old house electrics

[ambulanceman]

Hi, new to this so am hoping you guys out there can answer these probably simple questions to you.
Have recently inherited and now living in my dads old house its a 2 bedroom semi built in 1962 and still has the original electrics in it including the old porcelain 4 fuse wire fuse box ! Now I have to do it up and will probably sell it, will I have to get the electrics done in the whole house and have it completely rewired before I can sell it and if so how much would I be looking at to have that done.
Cheers
Nick

 

[jj4091]

You don't HAVE to do anything but it will help the sale & would be a lot easier if other work & decoration are going on.

 

[ericmark]

I would not expect the money spent on a re-wire would be recouped in the higher price asked for the house.

In general double glazing, solar panels, rewires all reduce the time the house sits on the market but do not raise the selling price by the amount spent.

When my son bought his house first job was to gut it and then fit ALL the bits he wanted so central heating, wiring, insulation, new ceiling, painting all done together so all which was there before ripped out. It is common for either a complete gutting like my son did or nothing because they don't have cash and doing a part job does not make the house more attractive to either type of buyer.

If you were to completely modernise the house then yes but to re-wire where some one else is doing plastering will be a different price to when all has to be made good.

 

[Taylortwocities]

The buyer's surveyor will take a look and make the comment that the fuseboard will need updating, but they don't know much/anything about electrical installations.

I would guess that you could just cosmetically change the switches/sockets for modern ones.

But lets have a quick look. Take a pic of the fuseboard, incoming supply arangements and a couple of switches & sockets. Partly for our amusement (we like pictures) and also to take a long range view on if a rewire might be your best option.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Get a few local estate agents round - they will know what sells well in that area, and what doesn't.

They'll be able to tell you what the house is worth as it is, what might be worth doing on a small scale (I suspect not much, unless it's in appalling condition), and what might be worth doing in terms of major refurbishments and improvements like extension, loft conversion to give it 3 bedrooms etc.

 

[Taylortwocities]

It wont be in appalling condition - it was his Dad's old house........!
The Daily Mail might have a view on it.

 

[knowall]

Buyers just see additional cost if the wiring is not up to date and it puts them off. The minimum i would do would be to replace the consumer unit ( fuse box) and switches and sockets.

Regards,

na

 

[Taylortwocities]

Buyers just see additional cost if the wiring is not up to date and it puts them off. The minimum i would do would be to replace the consumer unit ( fuse box) and switches and sockets.

Regards,

na

Would you not do an EICR to determine what REALLY needed to be done?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Never mind the EICR...

The minimum i would do would be to replace the consumer unit

What about the EIC for that?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Its only swapping a few cables over, just bang a new one on the wall. How hard can it be?

 

[bernardgreen]

Very often a "blank canvas" house will sell quicker than a fully decorated house. Only if you are very lucky will your ideas of decoration match what the buyers are looking for and most will redecorate to their taste.

Same reasoning for personal choice about where lights and sockets are located. Sell it as is electrically and accept a couple of thousand less than the asking price in consideration of the possible need to rewire

Naturally you set the asking price a couple of thousand above what you need to make from selling the house.

 

[pjcomp]

An old fuse box will always provoke adverse comment from the buyer's surveyor and the buyer can then use that to push for a price cut, invariably more than the price of a new board. Assuming the wiring is PVC/PVC (more than likely in the '60s) then a board update would be worth the cost. Anything else, as others have said, don't bother as the buyer will have their own ideas. The house sounds like a classic doer-upper so save your pennies.

PJ