Electrics and gas
The hall consumer unit is new, and a second board still feeds the storage heaters. Why is that second board not covered by the word rewired?
Because the second board that still feeds the storage heaters is a separate installation. A new consumer unit in the hall does not make that board part of a whole-house rewire. Rewired, if someone uses the word, is a claim about the cables, not a description of one new enclosure. The survey can record a new hall unit and an older board on the heaters. It has not tested either, and it has not produced an electrical installation condition report. One new board is not automatically condition rating 3 on every circuit, and it is not a certificate that the heater wiring was renewed.
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?
Storage heaters are often on their own consumer unit, sometimes with an off-peak supply. Changing the hall board, where the sockets and lights may be, leaves that second board untouched unless someone rebuilt it too. The word rewired suggests the wiring of the house was replaced. A new metal enclosure in the hall does not say that, and it says nothing about the cables leaving the heater board. The survey saw two boards. It did not map every cable.
Ask an electrician to inspect both boards and to say which circuits look renewed and which still leave the old heater unit. Ask the seller what they mean if they have said the house was rewired, and compare that sentence with the two boards in the survey. Do not pull fuses from the second board on a viewing. Until the electrician reports, keep the heater board outside the word rewired. The hall unit being new is a different fact.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What did the second board look like, and was it labelled for the storage heaters?
- Did the new hall unit appear to supply those heaters, or were the boards separate?
- Any old cable leaving the heater board that you could see without testing it?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not let the word rewired swallow the second board.
- Ask an electrician to inspect the heater board separately from the hall unit.
- Ask the seller what rewired is supposed to cover, in writing.
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
If the hall unit is new, are the storage-heater cables new as well?
No. The second board is a different installation. A new hall unit does not renew the circuits that still leave the heater board.
Does the second board force condition rating 3 on the whole house?
No. One board is not automatically condition rating 3 on every circuit. That rating is for the element marked serious and/or urgent, not a house-wide label.