EICR

RainyB74

We've reserved a new house with Barratt Homes and are part exchanging our current house with them. We've agreed a price, chosen our extras, filled out all the solicitors forms and are waiting to exchange. On Thursday we had an email requesting an electrical report and gas boiler service report for our current home, which we had completed on Friday. No problems with the gas report, but the electrical report has come up as 'unsatisfactory' with lots of C2 and C3 issues. My concern now is that Barratt Homes will want us to get these issues fixed. We weren't expecting this and haven't budgeted for it. Would it be our responsibility to get it done? If so, can anyone hazard a guess as to how much it's likely to cost? Many thanks in advance.

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anselld

It was not your responsibility to have these reports done in the first place as they are not a requirement for residential sale.

It boils down to needing a new consumer unit in order to meet the current regs.  However it is not mandatory to upgrade to the current regs unless its a rental.  So if they want it done it is a negotiation as to who pays and I guess Barratts hold most of the cards.  You will probably be looking in the region of £500.

RainyB74

Thank you for the info. It does state in the Barratts part exchange terms and conditions - 

1. A Corgi or Gas safe service certificate will be required on all gas equipment and an electrical testing certificate will be required on all electric equipment within your Existing Property prior to exchange of contracts to certify they are safe and in a full working condition. You will also be required to provide an Energy Performance Certificate.

So presume we'll have to pay to get a 'satisfactory' report? £500 is not as much as I was expecting though, so that won't be quite so bad. Could do without the hassle and disruption too though.

ProDave

I contest that most of those C2's are not C2's, i.e. plastic consumer unit should be C3.  Some are trivial to fix like item 5.  7 and 10 should be C3.

So, what are they saying they want to do about this?  If they ask for money off the part exchange value my first response would be okay I won't buy your new house then.

Albermarle

will be required on all electric equipment within your Existing Property prior to exchange of contracts to certify they are safe and in a full working condition. 

I do not think the report says the electricals are unsafe? only that they could be improved in light of the most recent regulations.

Similar issues come up time and time again on this forum. Any house more than a few years old, will have some part of the electrics that in theory needs updating, but in practice they are not unsafe.

RainyB74

The report says a C2 rating is 'potentially dangerous', which is a bit ambiguous.

C2 9 item(s)

Potentially dangerous - urgent remedial action required

RainyB74

Here  is the explanation of the codes ...

RainyB74

ProDave said:

I contest that most of those C2's are not C2's, i.e. plastic consumer unit should be C3.  Some are trivial to fix like item 5.  7 and 10 should be C3.

So, what are they saying they want to do about this?  If they ask for money off the part exchange value my first response would be okay I won't buy your new house then.

Thanks,that's really good to know. We've sent the report to the conveyancer and waiting to hear back. It's a bit late to pull out as we've paid some solicitor fees, reservation fee, deposit for the extras etc. But could threaten to.  

Albermarle

I am sure Barratt will have seen many similar electrical reports before, so it will not be any shock ( forgive the pun )to them. They may well try to negotiate the price down based on it, but unlikely to be a blocker to the deal.

chanz4

they will be marketing with estate agents

HouseMartin567

@RainyB74 Please can you update this thread once you have heard from Barratt? I’m currently considering part exchange with a different house builder which has the same terms so I’m interested in the outcome. Thanks!