Consumer unit problem for house buy following survey

doodling

I'm somewhat disappointed in what your surveyor has written:

andy444 said:

Mains electricity is connected to the property with the consumer unit being located in kitchen. The consumer requires to be updated to a more modern unit comprising miniature  circuit breakers to improve your personal safety and comply with the current standards.  This could be a safety hazard.  You should ask an appropriately qualified person to inspect the electrical installation and carry out any necessary repairs/updates soon. 

Unless the surveyor knows it is dangerous (and if he did then he would have told you) then what he actually meant was:

Mains electricity is connected to the property with the consumer unit being located in kitchen. The consumer unit is old and you should consider updating it to a more modern unit complying with current standards.  This could be a safety hazard. You should ask an appropriately qualified person to inspect the electrical installation and carry out any necessary repairs/updates soon. 

There is no requirement for it to be updated and it was wrong of the surveyor to say that there was.  Note that all consumer units could be a safety hazard, as could the gas meter, the hot water system, the boiler, the stairs, the windows and the house structure itself so don't read too much into that sentence.  Similarly, the surveyor isn't an electrical expert so he has covered himself by suggesting you get someone else to look at it.

The fact that the text implies that the consumer unit has something other than miniature circuit breakers (little switch things) does suggest that it is old (but not necessarily dangerous) and it will be a pain if a fuse goes because you'll need to find either a suitable cartridge fuse or fusewire, neither of which are now commonly available (you'll want to have these on hand!).  It also suggests that there is no RCD protection (which is mandatory on new installations) so if you are in the habit of doing things like drilling holes into cables buried in walls, grabbing hold of bare wires sticking out of the walls, running over the flex with the lawnmower or trying to use a hairdryer whilst standing in the bath then there is a significantly increased risk of death compared to a modern installation (but only if you do those things or similar).  RCDs will also protect against defects in the wiring installation to some extent so you may feel safer with a modern consumer unit if you have any doubt about the existing wiring.

As others have said, you probably want to budget £500 to £1000 to replace the consumer unit but there is no rush to do so and there is no requirement to so do either.  You might find that you want other wiring changes made when you have been living in the house for a while (older electrical installations tend to have fewer sockets for example) and getting those changes made and a new consumer unit at the same time would make sense.

In the above, I am assuming that there is no obvious sign of damage or distress to the existing electrical system.  If the existing consumer unit has big burn marks on it, or there are bare wires (other than earth bonding wires!) sticking out then perhaps replacement is more urgent and more safety critical.

Whether the vendors are willing to drop the price because you can't live with something that they have presumably been happy with for many years will depend on their attitude, how much of a good deal you're getting and whether they think someone else will pay more.

StandingInTheSun

Do ring your surveyor and ask for further clarification. What they are willing to put down on paper and what they're willing to tell you confidentiality over the phone are two very different things.

In all probability this is just standard backside covering.

andy444

These are photos of the consumer unit in question if you are interested.

Carrot007

andy444 said:

These are photos of the consumer unit in question if you are interested.

I think of more concern is that there is no off peak anymore which may make heating very expensive. (see label on "off peak" unit indicating it is no longer off peak).

So cheap storage heaters will have been replaced by some instant heat very expensive solution and a single rate meter fitted (hopefully!).

As for the units, yeah probably could do with changing if you like. I would want something with RCD protection. Not expensive, though more if you want to keep 2 units. I have no idea from that what the standalone switch is for, seems odd but who knows! (poor form since the rest is labelled, certainly does not look liek a master switch with the rating). But no real reason to chaneg if you don't. And it would be unreasonable to reduce the price based on it (it's unreasonable to reduce the price unless the valuation comes in lower anyway).

But really, be more concered about heating costs.

Section62

Carrot007 said:

I think of more concern is that there is no off peak anymore which may make heating very expensive. (see label on "off peak" unit indicating it is no longer off peak).

So cheap storage heaters will have been replaced by some instant heat very expensive solution and a single rate meter fitted (hopefully!).

