I am thinking of purchasing a home that has ungrounded wiring. Is the seller responsible for the upgrade?

Question

I am thinking of purchasing a home that has ungrounded wiring. Is the seller responsible for the upgrade?

Answer 1

No. This is part of the buyer/seller agreement. You either accept it as-is (probably at a lower price) or haggle over getting the work done and agreeing on a new price. This could be very expensive so make sure you know what costs you are looking at.

Answer 2

Some cities do a home inspection before you can sell the

house and make the home owner upgrade the electric. But

I bet that is not your case because that is done before it can

be listed. It is a good bargaining chip for you though.  I would

get an estimate (at a rough estimate) and try to get them to

go at least half.

Answer 3

the seller is not responsible unless u state this in ur contract to purchase under the " conditions" sections.......i would think that they would not agree to it...just my guess....why not get a price on the work to be done and take that amount off of the asking price or agreed price......

lic. gen. contractor

Answer 4

Some cities have a law that requires a homeowner to upgrade to code before they can sell. Some even have a law that requires the home to meet certain environmental and energy efficiency standards before they can sell. If your location doesn't have those requirements then you will be responsible for any code upgrades after you purchase the house. A house, with ungrounded wiring, is pretty old. My house was built in the late sixties and it has a three wire (grounded) electrical system. If it is old enough to have a two wire system then there are a lot of other possible drawbacks that should also be looked at. Things like inadequate insulation, possible asbestos usage on pipe wraps and in tile installations, lead solder joints on copper plumbing, and/or iron water pipes which could be badly rusted. Upgrading the wiring alone could run in to the tens of thousands of dollars.

Answer 5

Not necessarily.  You know the house has ungrounded wiring.

If you were told the house had grounded wiring and find out it didn't, then you'd have cause.