Your lights flicker. Your fuse box sparks.
Faulty wiring will fail your electrical survey badly.
I’ve bought dozens of homes with electrical problems. Old systems. Dangerous wiring. Complete fire hazards. Banks hate all of them.
Lenders won’t approve mortgages.
Which cuts your buyer options immediately.
After buying properties with every electrical problem imaginable, I know what’s fixable and what needs complete rewiring. The cost difference is massive.
This guide shows your real options for selling with electrical faults.
You’ll learn when rewiring is worth it. When it’s not. And which buyers will purchase homes that fail electrical checks.
I’ll also show you how to avoid pricing mistakes that cost sellers thousands.
Straight advice from someone who’s completed these sales successfully across the UK.
- Identifying Electrical Problems in Your Property
- Selling Options for Properties with Faulty Wiring
- How Electrical Issues Affect Your Property's Worth
- What You Must Disclose About Electrical Defects
- Rewiring Costs and Deciding Whether to Fix First
- Roadblocks When Selling Through Traditional Channels
- Why Property Buyers Today Buys Properties with Electrical Faults
Identifying Electrical Problems in Your Property
Electrical problems are dangerous and put buyers off immediately.
Spotting warning signs helps you understand what needs fixing before you try to sell your home.
Common Signs of Faulty Wiring
Circuit breakers that keep tripping show your wiring can’t handle the load.
Lights that flicker or dim when you turn on appliances mean wiring problems. Burning smells near sockets or switches are serious warning signs of dangerous faults. Sockets or switches that feel warm or hot to the touch indicate bad connections. Scorch marks around sockets mean that an electrical fire nearly started.
Any of these signs mean you need an electrician to check your wiring urgently.
Outdated Wiring Systems
Old aluminium wiring from the 1960s and 1970s is dangerous and needs replacing.
Lead-covered wiring is even older and completely unsafe by modern standards. Cloth-covered wiring breaks down over time and can cause fires. Rubber insulation perishes and exposes live wires. Properties with these old systems need complete rewiring before selling.
Buyers and mortgage lenders won’t accept properties with these dangerous old wiring types.
Failed Electrical Safety Certificates
An EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) tests your whole electrical system.
Failed reports list dangerous faults that need fixing immediately. Common failures include missing earth bonding, old fuse boxes, and damaged wiring. Getting an electrical safety certificate is essential for selling. Landlords must have valid certificates, but homeowners selling should get them too.
Buyers always ask for electrical certificates during the conveyancing process.
Age of Electrical Installation
Electrical installations over 25 to 30 years old usually need replacing.
Wiring standards and safety rules have changed a lot since the 1990s. Old systems don’t have modern safety features like RCD protection. Consumer units (fuse boxes) older than 20 years should be upgraded. Properties last rewired before 2000 often fail modern safety checks.
Buyers factor rewiring costs into their offers if systems are too old.
Non-Compliant DIY Electrical Work
DIY electrical work without proper certification is illegal and dangerous.
Work done after 2005 needs Part P certification from a qualified electrician. Bodged DIY jobs often use the wrong cable sizes or incorrect connections. Missing certificates for new circuits, consumer units, or extensions causes problems when selling. Check the Electrical Safety First guidance on what work needs certification.
Buyers and their solicitors always ask for certificates for any electrical work done.
Selling Options for Properties with Faulty Wiring
Here are the 3 primary approaches to sell your property when electrical wiring faults exist…
Estate Agents
The conventional route presents major obstacles for houses with faulty wiring:
- Standard sale timeframe: 6-12 months (extended duration – mortgage lenders require electrical safety certificates)
- Many sales fall through when electrical surveys reveal dangerous wiring
- You need agents willing to market faulty wiring properties and navigate safety concerns
- You’ll encounter these costs:
- Agent commissions (up to 3%)
- Solicitor fees (up to £4,000)
- Electrical inspections and safety reports (£200-£400)
- Rewiring work before sale (£3,000-£10,000)
- Emergency safety fixes if required (£500-£2,000)
- Limited buyers interested in properties with electrical faults
Property Buyers Today
When faulty wiring makes your property challenging to market:
- We can complete within just 7 days
- No financing difficulties or rewiring requirements needed
- What you gain:
- No agent fees
- We handle legal costs
- No property viewings – we buy faulty wiring houses as they stand
- No rewiring expenses – we manage electrical work ourselves
- We understand electrical issues and safety regulations
- Completion date you can depend on
- Trade-off: Obtain up to 85% of property value (frequently better after rewiring costs and lengthy delays)
Specialist cash house buyers like Property Buyers Today understand faulty wiring complications and handle all arrangements.
