Electrical surveys - please help

[Kassett]

We are organising a survey for a 60s house that we are buying. I've been told that the survey will, almost automatically, recommend that we get electrical and gas surveys done. Are they worthwhile/important. We are being pressurised by the vendors to complete asap and all the electricians I've tried are busy or on holiday in August.

Surveyors aren't qualified electricians or gas engineers so they'll probably suggest carrying out a report to cover themselves but if you're having a mortgage the building soc may ask for one if there are any concerns.

The electrical report will tell you the age and condition of the electrics, how safe and anything not to current regs. I'm in the process of buying a house and will have my electrics tested when I move in as I want to know the installation is safe (I work for a spark).

the surveyor will indeed cover his back thoroughly. There are some layman's questions that you can ask, though:

• how old is the boiler?
• when was it last serviced?
• how old is the hot water tank (if there is one). If it has a loose material jacket it is of not of the most modern kind.
• is there a fuse box or a circuit breaker box? Fuses are not a show stopper but again it tells you how recently work has been done.
• do sockets and switches look fairly new?

oh, and have a look in the airing cupboard. We did on a house viewing and found a paint scraper jammed into the heating system controls. Didn't really imply that all was well!