electrical certificate

[allan]

Friend is selling a house and had a bit of a holdup with the transaction because he needed to provide an Electrical Certificate.He was pretty vague on what was involved but he did contact an electrician who had done work in the house a few years ago and he provided the necessary.Im hoping someone can tell me what sort of tests and inspections an electrician would have to do before he/she can say all wiring and fittings are up to standard. By the way ,the house is in Scotland and the law may only apply here.

[AJH]

I have just got a cert for 1st & 2nd fix for the electrics. In fact the 'testing' is dated Dec 2007 whereas the 2nd fix was Feb 2008. I queried this with the sparks and he said the testing is done at 1st fix stage as it's just for the circuits, and the connecting up of lights and sockets at 2nd fix stage doesn't doesn't require a seperate test. Any test you have done now will simply be for correct earthing and continuity of the circuits I think and if this is the case any qualified electrician should be able to do it.

[cj]

Hi Not sure about Scotland but it sounds like the buyers requested a 'Periodic' inspection report. In England this is quite normal in fact it may be even mandatory when selling a property. The test verifies that the property meets certain safety requirements which include Earthling, ring continuity,insulation resistance,correct polarity and suitable protection for age. This last one is very important as regulations change regularly and a property wired say 10yrs ago, whilst not complying with modern regulations,will still pass the test if all is ok. As this could be considered a legal document (allows sale of property) it should be carried out by a registered electrical contractor who can be held responsible if thing go wrong.

HTH

CJ

[Andrew Gabriel]

It's neither normal nor mandatory in England when selling a property.

[ARWadworth]

I often wonder why it is NOT "normal" for the buyer of a house to have a periodic inspection done before buying before buying a second hand house. People spend hundreds of thousands of pounds buying a house with no electrical test (or plumbing tests etc) but will happily part with £100 for an independant test on a £X000 second hand car.

Adam

[Andrew Gabriel]

Because it's not worth it. The cost of a PIR is far too high for the risk it is mitigating.

I can look at an installation for a couple of minutes including a few random tests, and with a high certainly state if its a disaster which needs to be rewrired or if it's basically sound. If electricians offered that type of service for £40 (basically a minimum non-emergency call-out charge for a few minutes work), they might have a product which had some demand. That's all anyone is going to be interested in before buying, although even a minimum call-out charge is probably still on the high side for the risk it is mitigating.

That's not a correct analysis. A rewire costs, say £4000. So you are buying a £4000 wiring installation without testing. If it turns out to be unexpectedly completely duff, you have to fork out another £4000, not another hundreds of thousands of pounds.

I probably wouldn't do that either.

[cj]

I stand corrected I tend to forget that my neck of the woods does not represent England however I stand by my original post in that in the NW of England IME buyers are always advised by their building society, estate agent etc to obtain an electrical test certificate and a CORGI report before signing. As for the other arguments we could go on forever but I agree with Adam it's not the cost of the rewire it's the potential for damage. Most buyers move in assuming everything is ok then,should something happen,have to move out (in the worst case) whilst the work is done pushing up costs plus the repair work after the fact (plastering ,painting etc)

Or is this not the case outside my area? Just my 2d CJ

[AJH]

Your =A340 test idea sounds good as a starter. Is there in fact any point in testing further? I have been told that testing only shows up continuity of circuits and earthing and can't identify things like loose connections which might overheat under load, or poor joints in cables in hidden voids etc. Surely the only thorough way of inspecting/ testing is to reveal as much of the installation as poss inc taking off all the socket face plates and inspecting lighting connections. My neighbour had a problem recently when part of her ring main failed. All the fuses were ok. After some headscratching I took off the faceplates of the non working sockets and found that the wires were loose in the back ie screws not screwed down hard onto the bare ends. It may only have been one socket that was actually causing the circuit break but I suspect that they must have been like this since the house was built. Would a meter type test reveal such probs? I have advised her to now call in a sparks to check all the wiring connections.

[ARWadworth]

It is 0.1% of the cost of a £150,000 house.

Good. So you can DIY it and save the cost of an electrician.

Most electrical firms would offer that type of service. It is something I have done several times. As you know, it would only take 15 minutes at most to decide if it is a rewire job. There would be no certificate or guarantees but the prospective owner would find out some facts about the electrics.

I do consider it a correct analysis. A test on either a car or on house electrics should, if there are any, highlight any faults. The test on a car might show a £400 gearbox is needed but you would not have to spend £X000 on buying a new car to replace the gearbox.

That is because you are confident enough to decide between a good and bad car.

Adam

[nobby]

£40 and 15 minutes, you might as well stay sat in the van with that or do a drive by PIR. whats a insurance company going to do if theres a fire or someone injured by something you skipped?

[ARWadworth]

Read the full text and try not to top post.

Adam

[**j]

read 7671!

[allan]

Thanks all for the info Sorry that I am a bit late with it

allan