Buying house with unsatisfactory electrical installation report

sunflowers123

Hi

Following a recommendation on my Homebuyers report, I asked the vendor to carry out a safety inspection on the electrics. They have now supplied the certificate and the report has revealed overall it is unsatisfactory.

There’s a list of items which require urgent remedial action.

Is this something you can ask the vendor to fix prior to exchange/pay half towards or would I be laughed at?

Thanks.

AdrianC

Of course you can ask for a reduction. Doesn't mean the vendor won't laugh at you... Then you need to decide whether it's worth walking away over.



The one thing I wouldn't do is to get them to sort it - you'll get the bare minimum job, done on the cheapest of the cheap.


How bad is it?

societys_child

The vendor's a fool, it's up to the buyer to get reports if they want them.

There’s a list of items which require urgent remedial action.

What are they?

Davesnave

You did quite well, getting the vendor to pay for an electrical inspection rather than having to fund it yourself.


Without knowing what it says, it's hard to advise further, but you should keep in mind that the vendor has lived with these electrics, apparently without issue.



They might be also be unwilling to allow any remedial work during their tenure, as rewiring is disruptive and damages decoration.

sunflowers123

Thanks for your replies. The electrician is the vendor’s father.

The problems are:

Cannot locate earth connection to incoming services
Consumer units are not fire rated in accordance with 17th edition regs
No RCD protection to utility room sockets
No CPC connected to wall light and switch in conservatory
Recessed lights in utility room and kitchen not fire rated
Unable to locate circuit 1 labelled shower
No green sleeving to CPCS contracted into DB1
No continuity between ring main conductors circuit 3
Circuit 6 lights have four cables bunched into MCB

I guess each one doesn’t seem too bad, it’s the fact that it’s been marked as “unsatisfactory “ that worries me.

davidmcn

Bear in mind that any property other than one with electrics installed very recently is bound to "fail" some of these checks (e.g. the 17th edition regulations came into force in 2008).

And despite the fact he's come up with a list of defects, I'm not sure I'd take the word of the vendor's father about anything!

To put things into perspective, the vast majority of buyers don't get electricians in to do this sort of check, so only the most pernickity buyers would do it and expect everything to be sorted for them - in the same way that (I hope) you're not expecting every other sort of defect in the property to be fixed before you buy.

If you do want things to be sorted, best to get it done yourself rather than trust the vendor to do it properly.

Mutton_Geoff

Almost every house in the land built more than 10 years ago won't meet 17th edition regs (they are now up to 18th which makes me wonder why he didn't inspect to that current standard).


All sounds fairly trivial to me.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS_7671#Timeline

Owain_Moneysaver

sunflowers123 wrote: »

Cannot locate earth connection to incoming services Might not be required if they're non-metallic. Otherwise should be done to current regs. If you have a gas supply this will also be picked up on a gas safety inspection.
Consumer units are not fire rated in accordance with 17th edition regs Shouldn't actually be a problem if it's a reputable brand and installed correctly. They're not supposed to catch fire.
No RCD protection to utility room sockets Bit naughty - is it a non-protected circuit? Change utility room sockets to RCD ones if worried
No CPC connected to wall light and switch in conservatory Bad workmanship if the cpc has been left in the cable and not connected. Remedy. If the cpc is missing or not connected to earth at supply end that is very bad workmanship. However, if only plastic switches and double insulated fittings are used it can be accommodated as a deviation from the Regs.
Recessed lights in utility room and kitchen not fire rated They don't have to be in a 2-storey house as the ceiling is not separating a fire compartment.
Unable to locate circuit 1 labelled shower A disused circuit which should have been disconnected at the CU?
No green sleeving to CPCS contracted into DB1 Bad workmanship. And sleeving must be green/yellow.
No continuity between ring main conductors circuit 3 Very bad and should be tested and remedied asap
Circuit 6 lights have four cables bunched into MCB Not a problem as long as the MCB terminals will take it - 4 x 1.5mm wires should be easily handled. I'm surprised it's even been mentioned.

I guess each one doesn’t seem too bad, it’s the fact that it’s been marked as “unsatisfactory “ that worries me.

If the vendor's father is an electrician I do wonder why the vendor didn't get the wiring tested and fixed himself.

ProDave

sunflowers123 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. The electrician is the vendor’s father.

The problems are:

Cannot locate earth connection to incoming services
There might not be one it might be on a TT earth
Consumer units are not fire rated in accordance with 17th edition regs
DOES NOT NEED TO BE ONLY FOR A NEW INSTALL
No RCD protection to utility room sockets
Easy to correct
No CPC connected to wall light and switch in conservatory
If the rest of the light switches are okay probably an easy fault to fix
Recessed lights in utility room and kitchen not fire rated
They do not need to be
Unable to locate circuit 1 labelled shower
If the shower has been removed it is trivial to disconnect a now redundant circuit
No green sleeving to CPCS contracted into DB1
Trivial fault to fix
No continuity between ring main conductors circuit 3
Probably an easy fix or convert to a radial circuit
Circuit 6 lights have four cables bunched into MCB
So what show me where it says you cannot

I guess each one doesn’t seem too bad, it’s the fact that it’s been marked as “unsatisfactory “ that worries me.

Which one(s) has he given a C2 or C1 to trigger it being unsatisfactory?

There is nothing there that would stop me buying it then getting the faults fixed by a DIFFERENT electrician because I doubt the competency of this one

Davesnave

We had our house rewired over a period of several years. By the time we finished the last circuit, the 18th edition of the regs had come into force, so it was "out of date."

sunflowers123

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Originally Posted by sunflowers123 View Post
Cannot locate earth connection to incoming services Might not be required if they're non-metallic. Otherwise should be done to current regs. If you have a gas supply this will also be picked up on a gas safety inspection.
Consumer units are not fire rated in accordance with 17th edition regs Shouldn't actually be a problem if it's a reputable brand and installed correctly. They're not supposed to catch fire.
No RCD protection to utility room sockets Bit naughty - is it a non-protected circuit? Change utility room sockets to RCD ones if worried
No CPC connected to wall light and switch in conservatory Bad workmanship if the cpc has been left in the cable and not connected. Remedy. If the cpc is missing or not connected to earth at supply end that is very bad workmanship. However, if only plastic switches and double insulated fittings are used it can be accommodated as a deviation from the Regs.
Recessed lights in utility room and kitchen not fire rated They don't have to be in a 2-storey house as the ceiling is not separating a fire compartment.
Unable to locate circuit 1 labelled shower A disused circuit which should have been disconnected at the CU?
No green sleeving to CPCS contracted into DB1 Bad workmanship. And sleeving must be green/yellow.
No continuity between ring main conductors circuit 3 Very bad and should be tested and remedied asap
Circuit 6 lights have four cables bunched into MCB Not a problem as long as the MCB terminals will take it - 4 x 1.5mm wires should be easily handled. I'm surprised it's even been mentioned.

I guess each one doesn’t seem too bad, it’s the fact that it’s been marked as “unsatisfactory “ that worries me.
.

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to each point. It seems I have no need to panic!