Home closing question (1 Viewer)

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Why is DW writing in italics?

Not intentional. Something acting up on my computer. Probably my mouse battery. When it gets low the cursor tends to wander and click while I type.

 

[the moops]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

He probably expected it because he asked for it and they agreed to do it.

 

[bleachercreacher]

Interesting that you did not ask them, after inspection, to upgrade the home wiring to meet current code, which language would have been clear, but rather you asked them to address the grounding of the outlets.

Interesting that the problem, or the lack of a correct fix could have, in your words, been discovered not by sticking a meter in the outlet but by undoing a few screws and looking. A simple pre-closing inspection of this essential term would have disclosed the problem while the sellers remedies would perhaps have included not consummating the sale and the reliance costs on both sides of moving.

Were you afforded an opportunity to inspect all work before closing?

I specifically asked them to ground to outlets. No, I didn't take outlets off the wall to check that they were grounded. I inserted a test meter into each outlet, which reads grounded when wired this way. The outlets were purposefully wired in a method to trick the test meters. If we didn't start a kitchen renovation, I wouldn't never have caught it, the kitchen contractors electrician did.

 

[the moops]

I live in a 60 year old house and this #### feels ####### new to me. Had only lived in turn of the century #### before this one.

 

[bleachercreacher]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

 

[bleachercreacher]

1. How much money will it cost to get it wired the way you want? Going to court may be worth it, depending on how much we're talking.

2. Is it possible their electrician did this on his own? Usually electricians are licensed - you may have more leverage against him than them, especially if the sellers are saying that they just handed it off to him with instructions to meet the contract.

I've got an electrician coming Wednesday to give me a quote, but we're probably looking at a minimum of $10K according to the contractor working on the kitchen. 3300 sqft and 3 stories, so it's going to be expensive. Their electrician admitted to intentionally wiring this way, so it's honestly probable.

 

[jwb]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

He probably expected it because he asked for it and they agreed to do it.

I'm pretty sure the extent of what he was asking for was unknown. They might have thought he meant three pronged outlets. Precise contract language may matter - he technically did get "grounded outlets" (three hole outlets). He did not get "outlets properly grounded to current code".

 

[the moops]

I would deal with the sellers and not their electrician. I imagine it is their responsibility to make sure the work was done correctly before closing. Let them try and recoup anything from the electrician.

 

[jwb]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this? The lawyers here might be able to help you better.

 

[fruity pebbles]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

GFCI outlets are a pretty acceptable way of fixing this in old houses, just cant plug sensitive electronics directly in without a surge protector. I mean do you really think its ok to ask, even before the sale was final, to run new wire from the breaker box to every outlet in the house? Thats like saying you want all the copper piping replaced. I mean i suppose you can ask anything you want but stuff like that kinda goes with buying an old house. Its not like it was knob and tube.

 

[Thorn]

I would deal with the sellers and not their electrician. I imagine it is their responsibility to make sure the work was done correctly before closing. Let them try and recoup anything from the electrician.

Really? If you hire an expert to do work, you verify it? I mean, if an electrician told me this is how it's done, how would I know differently?

Seems like it's likely that they handed the work off to the electrician and figured they had done what they were obligated to do. I would put pressure on the electrician to make this right. That would probably even bring the sellers on board to cooperate.

 

[bleachercreacher]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this?

The wiring in the house could've been updated later in the 1970's and been 3 wire romex instead of 2 wire romex. The house had a bunch of renovations in 1971, so there was a chance of this. A lot of electricians didn't know what to do with the ground wire or homeowners only wanted two prong outlets, so the ground was never connected at the time. When they fixed the wiring for cheap, I assumed that this was the case and all was good.

 

[bleachercreacher]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

GFCI outlets are a pretty acceptable way of fixing this in old houses, just cant plug sensitive electronics directly in without a surge protector. I mean do you really think its ok to ask, even before the sale was final, to run new wire from the breaker box to every outlet in the house? Thats like saying you want all the copper piping replaced. I mean i suppose you can ask anything you want but stuff like that kinda goes with buying an old house. Its not like it was knob and tube.

