Replacing a fuseboard - Page 2 - Electricians Forum | Electrical Forum | An electrical forum for electricians in the UK

28-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by dondow

Your help please

A friend is selling his house and has had a survey done by the buyer on the wiring, in the report its states that his old fuse wire board has to be replaced with a new board. I can understand if they were doing new work to the wiring/circuits in the house but this to me seems to be someone trying it on to get more money off the sale of the house.

Is there something new in the Regs that states boards have to be changed when people sell houses? Why change a board that has worked fine for the sake of it? No electrical test was done on the board it was a visual inspection

Regards

Dondow, by 'worked fine' i presume you mean that the cicrcuit protective devices HAVE disconnected the fauly circuits within the required time??

Trouble is, just because its sat there happily for years is no measure that any of its circuit protective devices would work in the event of a overcurrent or short circuit

Theres nothing to state boards HAVE to be changed, and to be changed, but to be honest, the visual is largely meaningless.

The only way ahead, (if the householder wishes to) is to pay for a full Periodic Inspection Report but considering you could pay 150 quid plus for this, it would need to wayed up against the cost of changing the CU anyway!!!

dondow · 28-02-2008

Evening Shankey,

your right in your prosumption. just to let you know the guy came back last night and didn't even argue any of the points he'd made in his first visit.

As I'd said I still think it was a mate of the buyer trying a fast one on with my friend in the hope of getting a couple of hundred quid off the price of the house. My friend said he didn't think any of the work needed to be done and wouldn't move on the price.

Thanks once again for everyones comments

PC Electrics · 15-03-2008

Why not try contacting the inspector and asking for the reasons for this comment? Then post them on here and we can give you our learned opinions.

A new CU should only cost about £300 to £350 (plus remedial work if faults found or no bonding), so I would suggest a buyer is hardly likely to pull out for this sum.

Another tactic could be to throw in a few fittings for 'free' instead of doing the CU?

In any event there is no legal compulsion to have an old fuseboard changed and the only leverage a buyer has is that they may pull out or refuse to pay the asking price. So you could try calling their bluff.