Property Auction
Auctioning attracts purchasers who work with faulty wiring properties:
- Timeline: 3-4 months
- The transaction completes immediately when the gavel drops
- Important factors:
- Property sold as-is – bidders understand electrical condition
- Attracts developers and renovation specialists
- Perfect for refurbishment projects – draws suitable buyers
- Electrical faults disclosed in the auction legal pack
- Wait 4-8 weeks until the auction date
- Wait 28 days to finalise the sale
- Entry costs (up to £1,000)
- Auctioneer charges (up to 6%)
- Bidders review electrical reports during the due diligence period
Check our guide on selling a house at auction to learn how this process works for properties with faulty wiring.
How Electrical Issues Affect Your Property’s Worth
Electrical problems destroy your house value fast.
Houses with bad wiring sell for 10-20% less than similar homes. Rewiring costs £3,000-£10,000 or more. Buyers take these costs off their offers straight away.
Banks want electrical certificates before lending money. No certificate means no mortgage. This pushes you into cash-buyer-only markets where you lose 90% of buyers.
Safety worries scare buyers badly. Old wiring causes fires. Dodgy cables kill people. I’ve watched buyers refuse viewings after seeing ancient fuse boxes.
Your house sits empty longer.
Big problems:
- 4-8 extra months unsold
- Lots of price drops
- Desperate deals
- Very low offers
Insurance becomes impossible for buyers. Insurance companies refuse to cover houses with bad electricity. No insurance means no mortgage.
Fire risk kills value completely. Buyers imagine their families dying in electrical fires. This fear drops prices loads.
Properties with safe electrics sell within weeks at full value. Bad wiring means months of worry and huge losses.
London buyers accept small issues better. Rural buyers want perfect electrics.
Old fuse boxes and cloth-covered wiring scare everyone, though.
Fix electrical problems before selling. Rewiring costs less than losing 20% of your value.
What You Must Disclose About Electrical Defects
You must tell buyers about electrical problems.
The TA6 form asks about electrical conditions and safety. Consumer Protection laws say hiding information is illegal. Electrical defects count as material.
EICR tests check electrical safety. Failed tests must be disclosed. Tell buyers what remedial work is needed.
Previous electrical incidents can’t be hidden. Fires, shocks, or blown fuses matter. Insurance claims for electrical damage must be reported, too.
Uncertified electrical work needs to be disclosed.
You must tell about:
- Failed EICR tests
- Past electrical incidents
- Uncertified work done
- Age of the fuse box
- Known safety problems
Tell buyers how old your consumer unit is. Ancient fuse boxes scare buyers. Old cloth-covered wiring must be disclosed.
Hiding electrical defects causes big legal trouble. Buyers can sue after buying. I’ve seen sellers pay £30,000 for hiding dangerous wiring.
Surveyors find electrical problems during inspections. They discover what you hid. This destroys trust and kills sales.
Get all papers ready early. EICR certificates, electrician invoices, and insurance letters. Give everything to your solicitor.
Courts always help buyers who were lied to about safety issues.
Honesty protects you legally. Tell the truth from day one about your electrics.
Rewiring Costs and Deciding Whether to Fix First
Deciding whether to rewire before selling depends on costs and what value you’ll get back.
Understanding electrical work prices and timelines helps you make the right choice.
Full Rewiring Costs
Complete rewiring for a two-bed house costs £3,000 to £5,000.
Three-bed houses run £4,000 to £7,000 for full rewiring. Larger four-bed properties cost £6,000 to £10,000 or more. Costs include a new consumer unit, sockets, switches, and all cables. Prices go up if you need to lift floorboards or chase walls. Replastering damaged walls after rewiring adds £1,000 to £3,000.
Older properties with difficult access cost more than newer homes.
Partial Rewiring and Remedial Work
Sometimes you only need to fix dangerous faults rather than rewire everything.
Replacing an old fuse box with a modern consumer unit costs £500 to £1,200. Fixing failed circuits or dangerous wiring runs costs from £300 to £1,500 per issue. Adding missing earth bonding costs £200 to £600. Upgrading sockets and switches in one room costs £300 to £800.
An electrician can tell you if partial work is enough or if full rewiring is needed.
EICR Testing and Certification
EICR tests check your whole electrical system for safety.
