Renegotiating.... help!

[Fritilleries]

Offer accepted 3 weeks ago. After a survey highlighted age of electrical systems we did an electrical survey today. The house would 'fail a landlord safety check' as it has no RCD. This can be remedied at a cost of approx 400-500 along with fuse board. Given the age of the property would you consider this something we should 'accept as part of buying an old house' or should we ask for an appropriate reduction to make it safe for a 4 year old that likes exploring?

I'd accept and not renegotiate. The age of the fuseboard was probably obvious at viewing?

Yes, however i have a child and want to be sure they're safe before moving in.

TBH, most houses would fail current electrical standards as they change regularly.

If it highlighted things like poor condition wiring etc I would renegotiate.

First Time Buyer? As a pp said, electrical regs change all the time - that doesn't sound like grounds to renegotiate to me.

Fair enough but I'm not sure that's necessarily the concern of the sellers. If the survey said the electrics were unsafe and has the potential to kill you I guess it's different

I would accept it as part of buying an old house. Get it sorted once you move in.

Personally if that was the biggest issue highlighted, I would accept it and have the electrics done first when moved in.

Thanks all. 😊

But you’d only be renegotiating £400-£500 off the offer price, which is a ridiculously small proportion of the price of a house? Definitely not something you could negotiate over.

Provided the wiring itself was safe, I might not try to renegotiate either if I was very committed to the house, though I would get that board changed PDQ.

In answer to another poster- we didn't see the fuse box (and yes, it did turn out to be a fuse box) when we viewed this house. The agent showing us round didn't know where it even was. We had also been led to believe the 'electrics' were recent- they weren't, they had last been done earlier than our previous house when we bought that thirty years before- which our lenders had made us rewire. With that and it still having a (pretty inaccessible) fuse box, we did drop our offer- though not nearly by as much as we had to spend rewiring, & installing a massive breaker so we could have the new consumer unit location in a safer place.

I sold last year, if my buyer tried to renegotiate for £400 I’d assume they were going to be nightmares the whole way to exchange and remarket.

Are you planning to rent the house out?

I would leave it for such a small amount I wouldn't re negotiate

This is part of buying an old house and sounds like pretty minor work in the grand scheme of things. It’s not like it’s a full rewire is needed to make the place habitable (which I would negotiate on for sure). I had the RCD and fuse panel upgraded in my Victorian flat when I bought it as a FTB, a few days before moving in. The work was done in a few hours, and that included the installation of a few extra plug sockets and swapping out a ceiling light fixture.

As others have pointed out, if the old fuse board was visible at viewing as you’ve mentioned, as a seller my response to a request for reduction would be that it should have been factored in at the offer stage.

I bought a victorian house last year. The age of the "fuse box" was mentioned in the survey, I didn't renegotiate. I had an Electrician in who upgraded to a new consumer unit. 2 hours work and about £500. No big deal.

You want to renegotiate for £500?

god no

if I were you I would get the next board put in before I moved in though