How common is it to get the electrics checked before exchange?

[BimbaBirba]

Just that really.
We're buying a 1920's beautiful house and it was recommended in the survey that we carry out a full test of the electrical system. I don't want to annoy or inconvenience the vendor though!

Vendor should be happy you're buying the house. If the survey says you should get it checked then I wouldn't let worrying about the vendors thoughts put you off.

We did because it came up in our survey that it may need rewiring. I wouldn't worry about inconveniencing the vendor personally, you could potentially be looking at thousands of pounds worth of work.

It depends what the test will reveal. If it is just testing plug sockets and lights are working you could do that yourself by taking a hairdryer to plug in and switching the lights on. Checking the various consumer units are compliant you could get a qualified electrician to look round for an hour but he/she might be tell you anything in the hope of getting a job out of it.

I am having a house partially rewired, plugs moved, light points installed (its 200 yrs old) and frankly taking up the floorboards toaday was the only real way of knowing the state of the electrics - which turned out to be OK.

not very. Surveyors always say you should get everything checked by a specialist when they have no idea.

A competent electrician will mentally assess the overall condition within 30 seconds of walking through the front door, and know if it needs rewiring, but a proper test may take an hour or two.

Anyone who offers a free survey (for electrics, roof, damp, etc) is planning to make their money off you later by overpriced or unnecessary remedial work.

Slightly off subject, but we've been asked to have our boiler serviced before exchange. Normal?

Me too! The survey said to get the boiler serviced and all the plumbing checked as well as the electrics. My solicitor is of the opinion that there can't be much wrong with the plumbing if there's nothing visible on inspection so he advised that out of the two it is more important to get the electrics checked.
The electrician initially quoted me £280 for a full check that would involve the vendor being without power for several hours! As she works from home (and because of the cost!) I said that I'd like just a visual, general check that doesn't leave the vendor without electricity. I'm just worried she might think we're a pain in the butt though! The thing is, although there is no evidence of the need for rewiring she does run a business from home from an outbuilding so it's not the most straight forward situation either!

surveyor backside covering.

You need to become your own expert in this - look at age of sockets and light switches, whether there are circuit breakers or fuses, etc. Then you can decide if you'd like a fuller check.

Vendor inconvenience - her problem if she wants to sell.

You could go and do a visual check yourself which would inconvenience the owner for only 20 minutes and cost you nothing. I always have a quick look at fuse boxes and boilers when I'm buying/renting. You can get an idea of how old they are.

Ask the owner to show you how the boiler works so you can see that it appears to be working, and ask when it was serviced and can she show you proof (receipt). Ask if they had it replaced and when and if they didn't, how long have they lived there, so you get an idea of its age. Ask how it displays a fault - does it have a flashing light, and does it have an actual flame that has to be lit by a match?

Look at the fuse box/consumer box in the meter cupboard (or sometimes it's on the hall wall or nearby) and check if it's the modern type with RCDs that trip the electricity off if there's a fault (including one big red switch that switches it all off) or an old one where you change fuses. You could ask the owner that too whilst you're looking. Look at the light switches. You can tell how old they are roughly. If they're round brown ones the house is about to burn downthey're ancient.

You also should have (or your solicitor may have) forms filled in by the owner which include info about when the boiler was serviced and what work the owner has had done in recent years. We sold our house last year and had to provide a photocopy of the certificate for the house rewiring from 10 years before. Maybe check what is on the forms before you go to the house.

But I think a lot of this is the surveyor covering his/her back so you can't say they failed to tell you something. Our buyer had a survey and was told to get a drain cleared and CCTV down the whole drain to check it. My estate agent made it sound like the entire house was falling down a possibly collapsing drain. A drain company removed the small piece of brick that was covering the edge of the drain. Problem solved. It was a bit like Doctor Who where there's a monumental problem and the universe is about to end but then the Doctor presses a button and it's all OK.

Thank you for all the very useful tips. I'm starting to think that the survey in itself was a total waste of money! It just concludes nothing and raises a lot of questions which would be expensive to get answered!

Surveyors reports are just arse covering waste of money. A good structural engineer is lot more use as they will diagnose cracks, subsidence and dangerous structural stuff but frankly you would spot that yourself.

I honestly think that having just gone through the process of buying an old house that getting a trusted well qualified builder and electrician to have a good look round before you buy is just as good as a survey.

I had one done and pulled out of a sale because of the findings. The place had a dreadful fire about 2 years later, luckily nobody was hurt.

Get the boiler serviced. Only costs £50ish and will let you know if there is a big bill waiting. We didn't when we bought our house and had to replace the boiler within a year. It looked fine and should have lasted 10 more years at least but had been installed incorrectly and was rusting inside.