See my post directly above this. My assumption was that there was already a ground in the wire. The electrician not following code was never a possibility in anyone's mind I think.

 

[the moops]

I would deal with the sellers and not their electrician. I imagine it is their responsibility to make sure the work was done correctly before closing. Let them try and recoup anything from the electrician.

Really? If you hire an expert to do work, you verify it? I mean, if an electrician told me this is how it's done, how would I know differently?Seems like it's likely that they handed the work off to the electrician and figured they had done what they were obligated to do. I would put pressure on the electrician to make this right. That would probably even bring the sellers on board to cooperate.

buyers contract us with seller. seller was supposed to get certain work down to codecode, they did not. I would lot expect the seller to verify, but when #### goes wrong, they are the responsible party in relation to the buyer.

 

[jwb]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this?

The wiring in the house could've been updated later in the 1970's and been 3 wire romex instead of 2 wire romex. The house had a bunch of renovations in 1971, so there was a chance of this. A lot of electricians didn't know what to do with the ground wire or homeowners only wanted two prong outlets, so the ground was never connected at the time. When they fixed the wiring for cheap, I assumed that this was the case and all was good.

I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on you (I'm really not, and I think it's a lousy situation for everyone), but that's silly. I can't imagine a scenario where the entire house was rewired, but the old outlets were kept.

 

[bleachercreacher]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this?

The wiring in the house could've been updated later in the 1970's and been 3 wire romex instead of 2 wire romex. The house had a bunch of renovations in 1971, so there was a chance of this. A lot of electricians didn't know what to do with the ground wire or homeowners only wanted two prong outlets, so the ground was never connected at the time. When they fixed the wiring for cheap, I assumed that this was the case and all was good.

I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on you (I'm really not, and I think it's a lousy situation for everyone), but that's silly. I can't imagine a scenario where the entire house was rewired, but the old outlets were kept.

No, I understand. I spoke with an electrician and did a lot of Internet research at the time. In the 1970's there just weren't a lot of 3 prong outlets. They could've even replaced the outlets, just with 2 prong outlets. It was very common according to the electrician I spoke with. He said he sees it all the time.

 

[The Tick]

If their GFCI solution isn't acceptable to you, it's time to get a lawyer, I don't think anyone here would just given in to your request to pay to have the house rewired.

If they are honest people, they were likely either scammed or convinced by the electrician that he was doing the correct thing. Hard to blame them for not understanding or checking what an electrician told them when you yourself did a pretty poor check on a pretty major request you put in the contract. They now understand what was done is not legal, and they offered an affordable solution to bring the house up to code. There are just too many variables for any person to agree to your request without going to the legal system when it may cost upwards of $10,000 out of pocket. And I don't think this makes them bad or dishonest people, that much money can have a major effect on a family.

If they are dishonest people and knew what was going on the whole time, well in that case no way they are going to willingly give you anymore, so court is the only option there.

 

[jwb]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this?

The wiring in the house could've been updated later in the 1970's and been 3 wire romex instead of 2 wire romex. The house had a bunch of renovations in 1971, so there was a chance of this. A lot of electricians didn't know what to do with the ground wire or homeowners only wanted two prong outlets, so the ground was never connected at the time. When they fixed the wiring for cheap, I assumed that this was the case and all was good.

I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on you (I'm really not, and I think it's a lousy situation for everyone), but that's silly. I can't imagine a scenario where the entire house was rewired, but the old outlets were kept.

No, I understand. I spoke with an electrician and did a lot of Internet research at the time. In the 1970's there just weren't a lot of 3 prong outlets. They could've even replaced the outlets, just with 2 prong outlets. It was very common according to the electrician I spoke with. He said he sees it all the time.

Good point. I stand corrected.

 

[bleachercreacher]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this? The lawyers here might be able to help you better.

I missed your edit. I looked at the contract last night, but I don't have it in front of me to type out. It lists what the inspector said, which is that the outlets are ungrounded. Then my realtor wrote that client wants grounded outlets installed throughout the house.

 

[the moops]

how much did this house cost?

