No info about electrics, agency unhelpful

Socrat

Hi, less than a month before completion, we have still not received any information about the condition of the electrics in the property. The current vendor had it tenanted for years and never did any checks. He has owned it for two decades, apparently had no work done.

The consumer unit isn't original so we are assuming that the previous owner had done some work.

I asked the agents for access to the property to check and was told that they were understaffed and would struggle to provide access. I asked if they could give the fully insured electrician the key and was told that the vendor would prefer the check to be done after completion.
My solicitor and I agreed that we would not be able to proceed without the check so I have emailed this and am awaiting their response.

Anyone been in this kind of situation? Can the vendor refuse access given that they have provided no information at all?

davidmcn

Socrat wrote: »

Can the vendor refuse access given that they have provided no information at all?

Yes, if they like. And you don't need to buy their property (I'm assuming you haven't exchanged).

AnotherJoe

Socrat wrote: »

I asked the agents for access to the property to check and was told that they were understaffed and would struggle to provide access. I asked if they could give the fully insured electrician the key and was told that the vendor would prefer the check to be done after completion.

I am sure he would. :rotfl:

Socrat wrote: »

Anyone been in this kind of situation? Can the vendor refuse access given that they have provided no information at all?

Of course they can. And you can refuse to proceed with the purchase or indeed withdraw your offer. Or you could drop your offer £5k on the grounds you believe there is a full rewire needed to be done. But don't just sleepwalk into a purchase ! Hopefully you have not exchanged yet?

Socrat wrote: »

My solicitor and I agreed that we would not be able to proceed without the check so I have emailed this and am awaiting their response.

You need to be more assertive. Tell your solicitor to tell the vendors solicitor that you have instructed he stops all work on this purchase until you have made your own electrical safety check. And do instruct him to do that. Unless your lower price by £5k works of course.

tacpot12

Socrat wrote: »

... I asked if they could give the fully insured electrician the key and was told that the vendor would prefer the check to be done after completion. .

Of course they would! After exchange of contracts the problem becomes your problem (assuming you complete).

If you have exchanged contracts already, I would stop worrying about it until you complete. It is not worth pulling out of the purchase providing the property is just an ordinary house/flat (if it were an industrial unit it might be different).

If you have not exchanged contracts, tell the Estate agent that you are offering £4000 less as you are sure that their unwillingess to facilitate inspect and that of their client means there is a big problem with the electrics, but you will be happy to pay the previously agreed asking price if they provide access for an electrian to inspect the property. If they are understaffed, they should be offering their client a discount, but I guarantee they are not, so make them work for their fee!

stator

Yes, the vendor can refuse.


As long as you haven't exchanged contracts then it's up to you to make your demands and stick to them.


The agents have probably got the idea that you aren't assertive enough and that they can just ignore the issue and you'll exchange anyway. You need to make it clear to them that you won't exchange until you have done the gas / electric and whatever other surveys you want to be done.


Once they know they aren't going to earn a comission you will be surprised how co-operative they will become. Unless it's one of the pre-paid agents like purple bricks?

Socrat

Thanks so much, everyone.
It's a normal agency, not online but it appears that some staff members are more helpful than others!
No, we have not exchanged.

The surveyor only ever mentioned the consumer unit not being up to the latest standards so I really wasn't concerned about electrics until they started being awkward. ��

hazyjo

How old is the property? Original electrics? Did you look at the basics when you viewed? (Even I can spot an ancient fuse box.)


To say 'not up to current standards/regs' is pretty much guaranteed on a survey. Wouldn't have led me to question it further.

AnotherJoe

Socrat wrote: »

Thanks so much, everyone.
It's a normal agency, not online but it appears that some staff members are more helpful than others!
No, we have not exchanged.

The surveyor only ever mentioned the consumer unit not being up to the latest standards so I really wasn't concerned about electrics until they started being awkward.

Ah, well thats not quite what was implied by your first post ! Unless you are buying a house built in the last year, no one will have a consumer unit up to latest standards because they are continually changing.

So, I would have said this was potentially a fuss about nothing if it wasn't for the vendor/agency refusing to allow access.

Put your foot down and insist unless you want to chance it. Any reasonable vendor and agent would know that refusal to allow access immediately raises red flags even if unwarranted and there's no problem.

Socrat

The property is about 50 years old and the consumer unit has been changed but must have been done by the previous owner as the current one knows nothing about it. So it's at least 20 years old but the house may have been fully rewired then too, which is what I would like to find out.

Another Jo, not sure what you meant by the first paragraph.

markin

Easy to find a cowboy to put in a new box, Sockets and switches. Doesn't mean the wiring was changed at that time or that its safe then, or now.

AnotherJoe

Socrat wrote: »

The property is about 50 years old and the consumer unit has been changed but must have been done by the previous owner as the current one knows nothing about it. So it's at least 20 years old but the house may have been fully rewired then too, which is what I would like to find out.

Another Joe, not sure what you meant by the first paragraph.

What I thought was as implied was that you had a good reason to beleive the electrics were significantly compromised, rather than a simple comment in a survey that they "weren't up to current standards" , those words being no doubt a standard phrase in every survey apart from newbuilds.