Discuss Landlord Cert in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Companies like chekatrade, homeserve , BG and other insurance products exist because of the fear that rogue traders exist

I recently called an electrician for a landlord cert. His approach seemed genuine. What he said was I don’t just go in, fail a property and charge you for a certificate. Ill take a look at it, give you a call and if you agree ill just do the work. All seems well, but at no point does he put down on paper what issue leads to his suggested solutions. He said that the upstairs lighting circuits all needed to be rewired. When I asked why, he said they are a mess. He went ahead.

As I told other electricians , all felt it was odd that a rewire was needed and one said that if the earthing was missing, then there are two option : run and earth to each ceiling rose or you give a note to your tenant advising not to use metal fitting.



I later asked my electrician why the wiring needed replacing and he sent the following.



“just to let your know my reasons for my decision to rewire the upstairs lights. Upon testing it was found that none of the light switches or light fittings were connected to earth. Upon further inspection the switches and lights fittings did have cpc earth wires in the cables but as stated these were not connected back to the earth of the system, so there was a break in the earth cpc wire somewhere. We later found bare strip connections and a junction box on the cabling when it was removed which was probably the reason for this which was buried under the insulation. Also the switch conduits protruded past the ceiling by 3 inches so cable to switches were resting on the sharp edge of the conduit these have now been cut down to ceiling level the switches and light fittings were all wired to a very poor standard no earth sleaving no phase tag markers . Also the intruder alarm was found to be poorly wired off the sockets panel and fused spure were loose not fixed at all and had no cpc earth wire in the cable as this had been cut out I hope this answers your query”

I’m not convinced and its led to me not using this guy anymore and not recommending him either.

Its this kind of behaviour that gives good electricians a bad name. the lack of transparency and objection to me asking why the upstairs wiring needed changing, including all the switched and light pendants too.

After he’s left, I used a Socket-and-see, which still reports a “check” on the earth loop.



Am I being awkward or am I right to feel slight done?
 
Companies like chekatrade, homeserve , BG and other insurance products exist because of the fear that rogue traders exist

I recently called an electrician for a landlord cert. His approach seemed genuine. What he said was I don’t just go in, fail a property and charge you for a certificate. Ill take a look at it, give you a call and if you agree ill just do the work. All seems well, but at no point does he put down on paper what issue leads to his suggested solutions. He said that the upstairs lighting circuits all needed to be rewired. When I asked why, he said they are a mess. He went ahead.

As I told other electricians , all felt it was odd that a rewire was needed and one said that if the earthing was missing, then there are two option : run and earth to each ceiling rose or you give a note to your tenant advising not to use metal fitting.



I later asked my electrician why the wiring needed replacing and he sent the following.



“just to let your know my reasons for my decision to rewire the upstairs lights. Upon testing it was found that none of the light switches or light fittings were connected to earth. Upon further inspection the switches and lights fittings did have cpc earth wires in the cables but as stated these were not connected back to the earth of the system, so there was a break in the earth cpc wire somewhere. We later found bare strip connections and a junction box on the cabling when it was removed which was probably the reason for this which was buried under the insulation. Also the switch conduits protruded past the ceiling by 3 inches so cable to switches were resting on the sharp edge of the conduit these have now been cut down to ceiling level the switches and light fittings were all wired to a very poor standard no earth sleaving no phase tag markers . Also the intruder alarm was found to be poorly wired off the sockets panel and fused spure were loose not fixed at all and had no cpc earth wire in the cable as this had been cut out I hope this answers your query”

I’m not convinced and its led to me not using this guy anymore and not recommending him either.

Its this kind of behaviour that gives good electricians a bad name. the lack of transparency and objection to me asking why the upstairs wiring needed changing, including all the switched and light pendants too.

After he’s left, I used a Socket-and-see, which still reports a “check” on the earth loop.



