how do I hold the person that wired a house i bought accountable ?

[Thunderchild]

I bought a house. a 1946 ex-council house. It has been rewired and I don't know who. every time I open something up I find it to be ever more dangerous than the last. I have now found a socket with half the sires in it with cut open insulation which could short out on the bare earth wires. essentially this whole house is looking ever more like a fire ready to start. Personally I'd like to kill the person that did this but i'm a bit more civil than that. What can I do ? I'd like this person to be held accountable, this wireing is life threatening to say the least and I'm fumking that such discusting standards should be found in this house.

What can i do ?

[jackthehat]

Absolutely nothing, I'm afraid.

[hc4361]

Did you buy it from the council?
If not it will be impossible to find out who did the wiring if the previous owner doesn't know or won't tell you.

[sara3]

did you have a survey done before you bought the house? ask who ever did your conveyancing.

I assume you're getting the house re-wired?

[bednobs]

I presume you had the chance to inspect the house before buying it? You should have looked at the wiring then (or got your surveyor to do so), and used this as a negotiating tool to bring the price down (or perhaps it was already priced to reflect the wiring was rubbish) Don't forget, electrical standards haven't always been as they are now, and things do tend to deteriorate over time

[boxtops]

My house is from 1860 and many people have dabbled in my wiring over the years, it's clear - but my homeowner survey before I bought it told me that I would have to have work done. If you didn't have this sort of survey done, then you wouldn't know - but you have no way of knowing who did this work before you bought it, it could have been previous well-meaning owners (as mine appears to have been).

[alavahalf]

..... ''how do I hold the person that wired a house I bought accountable ? ''...

You dont ... you should hold the surveyor accountable ... not unless you did'nt have a surveyors report .... It then falls on you... ( The house that I bought )

You were'nt trying to save a few pennies were you ...

[Bivvysenior]

I have to ask are you qualified to be taking the wiring apart?
If the faults are as serious as you think , stop using the electricity as it is the silent killer. Get a qualified part P electrician in first, get his advice and go from there..
Then look at who you want to sue or is a case of Caveat Emptor .