4

My wife had an electrician in the house 10+ years ago and thought he was removing the old knob and tube wiring as part of the overall system upgrade to 200 amp service. An electrician there yesterday (to fix a light switch) discovered that the knob and tube wiring is still active in some of the lighting fixtures and switches.

We accepted a lowball offer on the house sale on the condition that the buyer not ask for any repairs to be made (or concessions provided in lieu of repairs). The buyer said "yes" but still wants to do a home inspection (which I have no problem with). We disclosed no knowledge of active knob and tube because that's what we thought the situation was.

I'm fine with our agent disclosing the new information to the buyer's agent. But I'm concerned that the buyer may say that we have to fix it, regardless of the "no repairs" agreement. My electrician said it would probably run about $7,000 just to replace the wiring, then another $1,000-3,000 to repair the walls, ceilings, and floors that would need to be opened up.

The offer on the table is already quite close to the bottom line number we can afford to take. I could see tossing a few thousand dollars (at most) to the buyer but not the total cost to remediate. I don't want to lose the deal, however. Any ideas on the best way to handle this? TIA.

user249493
  • 221
  • 3
  • 5

1 Answers1

2

My house still has a lot of knob and tube wiring, as did a house I owned years ago. I don't think there's anything inherently dangerous or otherwise problematic about it. It's more work to install and maintain than modern wiring, but so what? If you need to change the wiring, you replace the sections you need to change at that time. See this page on the subject: http://www.nachi.org/knob-and-tube.htm The only real issue I see is the lack of a ground wire. In my old house I replaced sections of it as I did minor electrical upgrades, like when I ran a wire for a new outlet I'd replace the knob and tube from the fuse box up to where I would be splicing in the new wire. I've lived in my current house for about five years and I don't recall replacing any of it. This house has stood for 102 years so it can't be too dangerous.

Of course the buyer may be concerned about it for any number of reasons. Whether the buyer's concerns are valid are not, they're realities that you have to deal with. I'd disclose the information matter of factly, not make a big deal of it or propose doing anything about it, and see how the buyer reacts. If they say, "huh, what do you know", you leave it at that. If they demand upgrades, then you have to look at your maneuvering room. As with any sale, the bottom line is: am I better off accepting the best deal that I am likely to get with this person, or walking away and looking for another customer? Whether the net price you are getting is too low because the customer is demanding electrical upgrades, or because they want a new roof, or just because they're offering a low overall price, doesn't really matter to the final go/no go decision you'll have to make.

Jay
  • 22,959
  • 1
  • 33
  • 74