buying a house: newbie Q. electrics check needed?

[sleepybump]

Hello!

I'm a new house buyer and our homebuyers report came back strongly recommending we have the electrics checked as they appear to be 25+ years old. I've read to make sure we are getting a full electrical system test, not just a visual check (I guess that's what we got in the survey), but that's all I know. Should I be making sure they test all sockets/switches as well as checking the cables etc. Or do I just need them to check a random selection? I also wonder how much it might cost (we are in Cumbria). I think I'm happy to be the one paying for it rather than the seller because I want to be in possession of the paperwork! Which also makes me wonder if you do get a written report from the electrician?

It's a smallish 3 bed semi, nothing special :)

Thank you, any help would be appreciated!

you can assess quite a lot yourself if you have working eyes. Just learnt quite a lot about this from various visiting artisans. :-)

first, look (don't touch!) in the meter cupboard - any visible dates? Does the stuff look out of the ark? (BTW if any insulation is crumbling then you DEFINITELY need a rewire if the cables are rubber coated).

is there a fuse box or circuit breakers? Are upstairs and downstairs on separate circuits for both lighting and power? i.e. upstairs lights separate from downstairs lights? If not,it hasn't been rewired in a while and will need some work at some stage, but this is not dangerous in itself.

how big is the main bullet fuse? Most older ones are 60A. This will need changing at some point to 100A, as will the associated wiring, to cope with modern house loads.

inside: look at the sockets. Are they all switched? Do they look reasonably modern and uncracked? What light bulbs are being used? (having just had to replace some roasted wiring because someone put 100W bulbs in an enclosed light fitting..)

you can check the sockets by plugging something in, a portable light or similar.

the good news is that your power company will do some of the meter cupboard work for 'free' (i.e. that's what your standing charge pays for) - but not all of it. Don't try calling them at the moment! You'll need to pay for internal rewiring and installation of a breaker box.

this is a handy page:

www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/internet/en/help-and-advice/documents/A%20typical%20domestic%20power%20supply.pdf

Armed with all this, you can then speak to an electrician with more knowledge of what he might find.

Thank you for that Special, lots of useful information there!

Unfortunetly I have two very small children and no opportunity to head over there for a couple of hours to do this, infact I think I'd rather pay someone else to do it then at least if it comes back that it needs a re-wire then I may be able to haggle it off the price of the house or get the seller to get it done professionally (a professionals opinion is always going to carry more weight!). I also wonder if this visual check isnt what I just paid for with the surveyor for the homebuyers report, he'd have looked for clues like this to come to his conclusion? (The report states that 'the fusebox indicates the electrical wireing is 25 plus years old...'). I'm also not sure my electrical company would do anything since we don't own the house yet, so they don't supply it :)

Thank you again though, I will take a look at that link and start getting myself clued-up on what might be involved x

An electricial can go in and check the electrics in the house. They can issue a certificate on its current condition and recommendations. This is the type of inspection certificate required by landlords for rental properties. We had this done when the previous owner failed to produce the electrical safety certificate used to sign off the extension for planning regulations. The certificate showed up some issues such as a double cooker running off a too small a fuse in the fuse box etc. We got an electrician in as soon as we had the keys to remedy the issues. If the box is older than 25 yrs and wiring too then you may wish to consider the cost for upgrading these in the future.

We just had an electrical test done and it cost £140 and he was here for six hours. TBH unless the electrics are relatively new it will flag everything up as dangerous.

It was also quite invasive lifting of floorboards etc.

should clarify that in England, or if a house is not an HMO, there's no legal requirement for an electrical inspection certificate on a rented house although it is good practice to check things. (How do you think I know all this detail...?)

I agree that you will just get a massive list of faults unless the house was rewired very recently. A fuse box does indeed indicate older wiring, and the 'visual check' is nothing you can't do yourself. Surveyors don't undo things, lift things up etc - so you probably do want the proper check mentioned above. Sounds well worth £140.

and yes, you can't get the electric company in until you own the house.

Fantastic, thank you all. I will look for an NICEIC member and get one done. Even if only for an official 'flagging' of needing a system update because we can haggle this off the price or ask the seller to have this done before we complete the sale. It's a shame it would be so intrusive but I would hate to have moved in then found the electrics were dangerous, or at least so old they were probably not going to take the kind of pressure modern appliances require, and then have to fork out for that. On the other hand £100ish to find out everything's safe, is, I also think worth the money :)

Thanks again!

We were fairly sure our new house needed the electrics looking at - just from looking at the fusebox, switches etc. We asked an electrician we had recommended to us to come out and look over the house before we bought (on a viewing with the EA) and tell us what would need doing to get everything to a modern standard and an estimate of cost. Didn't charge us anything. He probably spent about 45mins taking sockets off etc. We didn't bother with paying for a official inspection as it was something we knew we needed to get done and had already factored it in to our offer.

Good luck! Depending on the age of the house it might not be too bad - ours wasn't but there was only 1 socket per bedroom so lots of lovely new sockets going in now!