Surely that depends on the type of meter, not the label on the CU?

Carrot007 said:

As for the units, yeah probably could do with changing if you like. I would want something with RCD protection. Not expensive, though more if you want to keep 2 units. I have no idea from that what the standalone switch is for, seems odd but who knows! (poor form since the rest is labelled, certainly does not look liek a master switch with the rating).

The 80A/30mA RCCB ?  At a guess (needs confirmation by a competent person) I'd expect it to be giving RCD protection to the whole consumer unit, without having the expense of changing the whole consumer unit(s).

I'm wondering if the surveyor was actually looking at the same consumer units.

Carrot007

Section62 said:

Carrot007 said:

I think of more concern is that there is no off peak anymore which may make heating very expensive. (see label on "off peak" unit indicating it is no longer off peak).

So cheap storage heaters will have been replaced by some instant heat very expensive solution and a single rate meter fitted (hopefully!).

Surely that depends on the type of meter, not the label on the CU?

Indeed, but the label is hopefully there for that exact reason and cause for copcern about heating costs. Of course this is all things for OP to look into.

Section62 said:

Carrot007 said:

As for the units, yeah probably could do with changing if you like. I would want something with RCD protection. Not expensive, though more if you want to keep 2 units. I have no idea from that what the standalone switch is for, seems odd but who knows! (poor form since the rest is labelled, certainly does not look liek a master switch with the rating).

The 80A/30mA RCCB ?  At a guess (needs confirmation by a competent person) I'd expect it to be giving RCD protection to the whole consumer unit, without having the expense of changing the whole consumer unit(s).

Ahh your eyes are better than mine! So is a main switch/rcd if you are right. Of course wires would need to be traced to check but if it is than things are fine (they were fine anyway).

Section62 said:

I'm wondering if the surveyor was actually looking at the same consumer units.

I think surveyors just say their own version of looks like it needs updates/get someone qualified to check if it looks a bit old to them. And yes this does, but there are much worse ones with actual issues!

Rodders53

Important labels (applied to the removable fuse/mcb covers - doh!) state that the system was tested in 2018 and the tester recommended a retest in 2023.  (It was also tested in 2012, so the owner is - unusually - getting the home checked out. 
May indicate a rental property or, more hopefully, an indicator other things are equally well looked after?).

Ask the vendor for a copy of that latest 2018 Periodic Inspection Report (via your solicitor)?

Section62

Carrot007 said:

Indeed, but the label is hopefully there for that exact reason and cause for copcern about heating costs. Of course this is all things for OP to look into.

The initial working assumption I'd make is the installation was changed at some point from an off-peak/contactor arrangement to whole-house E7. (the former Eastern Electricity Board favoured whole house E7).

So each off-peak appliance might(/should) have its own timer set for off-peak hours - the label being attached to the CU to alert the unwary to the fact what looks like a peak/off-peak installation is in fact now a permanent supply split across two consumer units.

Carrot007 said:

I think surveyors just say their own version of looks like it needs updates/get someone qualified to check if it looks a bit old to them. And yes this does, but there are much worse ones with actual issues!

What puzzled me is the comment "The consumer requires to be updated to a more modern unit comprising miniature circuit breakers to improve your personal safety". My eyesight also isn't the best, but to me the photos appear to show two consumer units populated by relatively modern Type 1 MCBs.  I'm wondering how personal safety can be improved by replacing one set of MCBs for a different set, in this case.

Blue_bell_20

We bought a house and the fuse box was quite old, we didn’t check it until we moved in. We decided to update it and cost us ~£420 (which also included a few other minor bits of work while the electrician was around). It took him half a day at most to change it. 

AdrianC

andy444 said:

These are photos of the consumer unit in question if you are interested.

Not pretty, not modern... But it is MCBs, not rewireable fuses.
Looks to have had an EICR in 2018, so valid for another two years.

I'd be checking whether that RCD kicks the main CUs off, or is just for one specific circuit.

I doubt that's the main thing you'd want to update in the houses's electrics...