy, and assume a bit of cash will be spent on the electrics in the first 5 years.

Seems a strange approach, would you take this approach to buying a second hand car?

You're correct the seller can do what they choose including put the house up for sale and only let potential purchasers look through the letterbox...

I think this falls into pretty standard requirements for buying property and should be expected by any vendor that access would be required.

smudge2013

The buyer has described the Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) as running overly detailed tests, but this to me seems a fairly basic check of a home's electrics and what was strongly advised by my HomeBuyer report.

glentoran99

lol_omg_!!!!!! wrote: »

Seems a strange approach, would you take this approach to buying a second hand car?

You're correct the seller can do what they choose including put the house up for sale and only let potential purchasers look through the letterbox...

I think this falls into pretty standard requirements for buying property and should be expected by any vendor that access would be required.

Would you damage a car to check something out In it?

lol_omg_wtf

This could go on and on. If someone had stuck something over the access to the electronics/fuses and there was a suspected issue? fuse blown. yes i would expect them to remove it so the issue could be proven before purchase.

I will try stop this getting petty and say this is purely my attitude and if the attitude of the seller is of the stance that no you cant look then thats where i walk away.

Were all different. I suppose its up to the OP whether they are happy to buy without knowing or if its a deal breaker. To me someone not letting me look under the bonnet would be a walk away moment.

Surrey_EA

lol_omg_!!!!!! wrote: »

Seems a strange approach, would you take this approach to buying a second hand car?

You're correct the seller can do what they choose including put the house up for sale and only let potential purchasers look through the letterbox...

I think this falls into pretty standard requirements for buying property and should be expected by any vendor that access would be required.

Yes!

I am a little surprised that if the fuse board is only partially obscured, the electrician was unable to give a reasonable indication of whether it needed replacing.