Electrician's opinion please (part one)

[gumboot]

A friend of my son's has inherited a two bedroomed terraced solid stonewalled house (built 19th century) through the death of grandparents. The grandson has been living in the house since December and the house is up for sale via estate agents.

The daughter of a builder has made an offer for the house and has paid for a surveyors report. The builder also arranged for a mate of his, an "electrician" (credentials unseen and no vehicle), to look at the wiring. The buyer is now trying to reduce the offer price previously made by claiming that the electrician's report "condemned" the electrics and the house would need re-wiring. The estate agent has also been given this "report" and has telephoned the seller saying that the electrics have been "condemned" and are "dangerous" and wants the seller to look at the report.

The house was partially rewired a few years following the building of an extension. All the sockets in the house are the modern three-pin type although we suspect that apart from the extension, most of the wiring is still the old rubber sheathed type. There is rewirable fused Wylex unit but no RCD device of any sort.

(continued)