Apparently July saw a rise in the property market but I wonder what percentage of these buyers have or are going to ask an Electrician to carry out a Pre-purchase Electrical Survey on the property before making an offer?
Now I know moving is an expensive time as it is what with your Solicitors and Estate Agent fees, then you have to pay for a Building Survey, and then you have all the other costs involved with moving house, so your probably thinking something like a Pre-purchase Electrical Survey is an expense you could do without. However, imagine your in your new home a few months later, the boxes are unpacked and your past that stressful period, then just as things start to resemble some normality, you have an electrical fault which then leads to you calling out an electrician to find out what the problem is. The Electrician arrives which in turn leads to him telling you that the wiring for example, is in a terrible condition and more work is required than just the initial problem. The benefit with having a Pre-purchase Electrical Survey done is it will show the condition of the electrical wiring of a property and check the safety of the electrical installation before you comit yourself to a property.
When we buy a property, we never really know what we are going to find as we transform it into our home, walls could be in a terrible condition once you remove the wallpaper, which means you have to have all the walls re-plastered, which was like the house I purchased 2 years ago with my partner which of course we didn't budget for! Now I appreciate that no survey would show up those types of problems but the Building Survey did make us aware of some other things that needed considering, as did the Pre-purchase Electrical Survey we had done. The survey bought to our attention that some areas of the electrics in the house needed modernisation, for example, our kitchen, lounge and dining room power all fed off of one circuit. Now the demands of kitchens these days what with a washing machine, fridge freezer, tumble dryer, dishwasher, microwave, coffee machine and endless amounts of other kitchen appliances we had, it was heading for a fuse overload unless we changed the current electrical set up. Now the two viewings we had would not have made us aware of this, as everything looked fine on the surface and even thought this problem was something that could be easily rectified, the survey helped to highlight the problem to us and made us aware of the costs before deciding on the property.
The things that showed up from us having a Building and a Pre-purchase Electrical Survey did not put us off buying this particular house, the point is we went into this house knowing what to expect and what costs were involved going forward, well minus the wall problems! The survey gave us the opportunity to get a better insight into the electrical condition of our future home and therefore a decision was based on if we wanted and could afford the property or not from the findings.
If you really don't think you have anything to worry about with a property you are considering then why not consider having a Visual Electrical Inspection which gives you a reasonable insight on the condition of the electrical system in a property. The report will highlight anything that may need replacing, if any, in the future which at least gives you some peace of mind.
Whenever a customer calls us at Fulcher Edwards to find out if they should have a electrical survey on a property they are interested in, we always advise them to have one or a visual inspection as it provides you with useful information before making that offer. Its important to remember that just because something is working, it doesn't necessarily mean there are no underlining problems and it is operating safely.
If you are considering looking for a new home anytime soon then don't forget to budget for an Pre-purchase Electrical Survey as it could save you money in the long run. Just make sure that the electrician you use is registered with a Government-approved organisations like NICEIC, as registered Electricians will work to current British Standards which will lead to a job well done, because lets be honest your going to be under enough stress already!
Happy moving!
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