Electrical inspection for house I'm purchasing

FataVerde

Following the homebuyer report survey, I had a chat with the surveyor who recommended having an electrical inspection because he found the wiring strange (i.e. there is a light at the top of the stairs but there is no switch at the bottom of the stairs, only up in the hallway; the switch in the kitchen is well hidden behind a cabinet, etc) and is concerned it might be a DIY project. The house is from around 1920s, the current vendors have spent 6 years here and have not done any visible changes/improvements, Would you think this good enough reason to do an electrical inspection? The boiler is older too: the current vendors haven't changed it so it likely at least 10 years. I know surveyors cover their backs and old houses will have old wiring and likely boilers, but is this something I should worry about? I sadly know nothing about wiring and boilers, but I could try to arrange another viewing and go there with an experienced builder who also knows electrics.

dimbo61

So figure that into the things you need to do once you own the property.
Complete rewire up to modern standards and new central heating and combi boiler Worcester Bosch ( Which best buy )

RAS

And insulation, as that's likely to be minimal as well.

caprikid1

When I bought my house, c £300 years old 

I had an EICR - Wiring not great but it came out ok
Drains Survey - Found a collapsed drain - £1500 to replace
Unable to get someone in to survey the boiler but Oil so a little less of a worry

I knew I was buying an old tired house but still worth understanding how bad it was. In the end I had less negotiating points than expected.

ProDave

Rather than DIY electrical bodges, it sounds like nobody has touched the electrics, i.e. they put a kitchen unit in front of a switch rather than move the switch.

An EICR would tell you all you need to know about the electrics, so a couple of hundred well spent.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

An EICR will at least tell you if you've got any immediately dangerous problems, such as failed insulation, or broken neutral or earth continuity, so is worth it for the £200 you'll spend.

Pretty much all the pre-war houses I've ever looked around have been DIY rewired by Bob the Bodger in the '70s though. Good luck!

canaldumidi

FataVerde said:

.......he found the wiring strange (i.e. there is a light at the top of the stairs but there is no switch at the bottom of the stairs, only up in the hallway; the switch in the kitchen is well hidden behind a cabinet, etc) and is concerned it might be a DIY project. ....

Inconvenient, but does not indicate DIY or anything adverse. I have switches at top and bottom, but a light at the top only, not in the small hall at he bottom. When I had the house rewired (different reasons) my sparkie made no adverse comment. In retrospect I wish I'd had him add a light though!

The kitchen sounds like a DIY kitchen unit replacement, not DIY electrcis. The switch was always there and the new cabinet was added in front of it....

Have a look at the fusebox/consumer unit: does it resemble one of these? Not sure?Post a photo for us.It wil be indicative of the state of the electrics.

You can also roughly estimate the age of switches and sockets, which in turn can give an idea (no guarantee...) of the age of the wiring.

FataVerde

caprikid1 said:

When I bought my house, c £300 years old 

I had an EICR - Wiring not great but it came out ok
Drains Survey - Found a collapsed drain - £1500 to replace
Unable to get someone in to survey the boiler but Oil so a little less of a worry

I knew I was buying an old tired house but still worth understanding how bad it was. In the end I had less negotiating points than expected.

Yeah, I would only worry about electrical stuff if the house needs a full rewiring as then I'd be looking at 000s and chasing the walls.

FataVerde

Sanctioned_Parts_List said:

An EICR will at least tell you if you've got any immediately dangerous problems, such as failed insulation, or broken neutral or earth continuity, so is worth it for the £200 you'll spend.

Pretty much all the pre-war houses I've ever looked around have been DIY rewired by Bob the Bodger in the '70s though. Good luck!

Openrent offers EICRs for £160 for 1BR

PadreM

FataVerde said:

Following the homebuyer report survey, I had a chat with the surveyor who recommended having an electrical inspection because he found the wiring strange (i.e. there is a light at the top of the stairs but there is no switch at the bottom of the stairs, only up in the hallway; the switch in the kitchen is well hidden behind a cabinet, etc) and is concerned it might be a DIY project. The house is from around 1920s, the current vendors have spent 6 years here and have not done any visible changes/improvements, Would you think this good enough reason to do an electrical inspection? The boiler is older too: the current vendors haven't changed it so it likely at least 10 years. I know surveyors cover their backs and old houses will have old wiring and likely boilers, but is this something I should worry about? I sadly know nothing about wiring and boilers, but I could try to arrange another viewing and go there with an experienced builder who also knows electrics.

If it's either old (I'd define old as max 40 yrs; most might suggest 25-30) or possibly bodged, of course you should check it as a safety issue.  If old the likely suggestion is rewire, so you'll need the funds if the suggestion is in fact a firmer safety warning.  I believe the cost of an av two-storey complete rewire is c £5k (but stand to be corrected).  You'll almost certainly want additional sockets and other nice-to-haves such as shaver points while you're at it.