Reply to: Sold House...now they want to sue me

[conned tractor]

Ah. But did you bleed the radiators?

[pzz76077]

Photoshop or a standard DTP package can easily produce any cert you like....100's of em in fact...

PZZ

[Archangel]

This is not totally correct. The Part P regulations allow the householder or a non certified electrician, to add additional sockets and extensions etc to an existing circuit.

Part P does not allow the householder or non certified electrician to add a new ring circuit (where a cable is run from the consumer unit to a couple of sockets and back to the consumer unit) and therefore new sockets.

If you have run an extension to the garage workshop or shed that does not form a new ring circuit, (even if previously there were no sockets in that location), you do not need to have a Part P certificate for the work so you can tell them to **** off.

Hope this helps.

A householder or non certified electrician CAN do work covered by Part P if the work is then certified by a certified electrician, or is covered by a building notice.

HTH

[Sysman]

A director in an Electrics company might just have got that quote from a mate's firm. Ditto with the plumbing estimate.

[Envelope]

My solicitor has sent a response rejecting the claims.

I've done a bit of further digging and lo and behold the guy who’s claiming from me is a director of an Electrics company. Taking into account Caveat Emptor surely he’s in a better position than most to realise where there are electrical problems prior to exchange…or had he already spotted them and thought I could make a few quid out of this….

[conned tractor]

Green/yellow?

I think you mean brown and blue.

HTH.

Maybe its Earth calling?

[Envelope]

Well you might get away with it but it's pretty easy to date the installation due to components used amongst other things. I don't think you can simply get a certificate issued now, part P doesn't work quite that way.

Yeah, apparently the wiring used has been changed from black/red pre 2005 to green/yellow post 2005 - so anything that is coloured that way and falls into the criteria of needing a certificate - needs one. (Agreed - certain minor things don't need a cert)

Thanks for all the responses - I've sent a mail off to the solicitor outlining the fact that my position stands - I await a response

[AtW]

Refer their solicitor to the case of Arkell v. Pressdram.

[PRC1964]

Refer their solicitor to the case of Arkell v. Pressdram.

[BolshieBastard]

The solicitor says I should be ok on the plumbing and the wardrobe, but says the electrics could be dodgy. Apparently since 2005 everything you do in your house has to be done by a certified electrician otherwise you're breaking the law. Now i wasn't aware of this...until now. thing is I took the cert I was given in good faith - I wasn't aware I was potentially breaking the law due to my builder appointing a dodgy electrician.

This is not totally correct. The Part P regulations allow the householder or a non certified electrician, to add additional sockets and extensions etc to an existing circuit.

Part P does not allow the householder or non certified electrician to add a new ring circuit (where a cable is run from the consumer unit to a couple of sockets and back to the consumer unit) and therefore new sockets.

If you have run an extension to the garage workshop or shed that does not form a new ring circuit, (even if previously there were no sockets in that location), you do not need to have a Part P certificate for the work so you can tell them to **** off.

Hope this helps.

[minestrone]

Tell them to **** off by not responding, or just tell them to **** off which is what I might do, if they actually do want to proceed with this wait till they deposit the productions at the court house then take them to a solicitor.

No point in hiring someone to look at possibilities of what might happen.

In Scotland you have 7 days to do this stuff, but then we have a proper conveyancing system.

[xoggoth]

What is required after 2005 shouldn't be relevant if they complied with the law by having a proper electrician to certify it. From electrician work we have had recently £550 sounds excessive for rectifying some garage wiring. Surely they have to make a claim based on actual costs not estimates of costs?

Solicitors always make all sorts of threats, it's what they are paid for, doesn't mean they have a case. If you're telling us the truth than clearly their costs and their claims are ridiculous. I assume you have the receipts etc for the work?

I'd be inclined to just string em out, first politely and concisely refute claims as you have done here and if they continue, ignore letters, say you are passing the claim on to the electrician but haven't heard etc. The buyer's legals costs just go up and up. Solicitors charge £120+ an hour for routine work. You could always capitulate when/if the actual court time is booked and it won't cost you anything AFAIK. I bet it won't be.

PS berekova. If you shop around I reckon that £100 should be about right.

[ASB]

I've done a fair bit of wiring in my place over the years & don't have a certificate. I guess it'd only cost 100 quid or so to get a sparkie to come round and issue a certificate. Just worried about getting one who is on the make though. Perhaps when it comes to selling up I'll just say that all the wiring was done by the previous owners - i.e. pre 2005 & I guess you don't need a certificate for that

Well you might get away with it but it's pretty easy to date the installation due to components used amongst other things. I don't think you can simply get a certificate issued now, part P doesn't work quite that way.

[bekarovka]

Dangerous ...

My wiring's pretty damned good I'll have you know!

[Zippy]

I've done a fair bit of wiring in my place over the years & don't have a certificate. I guess it'd only cost 100 quid or so to get a sparkie to come round and issue a certificate. Just worried about getting one who is on the make though. Perhaps when it comes to selling up I'll just say that all the wiring was done by the previous owners - i.e. pre 2005 & I guess you don't need a certificate for that

Dangerous ...