 

[bleachercreacher]

how much did this house cost?

$275,000. Not that it matters, but the sellers are two brothers selling their parents house after their mom died.

 

[the moops]

how much did this house cost?

$275,000. Not that it matters, but the sellers are two brothers selling their parents house after their mom died.

I bet these scumbags killed their own mother

 

[Random]

People saying that he made an unreasonable request on the offer need to stop. You can ask for anything during negotiations. Electrical issues are a very big concern for buyers. If the seller agreed to grounding outlets as part of the sale contingency, then thats what should have been done.

Sounds like you need to contact an attorney. I don't see how you lose this.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Interesting that you did not ask them, after inspection, to upgrade the home wiring to meet current code, which language would have been clear, but rather you asked them to address the grounding of the outlets.

Interesting that the problem, or the lack of a correct fix could have, in your words, been discovered not by sticking a meter in the outlet but by undoing a few screws and looking. A simple pre-closing inspection of this essential term would have disclosed the problem while the sellers remedies would perhaps have included not consummating the sale and the reliance costs on both sides of moving.

Were you afforded an opportunity to inspect all work before closing?

I specifically asked them to ground to outlets. No, I didn't take outlets off the wall to check that they were grounded. I inserted a test meter into each outlet, which reads grounded when wired this way. The outlets were purposefully wired in a method to trick the test meters. If we didn't start a kitchen renovation, I wouldn't never have caught it, the kitchen contractors electrician did.

I'm probably still on your side here, I just think your language could have been more clear, and that you could have confirmed fairly easily without an onerous step. Had you done so this could have been addressed before some remedies were foreclosed.

In the end I agree that they did in fact not ground the outlets, and that what they did would allow for deceptive readings from a meter which may be all that is required by due diligence in inspecting the work.

Please don't mind me, apparently I woke on the side of the bed that said "DW today you will be a contrarian #####." Good luck with this.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this?

The wiring in the house could've been updated later in the 1970's and been 3 wire romex instead of 2 wire romex. The house had a bunch of renovations in 1971, so there was a chance of this. A lot of electricians didn't know what to do with the ground wire or homeowners only wanted two prong outlets, so the ground was never connected at the time. When they fixed the wiring for cheap, I assumed that this was the case and all was good.

I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on you (I'm really not, and I think it's a lousy situation for everyone), but that's silly. I can't imagine a scenario where the entire house was rewired, but the old outlets were kept.

No, I understand. I spoke with an electrician and did a lot of Internet research at the time. In the 1970's there just weren't a lot of 3 prong outlets. They could've even replaced the outlets, just with 2 prong outlets. It was very common according to the electrician I spoke with. He said he sees it all the time.

With all of your knowledge I find it weird you did not take the simple step to visually verify, given that it could have been done in a minute. Note- I mean weird, not wrong or that you were necessarily obligated, just 'weird".

 

[bleachercreacher]

Interesting that you did not ask them, after inspection, to upgrade the home wiring to meet current code, which language would have been clear, but rather you asked them to address the grounding of the outlets.

Interesting that the problem, or the lack of a correct fix could have, in your words, been discovered not by sticking a meter in the outlet but by undoing a few screws and looking. A simple pre-closing inspection of this essential term would have disclosed the problem while the sellers remedies would perhaps have included not consummating the sale and the reliance costs on both sides of moving.

Were you afforded an opportunity to inspect all work before closing?

I specifically asked them to ground to outlets. No, I didn't take outlets off the wall to check that they were grounded. I inserted a test meter into each outlet, which reads grounded when wired this way. The outlets were purposefully wired in a method to trick the test meters. If we didn't start a kitchen renovation, I wouldn't never have caught it, the kitchen contractors electrician did.

I'm probably still on your side here, I just think your language could have been more clear, and that you could have confirmed fairly easily without an onerous step. Had you done so this could have been addressed before some remedies were foreclosed.In the end I agree that they did in fact not ground the outlets, and that what they did would allow for deceptive readings from a meter which may be all that is required by due diligence in inspecting the work.

Please don't mind me, apparently I woke on the side of the bed that said "DW today you will be a contrarian #####." Good luck with this.

