Implications of house I was buying (likely to withdraw) failing an electrical inspection?

MrCheeseman

I've been in the process of buying a house, but I'm looking at withdrawing from the sale. I had a house survey done and there were some issues highlighted there, including that the roof was over 60 years old and would need replacing is, a disused flue that might contain asbestos etc. But the real dealbreaker is that I just had an electrical inspection (gas inspection is supposedly to follow) and it's come back as unsafe, with two issues that are definitely dangerous, and 10 or so that are potentially dangerous and require immediate remedial action. From the sound of things, a bunch of short term fixes have been done over the years (not sure by who) and left as is.

I haven't attempted to haggle down with the estate agents yet, though given what's been discovered so far I'm feeling like withdrawal is the best option. Yes, I could try to get the 7000 or so it'd cost to rewire the house (which is what's needed to fix the myriad problems) and redecorate reduced, I'm worried messing with the walls would release asbestos.

My question is, now that the inspection has deemed the electrics unsatisfactory, is the seller legally obliged to get it fixed? The seller apparently didn't want to get an electrical inspection as it wasn't a legal requirement, but surely a house's electrics being safe actually is a legal requirement, now the issue's known?

davidmcn

MrCheeseman said:

My question is, now that the inspection has deemed the electrics unsatisfactory, is the seller legally obliged to get it fixed? The seller apparently didn't want to get an electrical inspection as it wasn't a legal requirement, but surely a house's electrics being safe actually is a legal requirement, now the issue's known? 

No, there's no such obligation (until you get into specific circumstances such as e.g. letting out the property).

Wkmg

I’m not super experienced in this field but these are my thoughts:

If the roof really needs replacing soon you should be able to get some money off.

Every house built before 1990 might have asbestos in as far as I know. It’s only an issue if you want to interfere with it and even then you can pay to have it removed. I got a quote for £2000 to remove and replace the asbestos tiles on our garage which doesn’t seem too expensive to me.

As for the electrics, I assume that as the regulations change all the time most old electrics would be deemed unsafe now. The vendor certainly isn’t required to do anything about it. 

If all these things terrify you then you should probably only look at buying new builds. 

AdrianC

Seven grand to rewire sounds very high. Get more quotes. If that quote is from the people who did the report, I'd be raising an eyebrow at the report itself.

So what does the report actually say? What are these "dangerous" and "potentially dangerous" items?
What makes you think there's asbestos?

Chandler85

No they do not have to get them fixed, as they haven't been condemned, like when your gas is turned off for example.  Whether or not they have to legally disclose them is a different issue.

You can sell a house with no roof, fire damaged etc, in any state that you want to.  The onus is on the buyer to get checks done as appropriate.

Virtually every house I have seen a survey for needs the owner to plan for a new roof.  I assume unless it is obviously defective then it is unlikely to be a problem.  Slate and stone roofs have lasted for hundreds of years in the past.

A disused flue, that may contain asbestos unless you intend to knock the chimney out then it doesn't matter.

The electrical inspection, you need to speak to the actual person who did it, not just read what they wrote.  Remedial action needed can be because it is no longer up to regulations, you can have electrical work done today that next week is no longer up to regs.  RCD boxes went from metal to plastic and back to metal again for example.  The immediately dangerous things, ask the person who did the survey why they are immediately dangerous and what the fix is.

MrCheeseman

Thanks for the feedback. I did speak to the electrician - the jist of what he said was that the electrics were a bit higgledy piggledy, as if there'd been a bunch of short term fixes done but left in place. One dangerous issue, for example, was that there was a circuit that, when off, had 12V or so still going through it. As far as potentially dangerous issues go, examples are "overcrowded breakers", "some breakers prove not to be on a ring", "cooking isolator is loose in cupboard", "garage breaker coupled with other cable".

This is my first house so maybe withdrawing is a kneejerk reaction, and I do like the house and where it is. As for the cost, the electrician said you could chase individual issues but you might find more and the only way of making sure it's all sorted is a rewire. He doesn't do rewires (he's just one guy) nor does he recommend people so he's no vested interest in saying that. As for the £7000, the guy estimated £5000 and I added £2000 for redecorating because they'll have to tear bits of the walls out.

As for the asbestos, I'm maybe being a bit paranoid there - the house buying survey didn't suggest an asbestos survey, just said the disused flue would probably contain asbestos. If I'm getting the roof repaired/replaced at some point, I'll likely get the flue removed then. I'm still waiting on the gas inspection - there's no recent boiler certificate, so not sure how that'll go.

BrownTrout

Thats the trouble with first time buyers they panic at literally everything.  Why worry about getting it re-wired?, do it to your spec etc and you wont need to do it for another 20 or so years.
For example if i buy a house and i know its got a lead pipe going and i am planning outside work, ill get the water pipe replaced regardless and plastic put it just so its done and out of the way

Chandler85

You'll redecorate anyway in time, though granted it will be dusty and a right mess when they chase the walls out.

It depends if the house is priced appropriately I guess, if it is priced as a house that needs modernising then these things are to be expected, if the house is priced at full whack and is pristinely decorated then the electrics issue becomes bigger.

Only you know if the house is worth it, but if the vendor takes some money off the house, remember you don't get it all anyway only a percentage.  So make sure you have enough funds to do any work.

movilogo

Roof, electrics etc are all repairable. Unless the house is structure unsafe or within a landslide zone etc. it is nothing to worry too much.
But I understand the panic mode faced by first time buyers.
There is no single correct answer.
[1] You can reduce price factoring all these repairs + some contingency on top. Then negotiate with vendor.
[2] Failing [1] just walk out. There is always a better house down the line. Remember, this is buyers' market now. 

Comms69

MrCheeseman said:

I've been in the process of buying a house, but I'm looking at withdrawing from the sale. I had a house survey done and there were some issues highlighted there, including that the roof was over 60 years old and would need replacing is, a disused flue that might contain asbestos etc. But the real dealbreaker is that I just had an electrical inspection (gas inspection is supposedly to follow) and it's come back as unsafe, with two issues that are definitely dangerous, and 10 or so that are potentially dangerous and require immediate remedial action. From the sound of things, a bunch of short term fixes have been done over the years (not sure by who) and left as is.

I haven't attempted to haggle down with the estate agents yet, though given what's been discovered so far I'm feeling like withdrawal is the best option. Yes, I could try to get the 7000 or so it'd cost to rewire the house (which is what's needed to fix the myriad problems) and redecorate reduced, I'm worried messing with the walls would release asbestos.

My question is, now that the inspection has deemed the electrics unsatisfactory, is the seller legally obliged to get it fixed? The seller apparently didn't want to get an electrical inspection as it wasn't a legal requirement, but surely a house's electrics being safe actually is a legal requirement, now the issue's known?

No the seller is not obliged to get anything fixed. 

davidmcn

Chandler85 said:

It depends if the house is priced appropriately I guess, if it is priced as a house that needs modernising then these things are to be expected, if the house is priced at full whack and is pristinely decorated then the electrics issue becomes bigger.

This, really. I think buyers sometimes think that the arithmetic is "agreed price minus estimates for everything mentioned in the survey". You're talking about rewiring (plus redecoration) costs which will give you a house with brand-spanking-new electrics and (some?) new decor, whereas you presumably knew you were looking at an older property and there'd be modernisation needed. It's not reasonable to expect a property to get a squeaky-clean electrical report unless it's just been built or rewired.