Testing costs £150 to £300 for most homes. The report lists any faults as urgent, important, or improvements. Urgent faults must be fixed before the property is safe. If you’re selling without building regulations certificates, electrical certificates become even more important.
Valid EICR certificates last 5 to 10 years, depending on property type.
Timeline for Electrical Work
Full rewiring takes 5 to 10 days for most homes.
Electricians need to lift floorboards, run new cables, and fit new sockets. Replastering and redecorating adds another 1 to 2 weeks. Partial rewiring or remedial work takes 1 to 3 days. Getting EICR testing done takes just a few hours.
The total timeline from test to completion is typically 2 to 4 weeks for full rewiring.
Should You Rewire Before Selling
Spending £5,000 on rewiring typically adds £8,000 to £12,000 to your sale price.
Properties with old or dangerous wiring lose 10% to 15% of their value. A £250,000 house could drop to £212,500 to £225,000 without proper electrics. Fixing problems usually makes sense if repairs cost less than the value you’ll lose. Learn what not to fix when selling to avoid wasting money.
Sometimes, selling as-is to cash buyers makes more sense than spending thousands on rewiring.
Roadblocks When Selling Through Traditional Channels
Selling houses with electrical problems gets really hard.
Mortgage surveys fail when the electrics are bad. Banks refuse to lend until the wiring gets fixed. This kills most potential buyers straight away.
Lenders demand satisfactory EICR certificates before giving mortgages. No certificate means no money. Buyers can’t complete without sorting electrics first.
Estate agents struggle to market properties with electrical issues. Many refuse listings with dangerous wiring. Others take listings but put little effort into them.
Safety fears make buyers run away.
Common problems:
- Sales collapsing repeatedly
- Buyers panic about fires
- Low offers after surveys
- Endless renegotiations
I’ve watched buyers withdraw the moment electricians mention rewiring. Fear of fires destroys negotiations completely.
Electrical surveys reveal dangerous problems. Buyers demand huge price drops or just disappear. Some renegotiate £15,000 lower after seeing reports.
Very few buyers want electrical problems. Your buyer pool shrinks to almost nothing. Only brave DIY buyers or investors consider it.
Your house sits empty for months. Five or six price drops become normal. Each failed sale makes buyers more suspicious about why it won’t sell.
Insurance requirements cause big delays. Insurers want electrical certificates before covering properties. This holds up the exchange constantly.
Conveyancing takes longer with electrical issues. Solicitors demand extra reports and guarantees.
Traditional selling rarely works well for electrical defects.
Why Property Buyers Today Buys Properties with Electrical Faults
Here’s the reality…
Selling a property with faulty wiring presents real challenges. If you’d rather not deal with full rewiring costs, electrical safety certificates, and buyers backing out when their surveyor flags potential hazards, I completely understand that.
That’s where we can assist.
Now, I should be upfront—we won’t offer you the full market price because we have our own costs and we aim to sell the property on as quickly as possible. But here are the reasons so many people still choose to sell their house fast with us…
Speed
Most house sales take months, but we can buy your property in as little as 7 days.
This quick process is perfect if you need to move soon or want to avoid being stuck in a long chain of buyers and sellers. We have the cash on hand so don’t need to wait for mortgages or a chain to collapse.
Guaranteed Sale
Did you know 1 in 3 sales fall through on the open market?
We know how frustrating it is to get 6 months into a process and have a buyer pull out.
When we give you the final price for your house, that’s the amount you’ll get. Guaranteed!
No Costs
You won’t face any costs with us.
We handle all the expenses involved in buying your property, including legal fees and surveys. You get cash in your bank when the sale is complete, and there are no surprise estate agent commissions to worry about.
No Stress Or Hassle
Our team supports you through the whole selling process.
We keep you updated about what’s happening and answer any questions quickly. You’ll always understand what’s going on with your sale and what happens next.
Free Property Valuation
Our property experts will value your house at no cost to you.
They look carefully at your property and check local market prices to give you an accurate figure. This professional service comes with no obligations.
No Viewings Required
Forget about cleaning and tidying for viewings.
We don’t need multiple visits or open houses to make our offer. This means no strangers walking through your home, and no disruption to your daily life.
All Properties Welcome
Whether your house needs work or is in perfect condition, we’ll buy it.
We have experience with all types of properties and conditions. This means you can sell your house to us no matter what state it’s in.
Professional Legal Service
Our expert team manages all the legal requirements for you.
We work with experienced property lawyers who make sure everything runs smoothly, and put your property at the top of their list. This gives you peace of mind that your sale is being handled properly from start to finish.