I've got thick skin. Had I known this was even a possibility, I would've taken outlets off the wall. Heck, the electrician working with our kitchen renovation was surprised. He had tested the outlets just like us. He didn't know that it would trick a meter, but said it made since after the fact.

 

[Random]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this?

The wiring in the house could've been updated later in the 1970's and been 3 wire romex instead of 2 wire romex. The house had a bunch of renovations in 1971, so there was a chance of this. A lot of electricians didn't know what to do with the ground wire or homeowners only wanted two prong outlets, so the ground was never connected at the time. When they fixed the wiring for cheap, I assumed that this was the case and all was good.

I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on you (I'm really not, and I think it's a lousy situation for everyone), but that's silly. I can't imagine a scenario where the entire house was rewired, but the old outlets were kept.

No, I understand. I spoke with an electrician and did a lot of Internet research at the time. In the 1970's there just weren't a lot of 3 prong outlets. They could've even replaced the outlets, just with 2 prong outlets. It was very common according to the electrician I spoke with. He said he sees it all the time.

With all of your knowledge I find it weird you did not take the simple step to visually verify, given that it could have been done in a minute. Note- I mean weird, not wrong or that you were necessarily obligated, just 'weird".

Thing is there are 100's of things that "could" be checked closer. The meter was made to quickly check the outlet.

 

[the moops]

This not weird at all. Nobody expects an electrician to scam them like this.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Communication breakdowns or disconnects fascinate me. So too does dishonesty. It is interesting to me that the electrician who did this work apparently supplied something without any real value other than allowing modern cords to go into the outlets sans adaptors. Seems, given the usual charges for work rates vs. supplies, that he could have installed ground fault interrupter outlets for the same work/installation charge, with only a slight upgrade in supplies charge, and, you know, actually provided some real value at nearly an identical price. You think he would at least have inquired a bit and made or encouraged at least that possibility.

 

[Mr.Pack]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this?

The wiring in the house could've been updated later in the 1970's and been 3 wire romex instead of 2 wire romex. The house had a bunch of renovations in 1971, so there was a chance of this. A lot of electricians didn't know what to do with the ground wire or homeowners only wanted two prong outlets, so the ground was never connected at the time. When they fixed the wiring for cheap, I assumed that this was the case and all was good.

I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on you (I'm really not, and I think it's a lousy situation for everyone), but that's silly. I can't imagine a scenario where the entire house was rewired, but the old outlets were kept.

No, I understand. I spoke with an electrician and did a lot of Internet research at the time. In the 1970's there just weren't a lot of 3 prong outlets. They could've even replaced the outlets, just with 2 prong outlets. It was very common according to the electrician I spoke with. He said he sees it all the time.

With all of your knowledge I find it weird you did not take the simple step to visually verify, given that it could have been done in a minute. Note- I mean weird, not wrong or that you were necessarily obligated, just 'weird".

This is where I'm at here. I think if it's me, I just pull an outlet to confirm, not rely on a meter. Have to take the covers off anyway to paint.

That said, the electrician is still liable for deceiving them and doing a ####ty job.

 

[Zegras11]

I would deal with the sellers and not their electrician. I imagine it is their responsibility to make sure the work was done correctly before closing. Let them try and recoup anything from the electrician.

It really depends on the exact wording in his original request.

 

[El Floppo]

 

[jwb]

Communication breakdowns or disconnects fascinate me. So too does dishonesty. It is interesting to me that the electrician who did this work apparently supplied something without any real value other than allowing modern cords to go into the outlets sans adaptors. Seems, given the usual charges for work rates vs. supplies, that he could have installed ground fault interrupter outlets for the same work/installation charge, with only a slight upgrade in supplies charge, and, you know, actually provided some real value at nearly an identical price. You think he would at least have inquired a bit and made or encouraged at least that possibility.

Me too - here's how I read it:

To the electrician (and maybe the seller, but maybe not), it wasn't really about physically grounding and replacing two wire romex with three in the entire home as it was "install three prong outlets".

