Electric work and small claims court

sam1970

I had a full house renovation done by a building company. The work included full house rewiring. The company has its own subcontractors and one of them did all electric and central heating work. We had many problems with failing sockets, failing consumer unit and I had British Gas to check the work and they confirmed it was substandard, bordering on dangerous.

The alleged electrician was a member of STROMA scheme (who issued the work certificate and guarantee the work for six years) so I complained about him to STROMA. They acknowledged my complaint and promised a response within 15 working days. Two months later and still no response. Every time I call them they come up with a different excuse and now they said that dealing with all complaint has being passed to NAPIT. I called NAPIT and they promised someone will call me back the same day but it is a week now and no response.

Iam thinking of going to court but will appreciate advice. Worried about unsafe electrics in a family house with 3 children. Also the possibility of voiding my home insurance policy.

hollydays

You need to consult a solicitor

Aylesbury_Duck

If you're worried about your children's safety, move out until the problem is sorted rather than staying there for over two months with dangerous electrics. You can't really employ the emotional argument when you've willingly stayed there for so long knowing there's a problem.

As above, you should contact a solicitor or if you have it, the legal cover that often comes with home insurance. If your insurance policy is at risk, it's at risk already because you know about the problem and there's a trail of correspondence going back months. Far from worrying about your insurer, I'd be ringing them to let them know what's happened and what you're trying to do about it.

davidmcn

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

If you're worried about your children's safety, move out until the problem is sorted rather than staying there for over two months with dangerous electrics.

Or get someone else in to fix it and then claim for the bill.

wagtamm

I would certainly endorse getting another qualified electrician/surveyor in to inspect the work carried out, if you at all worried about the standard of work done.

They should be able to either put your mind at ease, or be prepared to provide a detailed, expert report on what is wrong. You will need such evidence if you end up going to court.

Ectophile

Remember that it's the electrician, not you, who pays the scheme operator. So don't expect them to do anything to help you, because that might jeopardise their income stream.

sam1970

Thank you...but they issued a certificate to guarantee work for 6 years up to 25K so surely if other certified electricians say that the work is unsafe they will have to cover the cost of sorting things out

steampowered

You could sue the electrician (who will presumably be insured) directly OR you could under the STROMA guaranete.

If you are happy to sue the electrician, you can just get another electrician in to fix the work, and sue the former electrician for the cost of that.

If you want to claim under the STROMA guarantee, you have to comply with the terms of the STROMA guarantee. Do you have a link to the detailed terms of the STROMA guarantee you can share with us?

ComicGeek

So have you gone directly to the building company who did the refurb works? If it's their subcontractor, then it's their problem to resolve. Get them to send a different subcontractor round to investigate and put right any issues.

Unless you paid the subcontractor directly, it's their issue to resolve.

I certainly wouldn't wait 2 months with unknown electrical issues. For peace of mind I would be getting my own selected electrician to do an inspection and provide a report of the issues and a quote for rectifying.

Risteard

Stroma have been taken over by NAPIT.

The NICEIC Approved Contractor scheme is the premier scheme for finding contractors.

Or for readers in the south of Ireland, RECI is the Electrical Safety Supervisory Body.