WRBlue-STi7-Prodrive

I am in the process of buying my first house. I had the survey done and it showed up electrical problems, i have an elecrical person look at this and the house needs a rewire (cost about £1500-£2000).

What would u lot do as i havent actual bought the house yet!!

Nick

TopBanana

Sounds like a pain in the **** to me

imlach

About right price wise for a rewire.

Wouldn't let it put you off, so long as you get a discount on the house...

WRBlue-STi7-Prodrive

Thats what i mean - should i ask the vendor to pay for it?

fast bloke

Ask them for 2k off the purchase price (Show them the report in case they think you are trying to pull the wool)

Del mar

It is not the end of the World providing the Mortgage Company don't impose conditions on their loan.

A rewire is only 2 wires !
One for the lights and One for the sockets. Price up the wire/sockets and it will come in less than £300, £400 if you want a flash fuse box.

Del

Ringpeas

You will need to fully redecorate afterwards remember.

WRBlue-STi7-Prodrive

Decorating was going to be done anyhow as it is ******* awful!!

imlach

Err...not if you have multiple ring circuits, plus one for the cooker etc!
Not that simple!

ProperCharlie

had my place re-wired after i bought it. i negotiated £5k off the sale price - the re-wire ended up costing £3k. I'm glad i did it as i know the wiring is 100% safe now, and we have a decent number of sensibly located sockets in each room. however, the place was virtually uninhabitable whilst the owrk was going on, and there was plaster dust *everywhere*

vindaloo

I doubt that the survey specifically mentioned knackered electrics unless something actually shocked the surveyor. Most normally comment on the age of the fittings and recommend you obtain qualified advice. Which you have done. Did the electrician state that the electrical installation is dangerous in any way?

Having read what others have suggested.....
£2K for a rewire + £?K for a re-decorate afterwards. Doesn't matter that the decor is naff. Unless it's old and naff and the house is priced accordingly. Get your oar in and state it'll need doing after the re-wire. It's a lever, so use it.

J.

WRBlue-STi7-Prodrive

The owners of the house have offered to pay £1000 towards the re-wire (works out at about half). I said i wanted more and they said they would put the house back on the market.

I cant see them really doing this as we are really close to purchasing this house.

The owners of the house have already bought another house and are not living in the house i want.

What would u lot recommend? Do you think i will get a call saying that they will give more money towards the re-wire?

imlach

Depends how much you want the house, and how much it is worth as per the survey, and is it worth losing it for the sake of £1k.

See this all the time on these silly tv programmes like Location Location Location.....they haggle over £1k, and then lose out on the house when somebody else offers the right price....

Personally, if you're spending £200k+, haggling is all well & good up to a point. However, if your heart is in the house, and given they've met you halfway, it's up to you if you want to risk the house for this amount.

Daz34

Most surveys recommend a rewire whether it is really needed or not. I would take the 1k. A good sparky will not make that much mess & reuse the existing cable routes (new cable though).
Get an electrician in to have a look at it. It might just need a new fuse panel with trip switches etc.

Brendan Hughes

Amen to that. Tried to haggle over mine for a grand at 164k almost as a point of principle, he stood firm, I gave in and bought it. Never regretted it. If you're trying for a 40k flat and you have eight others to choose from, that's a different story.

MJW

The rewire price sounds about right, and although I'd push the vendors to knock the the full price off the price of the house, if you really want the place its not worth losing it for the sake of £1k.

Get the work done before you move in - I had my house rewired just before xmas, and it finished up looking like Baghdad ! Make sure you get a decent mud-pusher to do the patching up too, and not a 'mate' of the sparky.

Huw Jorgan

What figure has the surveyor valued the property at in his report? If he has down valued the property by 2k then you may be in with a chance. If he has valued at the property at the purchase price then take the grand the vendor has offered. As others have said is it worth loosing the house for the sake of a grand, bearing in mind you have probably spent the close to that already with solicitors, surveys & electrical report. Remember, unless solicitor is on a no sale no fee basis they will charge for the work they have done on an aborted sale.

As for the vendor not pulling out as you are so close to completion, don't beleive it. I had two vendors withdraw on the day of exchange last week as they could get more for their properties now than they could 8 weeks ago when we agreed the sales.

Del mar

Ok then 3 wires and a length of cooker flex

I was just suggesting that it is not that hard a DIY job, a little bit of thought and some planning. You are essentially paying for the hassle for running cables in walls under floor boards etc. The skilled electrician did not train for several years to climb about under floors and cut holes in walls. If you can do the "donkey" work, that is 80% of the job, the only "risky" bit is connecting everything to the incoming supply - the risk being death mind

I did our house and I could not even find the sparks plugs in the car !!!!!!

If you get £1000 off take it, and give serious consideration to doing it yourself.

Del

imlach

I wholly agree that the majority of the work is pretty simple if you're prepared to get your hands (and body when under floor!) dirty!
The majority of the cost is labour - the materials cost pennies....(well, a few hundred tops).

Del mar

Forgot to mention



SPIDERS

Chrisgr31

I'd accept the vendors offer. What fees for the survey, the searches, solicitors have you already paid? If either party pulls out you'll lose the lot. Not worth it for £1,000.

So get on and exchange, you could seek possession for your electrican after exchange so by the time the sale completes the wiring is done.