Legal requirement or not?

[Dave Smith]

We are selling our house and the buyer's survey pointed out that although the house was completely rewired in 2009, the installation is now 13 years old and needs a current test and inspection.

The electrician carried this out yesterday and it 'passed' as we expected it to, but one thing was noted. Under current regulations, consumer units must be made from metal but ours is plastic. It conformed to the regs in force when the rewire was done in 2009 but it doesn't comply with current regs.

I don't know if the guy is just angling for other work but he said that it should really be done and it'll cost about £450, which is something we could really do without spending, given all the other expenses of moving.

So, is there a legal requirement to have it done to bring the installation up to current regs?

[RJH]

I don't think it's a legal requirement to retrofit - otherwise millions of homes (including mine) in the UK are 'illegal'. Most likely using the report as leverage to get work done that's desirable rather than necessary.

[JNugent]

I would interpret "should really need to be done" as "doesn't need to be done".

[Theo]

+1 It's a nice todo list for the new people, should they wish to take that up. What you have was to regs at the time of installation, and is not actively dangerous (those would be marked as C1) or potentially dangerous (C2). C3s ('improvement recommended') basically means 'nice to have'.

There is no need (legally or otherwise) to keep your installation up to current regs, because otherwise everyone would be calling an electrician around every couple of years as the regs get changed. As long as it was compliant at installation and is not dangerous, everything is fine.

Electricians (and buyers) try to make this a bigger thing than it is, in order to drum up trade (and money off the sale price). But there's no reason to do so.

Theo

[alan_m]

Or leverage for a price reduction. There is no requirement to have an existing consumer unit replaced just because it's in a plastic case.

Is it still a sellers market? My new neighbours moved in a few weeks ago after buying within a few days of the property being on the market. Judging by the estate agent(s) leaflets shoved through my door there is still a shortage of properties coming to market in my area.

Don't bother getting the work done yourself. The new buyers will probably rip out your existing kitchen and make other modifications to suit their taste so just let them have the work done.

If I was buying I wouldn't let the seller fix anything using some cowboy builder/plumber/electrician :)

[Algernon Goss-Custard]

Theo <theom+ [e-mail]> posted

JOOI, what's the reason for it?

[Fredxx]

There is nothing 'illegal' with wiring to an old standard.

I guess this guy was angling for work.

[Theo]

'It' being the EICR survey? It's a legal requirement for rented properties, and a good idea when buying so there aren't any surprises.

Or 'it' being the metal consumer unit? It's to contain fires that start in the consumer unit, often caused by faulty termination of high current circuits or (less commonly) failed switchgear.

Theo

[The Natural Philosopher]

No.

No building regulation is retrospective

[ARW]

All electricians:-)?

The last thing I need to be doing is swapping CU's just because of a C3 on an EICR [1]

Although I have done many on the HS2 link on the M1 M18 corridor on the compulsory purchased houses - some of which have never been lived in.

[1] Probably not the last thing as I have a bit of extra cash coming in shortly by doing overtime at a shows events evenings as they need an electrician on site during the performance. Might be nice get to see Jimmy Carr etc do his stuff and get paid to be there.

What do I get? The Dreamboys. FFS

[charles]

to minimise fire risk

[John Rumm]

I think in the circumstance (seller's market) I would have invited them to arrange for their own inspection at their own cost if they wanted one!

There is generally[1] no legal requirement to bring anything that met with the standards of the time when it was installed to current standards.

If something were immediately dangerous (broken accessory exposing live parts for example, or cable / switch showing signs of serious overheating with scorch or burn marks etc). Then I would fix it, but swapping a plastic CU for a metal one would be well down the list of "would be nice if" requirements.

[1] There are some edge cases when other work is being done - say for example extending a circuit and it is fond that the main equipotential bonding is missing. Or installing extra sockets on a circuit that currently has no RCD protection. It can be difficult to make new work compliant with the limitations introduced by the stuff that is already there (on not there!)

[mm0fmf]

Arf! Sorry but that's funny.

My wife watched a Barbara Streisand film/documentary/concert or something on my Netflix profile not hers... she must have forgotten to swap over. Anyway as a result all the music suggestions on my profile changed from ZZ Top, Metallica, CCR, Bob Weir/Grateful Dead etc. to bloody musicals and shows featuring lots of "kings, queens and in-betweens". Only way to purge the crap was to create a new profile and start again.

Anyway, you'll love The Dreamboys. Snigger.

[Dave Smith]

Dave Smith explained on 30/10/2022 :

Thanks everybody, that's what we thought but it's nice to have so many people confirming it.

[NY]

When we sold our house in 2018, we were not asked (eg buyer's surveyor via via our solicitor) when it was last rewired - and it was done before

2007 because that's when we bought it. Likewise, I'm not aware of the question being asked about our present house: if I can find the survey report I'll see if wiring was even mentioned.

[SteveW]

I thought that no part of the wiring regulations is retrospective, except where new work requires associated older work to be brought up to standard - such as adding a new circuit where it requires RCD protection, which may involve a separate CU for that circuit or fitting a RCD(s) or an RCBO to the existing CU. If space dictates that a separate CU cannot be fitted and the existing CU cannot accomodate RCD(s) or an RCBO, then you would have to upgrade.

Earth bonding may also be an issue.

Whether an existing consumer unit is metal or plastic is immaterial.

[Algernon Goss-Custard]

NY [e-mail] posted

The current edition of the Property Information Form completed by sellers includes the passage "You should answer the questions based upon information known to you (or, in the case of legal representatives, you or the owner). You are not expected to have expert knowledge of legal or technical matters, *or matters that occurred prior to your ownership of the property*."

[Brian Gaff]

Yes, that is what I thought too, the grey area of course is when you or for an electrician add something to the installation, after the new specs came in. It then seems to be a very grey area. Also what is the point, since most switches and timers on the circuit are made of plastic. Back in the old days before our rewire in the 70s, there was a very robust lever switch made of metal before the consumer unit, when it was rewired its now just a beefy switch in the plastic consumer unit. Brian

[Bob Eager]

A lot of them branded 'Bill', from what I remember. Impressive looking things.

[JNugent]

The company's advertising motto used to be "Bill - you can't buy better gear".