7 Good Reasons To Have an Electrical Safety Check When Buying a House:

1. When you view a potential new home, how do you know the condition of the electrical system? Just because the lights switch on and off doesn’t mean its safe. When you look around a potential new home, your mind is probably on the space and living potential, not the condition of the electrics! Then your home buyer’s survey report will only mention electrics in very little detail (and they don’t test electrics as part of their general inspection). Insurance – some insurers are now asking for proof of electrical testing before offering insurance. Does yours?
2. Do you have an electrical certificate from the previous inspection and test? In most cases, you probably won’t. Often, if electrics are actually tested, the electrician may forget to produce the certificate, certificates don’t get passed on to future owners, or they simply get lost. So again, how do you know whether your electrics have any safety issues? Just because there have been no previous incidents does not mean that there won’t be a problem when you least expect it.
3. DIY (and unqualified builder) installations  – Unfortunately there are countless cases of inexperienced homeowners and unqualified builders performing their own electrical installations or modifications. In most cases, those previous activities will be hidden from view in walls, floors and ceilings, but how would you know whether someone else’s bodges are storing up problems for you and your family?
4. Earthing – Many older flats or houses do not have adequate earthing. In many cases especially 1970’s (or earlier) builds, while the sockets may be earthed properly, the lighting may have no earth conductor which is a particular risk for the many of us who love metal light fittings and switches. Also earthing may not have been connected properly during DIY Installations (see 3. above). A test and inspect will reveal any defect in this regard.
5. Does you system have RCD protection? Surprisingly, we’ve encountered many installations (early 2000’s and before) that still don’t have these devices. While there’s no law to retro-fit these, new builds or alterations to existing premises are mandated to have them. Your test and inspection will highly recommended their installation. RCD’s are designed to protect people against shock, while the breakers (or fuses) protect equipment.
6. Reducing Fire Risk – generally, the key areas for fire risk are electrical overload, loose connections (causing heat build up and sparking), and halogen down-lighting. As part of testing, the whole installation will be visually inspected for such signs and recommendations given as part of the report. As far as halogen lighting is concerned, we always recommend changing for LED alternatives which generate almost no heat, and save you up to 95% on your (lighting) power bills.
7. Renting your home – if you plan to rent your home (whether privately, via an estate agent, even if only occasionally with the likes of Airbnb) , you then have legal obligations to ensure it is electrically safe. Are you sure yours is safe?

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