Cost of rewiring house?

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

I appreciate that this is a 'how long is a piece of string?' question but...
I'm selling my parents' house (don't worry, they've moved out!). One prospective buyer has said it needs re-wiring completely and wants £2000 knocked off the purchase price. The house is a 3 bed bungalow with attached garage, built in 1970s and still has the original electrics in it. Is £2k reasonable?
Many thanks in anticipation of all your sage advice

 

[Saluki]

Hubster, who used to be a sparkies mate, says that he feels that's a reasonable cost of re-wiring a whole house.

 

[cosmicbike]

Probably about right, though it's been a while since I was on the tools.
The wiring may not meet current regs, but it doesn't have to. I wouldn't be looking to reduce the price if I was the seller. If I was the buyer and had a full survey report in my hand then maybe I would.

 

[Beebo]

the short answer is yes!
rewiring can be quite intrusive, lifting floor boards, channelling out walls etc, so that price is good.

But, if they are buying it as a doer upper, then they will be ripping up carpets and painting walls so maybe try to knock them down a bit.

I dont know where the house is, but in the South East it's a sellers market at the moment.

 

[TissoT]

Does sound to bad ...
be Fair bit of plaster patching afterwards !

 

[Archie_tect]

£2000 sound cheap to me, depends what they've priced for: running cables inside timber framed partitions is straightforward and it's easier to do, having to chase solid masonry walls is messy and expensive and needs considerable re-plastering and complete redecoration afterwards [OK if it's just emulsioned walls!] better still if they propose running conduits in voids to feed the cables through.

If the house has an earh circuit [3 wires to cables, then it may not have to be rewired if the insulation to the copper wiring isn't brittle. Our house was built in 1966 and has the original wiring in part so hasn't got an earth on the lighting circuit but providing we use appropriate fittings that isn't a problem as the RCDs on the lighting circuit cut out if there's any surge/ short circuit so it's safe.

So, £2000 sounds very reasonable as the work must be covered by Part P of the Building Regs and they must be registered to do it... all in all I'd go with it, but offer to reduce by £1500 and meet them halfway.

 

[sheddy]

Does he want it or not ? He must have known that it needed work.

It depends if there was much interest. Ask the EA if there have been any more enquires ?

 

[TissoT]

Does he want it or not ? He must have known that it needed work.

It depends if there was much interest. Ask the EA if there have been any more enquires ?

Would of thought the surveyor acting for the bank would have said in his report it needed rewire !
only be the same if some one else has a report on the property !
Thats probably where the £2000 costing has come from ...

 

[Archie_tect]

Sheddy's right, tell them that you'd allowed for rewiring and upgrading/ redecoration in the asking price which has been set for a quick sale, besides if [fingers crossed] you get 2 or 3 who want it they'll up their offers anyway and this will just have been a distraction.

 

[summerdays]

We had our house rewired before we moved in two years ago. I can't quite remember how much we paid but I'm sure it was closer to £4000. However it was in a 1920s house which had had some rewriting in the past but wasn't a ring mains (some line mains?) only had one socket per room and one plug was an old two pin one though not connected. Lots of dust and floor boards up etc. Lovely guy took several weeks doing it all, and it was one of his last jobs before he retired. He was looking forward to cycling lots.

I think we had 4 fuses on the original circuit board and I do remember some problems to do with earthing. (Mr summerdays dealt with the technical details as I am technologically thick.)

 

[raleighnut]

I'd say no, with the current market another buyer shouldn't take long to find plus a bungalow built in the 70s will not have "old style" wiring in it.
This buyer may want to re-wire but it will only be for their convenience i.e sockets in the "wrong" place or insufficient for their "modern" equipment, I'd just hang fire for a while unless you're after a quick sale.

 

[summerdays]

I forgot to say we didn't ask for a reduction for rewiring, it was obvious when looking around it needed rewiring, so it seemed to be taking the Micky to ask for a reduction on that basis.

 

[Globalti]

I think it's downright cheeky - as summerdays says above, the house is being sold "as seen" and rewiring won't be the only change the buyer will want to make.

 

[roadrash]

as suggested , say you allready allowed for that when deciding price .. if they want it , then they will pay it .

 

[craigwend]

Horse trading time,

though having sold my (deceased) parents house a good few years back, in the end I was just 'glad to get rid'