Electrics and gas

What should you ask if the consumer unit has been moved and the meter tails look improvised?

Ask an electrician to look at the tails and the earthing, and ask your solicitor whether the electrical distributor’s equipment was moved with consent. A surveyor can see a long, untidy tail or a board in an odd place. They cannot approve the connection. That is outside a RICS condition rating.

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.

What is the fuller explanation?

The meter and the service head are the distributor’s equipment. The consumer unit is the householder’s. When people move the board to a new cupboard they sometimes extend tails in ways an electrician will not accept. The survey records the visual oddity. GOV.UK’s EICR regime is about the installation a qualified person inspects, not about the surveyor condemning the meter.

Do not pull the meter seal. Ask the electrician what is on the house side of the head and what they would tell the distributor. If an EICR flags it, that code is the document to negotiate with, not a photo in the survey. There is no standard price. The distributor’s requirements, if they are involved, are theirs to state.

What should you ask your surveyor?

What exactly looks improvised: the tails, the earthing, or the location?
Did you see a seal, a label, or only the cupboard?
Is this a recommendation for an EICR rather than a statement that the supply is illegal?

What are the typical next steps?

Do not cut or extend tails yourself.
Commission the inspection before you describe the supply as condemned.
Keep distributor equipment out of any builder’s “we’ll just move it” quote.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

Is a cupboard under the stairs a defect?

Location alone is not. Access, damage and the quality of the tails are the survey points. A cupboard can be acceptable.

Does the home survey include the meter accuracy?

No. Billing and the meter are not a condition rating.