The nervous wait to exchange....

[koolpc]

Mate had an electrician to look at a property he is buying.

The electrician has stated that the wiring needs updating / replacing after checking it out and testing a few sockets.

Estate agents are only allowing 15 mins for viewings etc. Electrician said he would need a lot longer to test all the circuits but in his professional opinion it needs rewiring.

Estate agents are refusing to renegotiate price after they received quote for rewiring. They said they require a certificate but, wont allow the electrician more than 15 mins in the house!?

Where does my mate stand on this as he is concerned about the state of the wiring now. The electrician was highly recommended by family and some friends.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

Mate had an electrician to look at a property he is buying.

The electrician has stated that the wiring needs updating / replacing after checking it out and testing a few sockets.

Estate agents are only allowing 15 mins for viewings etc. Electrician said he would need a lot longer to test all the circuits but in his professional opinion it needs rewiring.

Estate agents are refusing to renegotiate price after they received quote for rewiring. They said they require a certificate but, wont allow the electrician more than 15 mins in the house!?

Where does my mate stand on this as he is concerned about the state of the wiring now. The electrician was highly recommended by family and some friends.

Like people have already said, pretty much every house of a certain vintage needs a rewire. It is up to him whether he wants to invest in a rewire, and up to him whether he wants the price of the rewire discounted from the market price. If he isn't willing to move on getting the rewire cost discounted from the purchase price, and the vendors aren't entertaining a reduction (presumably saying that the wiring is fine and is working them) then he should walk.

 

[ChrisD.]

What sort of company should I ask to give me a quote to put in network cable into the walls? The house is full plasterboard and I know it can be done myself but I can't be bothered with the hassle. I'd rather just pay someone to do it then paint it myself afterwards. I guess an electrician however I've also heard they don't really know how to terminate face plates properly and/or using cheap cable.

The ONT is under the stairs in the cupboard. I want ports in the office, living room, the bedroom directly above the lounge. Plus into the loft and also the garage.

 

[HungryHippos]

I had some network runs done recently, contacted a firm that did data runs mostly, the kind of people who'd do cable runs for home theaters and external cameras and things I guess.

Wasn't super cheap, but for about £500 I had some points run about the place, some socket work done, and a long external run into my loft space to a central switch. All using CAT6 which should be good for 10Gbps if that kind of speed ever becomes necessary.

Mess wise very little as I was also plasterboard, used existing sockets and dropping down from above to position them.

 

[ChrisD.]

Wasn't super cheap, but for about £500 I had some points run about the place, some socket work done, and a long external run into my loft space to a central switch. All using CAT6 which should be good for 10Gbps if that kind of speed ever becomes necessary.

£500 sounds good to me to have it done properly. Once we've moved I will contact the type of companies you've suggested and see what they quote.

 

[HungryHippos]

£500 sounds good to me to have it done properly. Once we've moved I will contact the type of companies you've suggested and see what they quote.

Yeah it was worth it, money well spent, especially as in my case the guy ran a CAT6 cable right up into the eaves and into my loft, I could probably have done a lot of what he did (but I lacked the tools so extra cost for those) but it would have taken time, like you say a bit of a hassle

 

[ChrisD.]

We plan on being there for 5+ years so it's definitely worth it for me. I might also go for the loft option for one of my switches and distribute it out from there. There's a local AV company so I'd imagine they'll be able to do it as well as surround cables for my AV system. CCTV is also something I'll be investing in too.

 

[koolpc]

Like people have already said, pretty much every house of a certain vintage needs a rewire. It is up to him whether he wants to invest in a rewire, and up to him whether he wants the price of the rewire discounted from the market price. If he isn't willing to move on getting the rewire cost discounted from the purchase price, and the vendors aren't entertaining a reduction (presumably saying that the wiring is fine and is working them) then he should walk.

Just heard from him and 'apparently' the vendor is an electrician and the wiring is all ok!

