Buyer wants me to pay for EICR....help!

[HelpHelpHome]

I'm selling my dear late mums house. It's 100 years old. The buyer is asking that I arrange for the electrics to be tested. My solicitor tells me I'm not obligated to do this. Also reading online it's usually the buyer that does this. I don't have hundreds of pounds to spare. Is the buyers solicitor trying their luck? I can't lose this buyer though....

If it’s a Probate sell, then we didn’t have to get any checks done. Chances are if you got electrics tested on a 100 year old house that something will need attending to, so I wouldn’t do it myself.

You don’t have to provide an electrical safety certificate to sell but a surveyor would probably recommend one.
The 70s house we are buying needed a new Consumer board to pass (check suggested following survey) our vendors have been very proactive and we are paying half each. They had the work done.
If it is in need of a rewire you might expect that in a property of that age and would usually be reflected in the listing price or offers made.

Many people don’t realise this but you should have domestic electrics checked and tested every 10 years. It can also be a condition of home insurance so worth checking the small print.

Rental properties its a legal requirement every 5 years.

Yes it's probate. It's got a recent new fuse box fitted by EDF, but hasn't been rewired since 70s 😲. We accepted offers 25k below asking price and apparently they are a family of developers so surely they know it needs a re-wire. Perhaps their solicitor is just covering their arse.

I'm so stressed about it....

Can you direct me to where this is confirmed? I've never heard this )and dont believe it to be true for house owners)

@HelpHelpHome Any surveys are the choice and responsibility of the buyer - stand firm and don't do one yourself. Like you said a house that old is BOUND to need work - the buyer must know this. They may use the survey to try ti knock the price down further - don't let them be cheeky.

Can you remarket? Have you had more than them interested? I might say no take it or leave it see how they reply

I think they're chancing their arm, to get some more money off.

They have no arranged a survey yet.

@its2025 Insurance companies could certainly request EICR in the event of a fire for example and could use the lack of one to avoid paying out.

Not the issue here.

No, I understand that - was directing my comment to a pp - hence the @.

For you, just say no.

Oh it’s sooo stressful when buyers start asking for this, that and the other isn’t it? Especially when you’ve been very reasonable about the selling price.

Where are you time-wise in terms of the sale? Start, middle or near the end? We sold and bought last year and our buyers started asking for different certificates right near the end, some of which were ridiculous. I was at the stage of ‘give them whatever they want as I can’t face putting it back on the market’ but DH is much better at dealing with pushy people than me and pushed back a bit. In the end we asked our solicitors for a final list of the things they wanted (otherwise you give them one thing and they want something else next), said ok to a couple of things, no to others and said we’d split the cost on one of the bigger requests. It wasn’t the electrical cert in our case as we already had one but there’s always something! The other thing we said was, ‘here’s what we’re willing to do and here’s what we’re not, we will split the cost on x on the understanding that we will not be entertaining any more requests from you’ (all the important stuff had long been sent off so it was just nit picking). The other thing you might offer is to go 50/50 on the elec cert but make it clear from the outset that you won’t be altering the sale price whatever it says as you’ve already given a generous deduction.

Good luck….it really is one of the worst kinds of stress but as soon as you’ve completed all the stress just stops so hang on to that.

Ok. Thanks. I'm worried the buyer will pull out. Happy for them to pay for an EIRC....

Just say No and hold your nerve.

If the buyer is a developer, they'll have been around the block a few times and know it's worth asking everyone if they will pay for the EICR, as even if only 1 in 10 agree, they're up on the deal.

They might, but they could also pull out for any other number of reasons. House buying and selling in this country is awful and always stressful.

Say no, if they threaten to pull out, they you can revisit. But I would be surprised if they pulled out based on you not paying for this.

There is a risk that they will keep asking for more and more right up to exchange - as hard as it is, try not to be scared of them pulling out.

Thank you so much. It's been an awful process.

Hold your ground. They’re chancers. It’s obvious to anyone that the house should be rewired and that’s reflected in the asking price.