I’ve just purchased a house and my insurance company is telling me I need an electrical inspection form for insurance. What do I do?
An electrical inspection form is a simply form you can get from your insurance company and have your local electrician fill out for you. If they are requiring an electrical inspection to be carried out your electrician can do that for you too.
Why Do I Need An Electrical Inspection Form For Insurance?
Some insurance companies will ask for an electrical inspection in order for you to get insurance.
Due to code changes over time causes electrical wiring to become out of date.
Insurance company will usually provide you with a letter asking if there’s any outdated wiring of hazardous conditions to the wiring. They will usually want a report from an electrician.
Usually get your local electrician to fill this out for you.
Your local electrician will charge a small fee, have a look at the job.
Do I Need An Electrical Inspection Form To Get Insurance?
Some insurance companies will require that you get an electrical inspection done before they will give you insurance.
This usually happens when the purchase of a home takes place or sale of a home.
They will want to make sure that there are no shock and fire hazards and all the electrical is up-to-date.
They will give you a form or you can get a form directly from your electrician. In addition they may want an official inspection report from an inspection authority.
Some insurance companies will hold out getting you insurance until you have this done.
You can shop around with different insurance companies to see what the different requirements of each broker or insured is.
No insurance companies requirements are the same.
Who Does The Actual Electrical Inspection?
The actual electrical inspection can be done by your local licensed electrician.
They can come in and give you a report of what needs to be done if anything in the home.
The electrician were list things off, like incorrect few sizes any missing or broken switch or plug plates.
They can also look at any damage light fixtures or any out of date wiring that does not have a ground present.
This person will also look for things like proper GFCI protection.
They will then give you a full inspection report of their findings and you can pass on to your insurance company insurance.
Why Does The Insurance Company Want This Done?
The insurance company will want to except as a little responsibility or liability as possible.
This insurance companies are not experts they will want a consultation for an inspection from an expert.
This would be your local licensed electrician.
Once this is done insurance company would feel satisfied with the property being inspected and then give you insurance.
Can I Switch Insurance Companies?
Yes you can switch insurance companies.
Not all insurance companies requirements are the same.
Some insurance companies are more strict and others. That’s why it pays our shop around.
Some insurance companies will take older wiring in consideration however they will make your policy hire for a higher risk of liability.
In any case, and findings that we have between all insurance companies as they do not want to see old knob and tube wiring.
Does The Inspection Have To Be Done By An Inspection Authority?
In some cases the insurance company will not except the license electrician’s word for it.
In these cases they will ask for an actual inspection authority to come in and inspect the home.
This can be done by your local inspection authority and they vary from province to province or state to state.
Here in Canada our local power utility is our inspection authority.
The electrician would need to pull a permit to get the inspection authority and write up an official inspection authority report so that you can get your insurance company.
When this happens the cost will be higher but you can have peace of mind knowing that his inspector properly.
Can This Be Done Before The House Is Sold?
It would be in the seller‘s best interest to have an electrical inspection done before you sell the home.
There’s a good chance that the buyer will have a whole inspection done and pick up any electrical deficiencies.
Once it’s done they will then try to bargain the price of the house down based on our inspection report.
We see this frequent tactic used to get the house cheaper.
If you decide as a homeowner before you sell the home to get a proper electrical inspection done and there’s not too much could be said.
If you get this electrical inspection done you can show a formal report to the buyer to show that this has been done.
They be pretty hard pressed to argue with that. Getting it done before you sell the home is an asset.
Who Is Responsible To Have The Repairs Done?
Depending on the electrical deficiencies that are found in electrical inspection.
It would be up to you homeowner as the weather you would like to have them fixed or not for yourself at home.
It is in your best interest to do so.
If the buyer had to do them then they will try to get the price dropped at the house.
You can probably get a better rate from your electrician to look at the difference is repaired before you sell the home.
Electricians to not usually do this to work for the buyer because they usually don’t get hired to do the work.
As the seller your electrician can do the work for you, and give it to your insurance so that you get a good understanding for the sale of the home.
Why Is The Insurance Company Asking For This After So Many Years?
After a number of years and after code rules changing and equipment in houses get out of date.
Your insurance company may periodically ask you to have these things expecting a check.
An oil tank is a good example of this. They last for 10 to 15 years then need to be replaced.
The same thing applies for the electrical components. After some time your insurance company may ask you for the inspection report from an electrician or a certified inspection authority to make sure you’re wiring is still good.
This includes like things like knob and tube wiring.
It also would include things like ungrounded wiring.
They may also want to check on the number of GFCI receptacles you have installed. Some insurance companies will not except an old 60 amp fuse panel.
In this case you will need to have the stuff upgraded in order to qualify for insurance or sell the home.
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