Signed off electrics question

Trying to chase this up will be a task in itself. .

Only think I can think of is get an EICR done and pass it on to him but now you have started taking stuff out, be hard now to nail down who did what and where. .

 

Hi Jon.

To answer your Q - it is more than just shoddy work; it is dangerous. And simply incorrect. And shoddy...

Leaving old live cabling in walls and running cables diagonally are both sooooooo ridiculously wrong that I cannot believe the guy who did the work was a sparky in any life.

But, as HiFi says, what come-back do you have?

It'll all come down to whether, for example, a 're-wire' was listed in any of the property particulars such as the selling description or the house owner's report (or whatever it's called that the existing owners have to fill in). The HOR (that's wot I'm calling it now...) in particular has to be accurate, or you do have come-back against the seller.

If it was chust mentioned in the selling particulars, then the estate agent is - I suspect - covered by "It's wot we were told, guv' - we don't check nuffink."

If the seller has actually signed orf the work and you have a copy of this cert, then I think you may be on more solid ground. First check this doc to see which 'registered sparky organisation' he is (supposedly) a part of. You then contact them to check if he is.

If he ain't, then your choices are (a) simply report him and sit back while sparks fly. Then sue the guy separately yourself for making good the wiring (you will almost certainly win), or (b) use reporting him as a threat to negotiate the cost of a proper rewire.

Obviously for (b), you don't suggest a 'threat' in any way that it could come back and bite you as potential blackmail... You chust call him up (or write) and say you have concerns about the wiring (say why) and you are about to contact NICEIC or whoever to see what you should do. And then wait...

To be honest, whether this guy is either registered with an org or is chust pretending to be, I personally would contact that org right away and let them know your concerns - ie, do (a). From what you tell us, this guy is an off-the-wall bad sparky and doesn't deserve another chance.

It might seem 'easier' to try and negotiate with people like this - with the implied threat of reporting him hanging over his head - rather than simply doing the 'right thing', which is reporting him.

This forum is littered with cases of non-GasSafe plumbers and incompetent sparkies doing potentially very dangerous work, and yet and yet and yet people just argue with them until they get a grudging discount. These incompetent arrisoles then carry on as before...

 

Best replace it buddy as you find

The cowboy lives another day and is never found. .

 

Oooooh - the voice of experience

 

If you bought the house from this bloke then you need to check the paperwork. There is a q. in there that asks about what electrical work was done since Part P came into force and the seller needs to answer this and provide the BC certs for the work. Did your solicitor not question this if it was missing?

Edit - I guess he may have done the re-wire prior to part p...

 

wassat supposed to mean . ?

 

A full rewire carried out to the latest regulations is indicated - there is no circumvention of said,

 

I think so too, I'm sure the sellers solicitors have looked after their clients interests.

Not sure on the legal aspect, did you have a survey carried out prior?

Getting an EICR in now is the best option to determine the condition, especially while you will be re-plastering.

 

Seen the same over the years, & it's still done to day.

 

A mate of mine bought a house,the bank that was doing the mortgage also did the survey,there were a few minor points but the electrics were passed as fine,he was putting a new kitchen in before moving in and asked me to do the electrics,usual stuff a few extra sockets,fancy lighting etc.Well I started to look at it and the first thing that rang alarm bells was the really old fusebox,it must have been one of the first Wylex units ever made,the second thing was that the meter tails were VIR and the feeds to the circuits were rubber! In short the wiring was knackered,bits of insulation flaking off etc,I didn't even bother putting a meter on it,just condemned it.My mate new I wouldn't have him off and was extremely annoyed about having to pay for a rewire,so we took photo's before we started,I wrote a report and he made an appointment to see the bank manager,he even took the old fusebox with him,lol.
Anyway the bank manager wanted to avoid any aggro and especially since my mate had paid for the top survey,the upshot was he refunded the cost of the survey and paid for the rewire,naturally the bill he got was a bit bigger than my mate got charged (mates rates) unfortunately I've seen this several times,so it makes you wonder how much these surveyors look at but when you pay for the dearest survey you expect more than a cursory glance!
The most bizarre one I ever saw was another mate,he'd bought a house and it was immaculate,nicely decorated,all modern fixtures and fittings and the electrics looked well maintained as well,fairly new sockets and switches,ok it was a Wylex board but that isn't a problem,the wiring at the board and behind the accessories is pvc,ok the switch wires hadn't been sleeved but you can't have everything.Anyway about 10 years later they decide to give it a full revamp,decorate right through and new bathroom,this was where the trouble started.He wanted a few extra sockets in and I went round to sort it,I pulled up a few floorboards and saw all this rubber cable,above the fusebox under the floor was a load of jb's and the rubber changed to pvc which then went down to the Wylex,below each socket was a jb,they'd cut the rubber and replaced it with pvc from below the floor to the socket.When you looked at the effort someone had gone to you had to wonder why they hadn't just rewired the place.

 

Seen one a few years ago,a friend had problems with electric in her cottage,got me to have a nosey, so I lifted a few floorboards & found someone had joined new pvc to old lead sheathed cables under the floor, & in attic there were cables total bare, any insulation was long gone & still live.

 

If he is registered and considered capable to sign of his work and he did sign off this work then you can take pictures and head off to your solicitors to try prosecute the person who signed off the work. Provided you can prove it actually was him or her that did the work.

Otherwise make the bad work disappear as if it never existed and make it right. No one will ever know of the previous bad workmanship and as far as building control are concerned it is all in good shape and it will be when you correct it. You should also know that removing all the plaster or greater than 25% of the plaster and rendering etc under new building regulations would require you to update the buildings insulation so if you don't fancy doing that then let the work never be known.

As mad as it sounds, i just recently worked on a job where a long time going electrical firm in my area had fitted a shower only a few years ago to a system without RCD protection. I looked at all the paperwork and they were instructed by the local housing enforcement to rectify the issue due to tenants complaints. They did not, they only changed on the certificate "Is protected by RCD" to Yes, no RCD was fitted and the consumer unit remained untouched.

There are many so called professionals that don't care, they just push it through. You can get on your high horse about it and fight a case but all in all many professionals do not respect the regulations. A £200 job can turn into a £1000 job overnight if they did.

Just make sure you do it right because the next person may well decide to get on that high horse and prosecute.

 

@Fire,there was a guy a couple of years ago going around my local car boot buying up cable like it was going out of fashion.Oddly enough he was only buying the old red and black stuff,anyway I couldn't resist asking him why,apparently he was doing a rewire prior to selling and because it came under part p his plan was to rewire it in the old colours and say it was rewired prior to part p coming in!

 

Now that is clever.

 

BTW where did you come up with the name Fire? something to do with your job?

 

It's a long story but yes it is relevant to work and personal, all to do with computers and electronics. It is actually only half the name. It started as AcidFire which was a duo with a friend back in the days before the web existed and when he split the name Acid was removed leaving Fire.

 

Loads of peeps I knew were buying up old colours prior to 2005 and it was changing hands at nearly twice the price of Blue and Brown

 

And knew of one person in the area here, still buying rolls of the old colours off Ebay back at Christmas for house he was doing up.

 

It is what other forum members want to set themselves on when he posts his ridiculously long posts.

Hehe.

Only joking @fire