Electricity needed to be on for surveyor?

Nua

Sorry if this has been asked before - will soon (finally) be able to move forward & get survey etc done on an apartment that has been vacant for over 2 years (that I know of) Should I make sure with estate agent that ESB is switched on before booking surveyor - I want to make sure to get emersion & storage heaters included the survey . . . thanks in advance

Gumbo

Yes, I would want the ESB on and gas if installed. You need to check things like lighting, mains powered fire alarm, cookers, boilers etc

Nua

Thanks - that's what I thought, but the estate agent hasn't done anything to get the services connected. Now that I know I'm not being uber picky, I'll get after them again

Many surveyors will just give a cursory look at electrics (age of fuse box etc), and include a statement that you should get a survey from a qualified electrician if you want the electrics properly checked out. But if you get the power on at least you can see if the immerson is functional..

air

Get an electrician in to wire in a generator temporarily and do a quick functional check at least on all the installed equipment. You'll need to get the electrical installation retested and certified also before you can reconnect.
Bear in mind also that it will cost you over €2k to get reconnected to the ESB Network so allow for this in your budget.

riclad

I thought the surveyor looks for structural faults,leaks, dry rot,rising damp,
i did not think they tested the immersion or the boiler or the cooker.
i would not expect a surveyor to test an alarm,
you need the key code to switch it on or off.
IF you buy an old house you can get an electrician to test the electrical
installation at your leisure .
IS the surveyor,s job not ,just to check the building, roof,
for structural faults ,
faults a non expert may not notice .
faults which will need to be repaired in the case where you decide to buy
the house .
I think the cost of reconnection depends on how long the power was disconnected .

DublinDilbert

air wrote: »

Get an electrician in to wire in a generator temporarily and do a quick functional check at least on all the installed equipment. You'll need to get the electrical installation retested and certified also before you can reconnect.
Bear in mind also that it will cost you over €2k to get reconnected to the ESB Network so allow for this in your budget.

You can't really wire anything in as you don't own the property.

Surveyors rarely cover electrics other than a cursory look, estimate the age and recommend an electrician.

In fairness there isn't too much to go wrong with electrics if the are relatively modern.

There will be no chance of getting power or gas back on if they have been disconnected.

Nua

Thanks for all the replies guys - the only reason I was anxious to get electrics tested is cos contrary to what I was told by estate agent during bidding, the place has apparently been vacant for a lot longer than the 2 years . . . long & short of it now, not a hope getting reconnected before completion so fingers crossed there are no major headaches on the horizon

Thestones

I've just had a survey done on a house which has also been empty for a while, he said they aren't allowed check boilers as you need to be a registered heat engineer or something like that, he told me the type of boiler is old and inefficient so we are best off replacing it anyway. Their main job is to make sure there is nothing structural going on with the house as far as I know.

Nua

Nua wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies guys - the only reason I was anxious to get electrics tested is cos contrary to what I was told by estate agent during bidding, the place has apparently been vacant for a lot longer than the 2 years . . . long & short of it now, not a hope getting reconnected before completion so fingers crossed there are no major headaches on the horizon

Another option is to add into your contract that the vendor warrants that the immersion and other major appliances are in working order.

Whether they will agree to this is another matter, but if they do you will have some comeback if there are major issues discovered when you get the power on.