 

[FlamBango]

Just heard from him and 'apparently' the vendor is an electrician and the wiring is all ok!

The guy I got this from claimed that his dad was a roofer, yet the roof leaked like a sieve, which I knew about from the survey, so i still got a couple of K off for the repairs.

Further to my adventures with the mortgage broker, I ditched him and went straight to Nationwide who do my current mortgage. had a meeting with them yesterday for an hour, today got the mortgage approved. Couldn't of been easier. So not sure I'll bother with brokers again. Looking on Compare the prices websites NW were only 0.02% more, for a 5yr term, than the suggested lender from the broker so not a huge deal for monthly payments. Onward and upward!

 

[ChrisD.]

Yeah I can’t see me using brokers anymore, unless it’s a particularly complex application.

 

[Buffman]

Can a completion date be delayed after exchange? My seller is buying a new build and I've identified the below to my solicitor:


My primary concern with the onward purchase is the new build not being completed on time as that's a regular issue. My concern would be exchanging then continual delays prior to completion.

Is there a "no later than" date that can be set for completion and/or delay costs identified in the contract?

 

[fastwunz]

Can a completion date be delayed after exchange? My seller is buying a new build and I've identified the below to my solicitor:


My primary concern with the onward purchase is the new build not being completed on time as that's a regular issue. My concern would be exchanging then continual delays prior to completion.

Is there a "no later than" date that can be set for completion and/or delay costs identified in the contract?

yes you can set an on or before or a ‘long stop’ completion although you need to sort this BEFORE exchange. Trying to negotiate a different completion date post exchange will probably be expensive and exceptionally difficult. That’s why solicitors won’t let you exchange until this is all sorted

 

[Buffman]

yes you can set an on or before or a ‘long stop’ completion although you need to sort this BEFORE exchange. Trying to negotiate a different completion date post exchange will probably be expensive and exceptionally difficult. That’s why solicitors won’t let you exchange until this is all sorted

Yep fortunately not exchanged yet, tah!

 

[Peerzy]

What sort of company should I ask to give me a quote to put in network cable into the walls? The house is full plasterboard and I know it can be done myself but I can't be bothered with the hassle. I'd rather just pay someone to do it then paint it myself afterwards. I guess an electrician however I've also heard they don't really know how to terminate face plates properly and/or using cheap cable.

The ONT is under the stairs in the cupboard. I want ports in the office, living room, the bedroom directly above the lounge. Plus into the loft and also the garage.

Best people are specific data cabling companies or people who do AV / TV / Sky / CCTV installs. I've yet to see an electrician do a good job with running network cabling.

Mate had an electrician to look at a property he is buying.

The electrician has stated that the wiring needs updating / replacing after checking it out and testing a few sockets.

Estate agents are only allowing 15 mins for viewings etc. Electrician said he would need a lot longer to test all the circuits but in his professional opinion it needs rewiring.

Estate agents are refusing to renegotiate price after they received quote for rewiring. They said they require a certificate but, wont allow the electrician more than 15 mins in the house!?

Where does my mate stand on this as he is concerned about the state of the wiring now. The electrician was highly recommended by family and some friends.

Our house has most of the original wiring from the late 50s and we haven't rewired. Basically as people have said anything that's about 15-20 years old won't meet current regulations, but it doesn't need to! You'll probably need to get the consumer unit replaced if that's old, apart from that if everything has an earth then it will be fine. Electrician will say it needs a rewire as he'll say it (correctly) doesn't meet the current regulations - but not meeting the current regulations doesn't also necessarily mean it's unsafe and needs replacing.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

Yeah I can’t see me using brokers anymore, unless it’s a particularly complex application.

The guy I got this from claimed that his dad was a roofer, yet the roof leaked like a sieve, which I knew about from the survey, so i still got a couple of K off for the repairs.