Am I being awkward or am I right to feel slight done?
To be honest, if your upstairs lights had no CPC, bare connections, lack of sleeving and badly erected then the electrician had 2 options. tell you that it was a mess and probably easier and more cost effective that the lighting circuit is rewired. Or spend a few hours fault finding and replacing any cable that failed continuity tests. sometimes easier said than done when you are sat in the dark in the middle of a spiderweb of cables. I've done similar with permission from the owner when I've found a loft full of junction boxes, taped connections and cables going off in random directions that I'm meant to fault find. the problem is, people have a go themselves and chop cables and join them using all sorts of stuff. I was at a job this weekend where someone had used ceiling roses as junction boxes but namaged to take 5 feeds from one ceiling rose. so many cables that the cover didnt fit to they taped it up.

If I'm putting my name to something then I want it to be right

wasn't he saying that there wasn't a CPC at the fused connection?? rather than at each socket??

it's hard to say if he's right or wrong without seeing any evidence but it doesn't sound great.
 
To be honest, if your upstairs lights had no CPC, bare connections, lack of sleeving and badly erected then the electrician had 2 options. tell you that it was a mess and probably easier and more cost effective that the lighting circuit is rewired. Or spend a few hours fault finding and replacing any cable that failed continuity tests. sometimes easier said than done when you are sat in the dark in the middle of a spiderweb of cables. I've done similar with permission from the owner when I've found a loft full of junction boxes, taped connections and cables going off in random directions that I'm meant to fault find. the problem is, people have a go themselves and chop cables and join them using all sorts of stuff. I was at a job this weekend where someone had used ceiling roses as junction boxes but namaged to take 5 feeds from one ceiling rose. so many cables that the cover didnt fit to they taped it up.

If I'm putting my name to something then I want it to be right

wasn't he saying that there wasn't a CPC at the fused connection?? rather than at each socket??

it's hard to say if he's right or wrong without seeing any evidence but it doesn't sound great.
Thanks
 
Companies like chekatrade, homeserve , BG and other insurance products exist because of the fear that rogue traders exist

I recently called an electrician for a landlord cert. His approach seemed genuine. What he said was I don’t just go in, fail a property and charge you for a certificate. Ill take a look at it, give you a call and if you agree ill just do the work. All seems well, but at no point does he put down on paper what issue leads to his suggested solutions. He said that the upstairs lighting circuits all needed to be rewired. When I asked why, he said they are a mess. He went ahead.

As I told other electricians , all felt it was odd that a rewire was needed and one said that if the earthing was missing, then there are two option : run and earth to each ceiling rose or you give a note to your tenant advising not to use metal fitting.



I later asked my electrician why the wiring needed replacing and he sent the following.



“just to let your know my reasons for my decision to rewire the upstairs lights. Upon testing it was found that none of the light switches or light fittings were connected to earth. Upon further inspection the switches and lights fittings did have cpc earth wires in the cables but as stated these were not connected back to the earth of the system, so there was a break in the earth cpc wire somewhere. We later found bare strip connections and a junction box on the cabling when it was removed which was probably the reason for this which was buried under the insulation. Also the switch conduits protruded past the ceiling by 3 inches so cable to switches were resting on the sharp edge of the conduit these have now been cut down to ceiling level the switches and light fittings were all wired to a very poor standard no earth sleaving no phase tag markers . Also the intruder alarm was found to be poorly wired off the sockets panel and fused spure were loose not fixed at all and had no cpc earth wire in the cable as this had been cut out I hope this answers your query”

I’m not convinced and its led to me not using this guy anymore and not recommending him either.

Its this kind of behaviour that gives good electricians a bad name. the lack of transparency and objection to me asking why the upstairs wiring needed changing, including all the switched and light pendants too.

After he’s left, I used a Socket-and-see, which still reports a “check” on the earth loop.



Am I being awkward or am I right to feel slight done?
rouble is Rouge Traders do exist, sadly more and more theses days
 

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