Electrical Instulation

Jarviscocker

Just moved into a house and had to call out the electrician . Thankfully I was able to get a reliable person due to NextDoor app (someone on the forum recommend).

The electrician checked the fuse box and it was dangerous as a live wire was visible. I won’t go into too much detail as I wouldn’t be able to explain it fully. There was able a live wire next to the main door (fuse had blow).

Jarviscocker

Sorry I was swapping between pages and the post was made prematurely:

Post needs to be edited:

Title: Electrical Installation Condition Report.

Content:

Just moved into a house and had to call out the electrician as a fuse tripped and I wasn’t able to put the fuse on again. Thankfully I was able to get a reliable person due to NextDoor app (someone on the forum recommend).

The electrician checked the fuse box and said it was dangerous as a live wire was able to be touched due to the box having a chunk cut out. I won’t go into too much detail as I wouldn’t be able to explain it fully. There was able a live wire next to the main door (fuse had blow). The electrician showed me this and thankfully my dad was already who knows a bit about electrical stuff.

The owner provided the report as part of her obligation to sell the house. How can two issues be uncovered (due to chance) which seem quite serious? I didn’t get a chance to speak to the electrician, he is coming back tomorrow but I will be at work.

Any thoughts?

G_M

No need to do 2 posts - just click 'edit' below your original post!


If you are in Eng/Wales, then "The owner provided the report as part of her obligation to sell the house." does not apply. There is no such obligation.


If you wanted to be sure the electrics in the property you were buying were safe, you should have paid an electrician to inspect and give you a report.


(I believe in Scotland things might be different)

davidmcn

G_M wrote: »

(I believe in Scotland things might be different)

No, there's no need to provide anything beyond whatever comments the Home Report surveyor is prepared to make about the electrics. The contract usually has a limited warranty that the electrics will be working immediately after completion, but no promises that they'll meet any sort of regulations. If the buyer wants any further reassurance they'd need to arrange it themselves.

Jarviscocker

I’m on an iPhone and it won’t let me edit, or quote posts.

Electrical works had been carried out so the seller had to provide the said certificate.

Davesnave

Jarviscocker wrote: »

Electrical works had been carried out so the seller had to provide the said certificate.

An electrical report is like a MoT certificate in that it relates to a test on a specific date; it doesn't warrant that the installation won't ever change, get damaged etc.


If the report wasn't prepared for you, then you have no contract or call against whoever wrote it.


Those are my thoughts.

Jarviscocker

The gas/electricians are registered trades people with qualifications etc. So it makes no sense for them to sign of work that’s not safe.

I’m not sure it’s worth debating contacts at this moment in time. The report states it’s for selling a house and the report was given to me via the solicitors. Legal requirement due to buildings regs.

Tom99

What exactly is the report you have been given?

boo_star

Jarviscocker wrote: »

The gas/electricians are registered trades people with qualifications etc. So it makes no sense for them to sign of work that’s not safe.

I’m not sure it’s worth debating contacts at this moment in time. The report states it’s for selling a house and the report was given to me via the solicitors. Legal requirement due to buildings regs.

As above it was fine when it was done/signed off. It isn't anymore, maybe.

I had surveys done on two houses before I bought mine, in neither case did they go anywhere near the electrics. In fact they went out of their way to stress that they hadn't touched the electrics.

davidmcn

Jarviscocker wrote: »

I’m not sure it’s worth debating contracts at this moment in time.

I'm not sure what it is you want advice on then. If you had a remedy against your vendor, it would be via your contract with them. You don't have a remedy against their electrician because it you're not their customer. There's no legal requirement for anybody to get a report just because the house is being sold.

Lokolo

As others have said, it is the condition report at the time it was carried out. It's great to have for yourself, but having one for other people for the future is more than useless.

Like a car MOT (as someone has pointed out above), an hour after, the condition could be different. Someone can change all the tyres on a car after the MOT, but the car will still have had a valid MOT. Same for the EICR. If someone has done the work, got the report, then changed something, then thats it.

You should get a boiler service and EICR when you move in, not before you own it (unless you really want to, but its not worth the paper its written on as you are not in ownership so things can change).