Further to my adventures with the mortgage broker, I ditched him and went straight to Nationwide who do my current mortgage. had a meeting with them yesterday for an hour, today got the mortgage approved. Couldn't of been easier. So not sure I'll bother with brokers again. Looking on Compare the prices websites NW were only 0.02% more, for a 5yr term, than the suggested lender from the broker so not a huge deal for monthly payments. Onward and upward!

Don't rule them out entirely - I got £600 quid cash back from QuidCo for using Habito

 

[dirtychinchilla]

The guy I got this from claimed that his dad was a roofer, yet the roof leaked like a sieve, which I knew about from the survey, so i still got a couple of K off for the repairs.

Further to my adventures with the mortgage broker, I ditched him and went straight to Nationwide who do my current mortgage. had a meeting with them yesterday for an hour, today got the mortgage approved. Couldn't of been easier. So not sure I'll bother with brokers again. Looking on Compare the prices websites NW were only 0.02% more, for a 5yr term, than the suggested lender from the broker so not a huge deal for monthly payments. Onward and upward!

The broker I’ve been using for a few years (happy to refer people!) has been really good. We’ve remortgaged with him 3 times for various reasons and he’s been relentlessly helpful. He did drop the ball a little once and forgot about a product fee, which was a tad annoying, but he’s made up for it with his advice since.

I’ll probably keep using him until one of us drops dead.

 

[Skillmister]

Can a completion date be delayed after exchange? My seller is buying a new build and I've identified the below to my solicitor:


My primary concern with the onward purchase is the new build not being completed on time as that's a regular issue. My concern would be exchanging then continual delays prior to completion.

Is there a "no later than" date that can be set for completion and/or delay costs identified in the contract?

New builds are normally completion "on notice" which is normally 10 working days with a long stop date which could be months in advance. If its not "on notice" then chances are they won't be exchanging until its built anyway which would mean unlikely to have delays. So you'd need to find out what they're doing as you could find yourself in quite an un-plannable situation. Developers are also notoriously difficult and unlikely to compromise to help out other people in a chain

 

[Buffman]

New builds are normally completion "on notice" which is normally 10 working days with a long stop date which could be months in advance. If its not "on notice" then chances are they won't be exchanging until its built anyway which would mean unlikely to have delays. So you'd need to find out what they're doing as you could find yourself in quite an un-plannable situation. Developers are also notoriously difficult and unlikely to compromise to help out other people in a chain

Thanks for info. Ah OK I might just insist they exchange ASAP then or put a long stop date in April or something.

Will see what my solicitor says!

 

[toshj]

A work colleague of mine is going through a stressful time buying a house at the mo.

It needs renovating. Price has been dropped because of some issues picked up by surveyor but now, he finds he needs the house rewiring.

The vendors are adamant they wont drop the price anymore even though, the cost of the renovations, including rewiring, is going to put the money spent way above what the house will eventually be worth. This has been confirmed by the estate agents. He wants the house but, on the other hand he is loathed to pay over the odds.

If I'd have done my homework properly on this kind of stuff, I wouldn't have bought my home in all honesty. Aside from the "big" renovation work, the cost of replacing the electrics, plumbing and sash and bay windows at us back an eye-watering amount.

 

[shiver]

What sort of company should I ask to give me a quote to put in network cable into the walls? The house is full plasterboard and I know it can be done myself but I can't be bothered with the hassle. I'd rather just pay someone to do it then paint it myself afterwards. I guess an electrician however I've also heard they don't really know how to terminate face plates properly and/or using cheap cable.

The ONT is under the stairs in the cupboard. I want ports in the office, living room, the bedroom directly above the lounge. Plus into the loft and also the garage.

I am trying to get similar work done but likely to be external cables as mines victorian brick house.

I have had one company quote short of £1k for external 4 Cat6 runs + outlets (lol)
Another company quoted ~£400-500 plus materials (basically one day's work) but have since gone silent on me
Another company coming for a site survey tomorrow, fingers crossed