I'm not sure about the code thing, too - say i had an older home with two prong outlets. Well, we all know those are pretty useless here in 2016. Do I really have to rewire my entire home to get three prongs? Or for older homes, is the workaround acceptable? I would agree with any new install, code rules. But I know (at least where I live) that sometimes code exceptions are made for existing older stuff.

 

[The Tick]

Is there anything else you would accept here besides a check for the amount it is going to take to rewire the house? As you would not have agreed to buy the house without the grounding done, or the price reduced, they probably would not have agreed to do the full re-wire or reduce the price of the house the amount of the full rewire, just the GFCI code option. Do you see any middle ground here, or just they are responsible for the contract they signed and will need to meet it?

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Did you really expect them to rewire every outlet of a 65 year old house? Old wiring, plumbing etc kinda goes with buying a house that old. If you want all new stuff, buy a new house.

Yes, they agreed to it. If they had countered with installing GFI outlets then, I would've lowered my offer and walked away if they didn't accept.

so you actually *did* expect a rewire then.

why didn't you just ask for that instead of outlets?

eta - can you tell us specifically, word for word, what the contract says about this?

The wiring in the house could've been updated later in the 1970's and been 3 wire romex instead of 2 wire romex. The house had a bunch of renovations in 1971, so there was a chance of this. A lot of electricians didn't know what to do with the ground wire or homeowners only wanted two prong outlets, so the ground was never connected at the time. When they fixed the wiring for cheap, I assumed that this was the case and all was good.

I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on you (I'm really not, and I think it's a lousy situation for everyone), but that's silly. I can't imagine a scenario where the entire house was rewired, but the old outlets were kept.

No, I understand. I spoke with an electrician and did a lot of Internet research at the time. In the 1970's there just weren't a lot of 3 prong outlets. They could've even replaced the outlets, just with 2 prong outlets. It was very common according to the electrician I spoke with. He said he sees it all the time.

With all of your knowledge I find it weird you did not take the simple step to visually verify, given that it could have been done in a minute. Note- I mean weird, not wrong or that you were necessarily obligated, just 'weird".

Thing is there are 100's of things that "could" be checked closer. The meter was made to quickly check the outlet.

I get that. I am a victim, I suppose, of my own nature. When I look at a house a open I and close every door and window, drawer and cabinet front. I throw every switch, test every outlet, open the electrical panel, check the water heater for sediment buildup, listen for pipe knocks and floor squeaks, check the water pressure, check gas fittings with soapy water, look at igniters in furnaces and fireplaces, look for mold and mildew, watch for water stains, check doors and floors for level, open an outlet to check for aluminum wiring or worse, look at insulation levels in the attic, check dates on appliances and furnaces and water heaters, look for foundation cracks or indications of slab settlement or movement. I look at downspout seams and eyeball the shingles. I check whether soffits vents have been painted shut. I am a victim of my anal half german nature.

 

[gianmarco]

Why is DW writing in italics?

I don't know

 

[gianmarco]

I am a victim of my anal half german nature.

This is sig-worthy, right?

 

[Chadstroma]

Why is DW writing in italics?

Not intentional. Something acting up on my computer. Probably my mouse battery. When it gets low the cursor tends to wander and click while I type.

It is not acceptable to get a new mouse battery. You need to rewire the whole computer.

 

[Kanil]

I think you might be ####ed here. Your inspector signed off on it and it may come down to that.

 

[bleachercreacher]

I think you might be ####ed here. Your inspector signed off on it and it may come down to that.

Which is why I asked. I have a meeting with an attorny on Friday. I'm not looking for anything over the original agreement, and I may be SOL. I'm just trying to find out.

 

[tdog]

I think you may want to make sure understand the wiring issue here. The common way to add a ground to a two prong plug in an older house is to run a copper wire to the metal box holding the plug. The metal conduit provides a link back to the panel. I have never heard of attaching the ground to the neutral and that does sound wrong as you not providing an alternate path for electricity that is needed for a ground.

