Electrics and gas
The loft lights are still on rubber-sheathed cable. Why is that a different sentence from the new consumer unit in the hall?
Because rubber-sheathed cable on the loft lights is one old length, not the same fact as the new consumer unit in the hall. The survey can record both: old cable where those lights were seen, and a new unit downstairs. It has not tested either, and it has not produced an electrical installation condition report. One rubber length is not a whole-house rewire, and it is not automatically condition rating 3 on every circuit. Ask an electrician to inspect the loft lighting and to say which circuits the new unit actually covers.
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?
Rubber sheathing is an old cable insulation. A new consumer unit is a modern board in the hall. Both can exist because a board is often changed without every cable being replaced. The loft lights may still be on the original wiring while other circuits were renewed, or the new unit may simply sit on old cable. Looking at the two items does not map that. The survey does not call the house rewired, and it does not test the lights.
Ask an electrician for an electrical installation condition report if you need the circuits tested, and point them at the loft lights as well as the hall unit. Do not pull rubber cable about on a viewing, and do not tape it and call it repaired. When you read the survey, keep the loft sentence and the consumer-unit sentence apart, so a new board is not described as a rewire of those lights. The electrician can say what the lights are fed from.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where did the rubber-sheathed cable run, and was it only the loft lights?
- Did the new hall unit look connected to those lights, or was that link unseen?
- Was the rubber cracked, bare or perished, or was it only the old sheath?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the loft cable and the new consumer unit as two separate findings.
- Ask an electrician to inspect the loft lighting rather than assuming a rewire.
- Do not disturb the rubber cable on a viewing.
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
Does rubber cable on the lights mean every circuit is the same age?
No. One rubber length on the loft lights does not date the sockets, the cooker or the new unit in the hall. Each circuit needs its own inspection.
Must every circuit be condition rating 3 because of that cable?
No. One old length is not automatically condition rating 3 on every circuit. That rating means the named element is serious and/or urgent, not a label for the whole house.