It is rather simple to run a copper wire to the metal box at each plug. You also need to test that the metal conduit links to the panel.

http://structuretech1.com/2009/04/how-to-fix-ungrounded-three-prong-outlets/

 

[shadyridr]

How did your electrician not hear of this? Sounds like something an electrician should know. There's even a wiki article about it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootleg_ground

Maybe you should hire the shady electrician. At least he sounds like he knows what he's doing.

 

[jwb]

I think you might be ####ed here. Your inspector signed off on it and it may come down to that.

This is what my wife (a real estate law paralegal) said. The inspector should have known to pull an outlet, or check the panel for grounds, especially since outlets were in the contract. She thinks the GFCI solution will be what comes of this.

I do wish you luck - keep us posted.

 

[thecatch]

I think you might be ####ed here. Your inspector signed off on it and it may come down to that.

This is what my wife (a real estate law paralegal) said. The inspector should have known to pull an outlet, or check the panel for grounds, especially since outlets were in the contract. She thinks the GFCI solution will be what comes of this.

I do wish you luck - keep us posted.

I sort of lost track of the story somewhere, but if the buyer can show the electrician did the work in a way designed to "trick" the testing meter, he might still have a solid legal case on a fraud theory, regardless of whether the buyer signed some sort of release based on his final inspection. At least that's something I'd look into.

 

[gianmarco]

I think you might be ####ed here. Your inspector signed off on it and it may come down to that.

This is what my wife (a real estate law paralegal) said. The inspector should have known to pull an outlet, or check the panel for grounds, especially since outlets were in the contract. She thinks the GFCI solution will be what comes of this.

I do wish you luck - keep us posted.

If that's the case, then he has a case against the inspector. Either way, someone other than the OP dropped the ball here and should ultimately be responsible.

 

[shadyridr]

Yeah i wouldnt rule the inspector out for fault here. Hes an inspector and should know these things.

Anyway, if its me id just got with the GFCIs

 

[jwb]

I think you might be ####ed here. Your inspector signed off on it and it may come down to that.

This is what my wife (a real estate law paralegal) said. The inspector should have known to pull an outlet, or check the panel for grounds, especially since outlets were in the contract. She thinks the GFCI solution will be what comes of this.

I do wish you luck - keep us posted.

If that's the case, then he has a case against the inspector. Either way, someone other than the OP dropped the ball here and should ultimately be responsible.

It'll depend on the exact language of the contract, the laws in that area, etc.

Hey, I hope he does get his house rewired for free. But the practical side of me doubts that.

 

[matttyl]

I think you might be ####ed here. Your inspector signed off on it and it may come down to that.

This is what my wife (a real estate law paralegal) said. The inspector should have known to pull an outlet, or check the panel for grounds, especially since outlets were in the contract. She thinks the GFCI solution will be what comes of this.

I do wish you luck - keep us posted.

How visible is the panel, and the wiring going to/from it? Is it completely behind drywall, or is it just anchored to a block wall and you can see everything going to/from it? If it's the later, I would think you don't have much of a case here as it was very visible that new wiring wasn't run - and potentially 2 wire romex (or earlier) was still there.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Courts love finality at closings. Fraud, deception and failure to disclose are exceptions to the general rule. Due diligence is required.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

You are not getting Jack Spit from the homeowner. I would tell you to pound salt and sue the inspector or anyone else you want but you ain't getting a dime out of me.

And you as the buyer should have had your inspector look for these types of things. 6 months later you start a project and want to sue the previous homeowner? That's why they have inspectors, get a better one next time if it means this much to you.

I hate people who try to act like a victim and want somebody to always be responsible. You bought a home built in 1951...I bought one form 1946 that I am closing(selling) in a couple weeks, bought it 3 years ago. It was fixer upper and needed a lot of love. We found things after we bought the home but we sucked it up and worked hard on the home, we din't cry victim. Hopefully that home is selling for close to 75% more than we paid about 3 years ago. Roll your sleeves up and stop crying, you knew there were going to be issues or else you would have bought a new cookie cutter gingerbread house like your friends. The same friends who have big parties or get togethers and show off their new home and you can't even have anyone over for a cocktail because the place is under constant renovation.

Good Luck