Getting your home's electrical ready to sell

Buyers of older homes are told to get the wiring checked. Energy Safe Victoria says that when buying a home built before the 1980s, it's imperative to have the wiring checked by a licensed electrical inspector or registered electrical contractor before moving in. Many buyers also commission a general building inspection that notes visible electrical issues.

Energy Safe Victoria's list of tell-tale signs of faulty wiring is a good guide to what gets noticed: old switchboards, particularly those without a safety switch, old or broken power points and switches, flickering lights and any sign of sparking. Fix those before listing and a report has less to say.

In Hobsons Bay's older suburbs, from Williamstown, settled in the 1840s, to Altona's post-war brick and weatherboard homes, original fittings and boards can still turn up. That's where a pre-sale check tends to pay off most.

Start with anything unsafe or broken: cracked or loose power points, switches that spark or run warm, light fittings hanging by their wires, exposed cable in the garage or roof space, and outdoor points without covers. These are the items a buyer's report lists as defects, and they read badly however good the kitchen looks.

If you've had a recent electrical safety check, or a rental electrical safety check while the home was rented, work through its list. If you have nothing recent, a pre-sale safety check does the same job: a licensed electrician goes through the board, wiring, fittings and safety switches and gives you a list to act on.

Resist the urge to do small fixes yourself before an open inspection. Energy Safe Victoria says not to touch or try to repair a loose, cracked or broken power point, but to cover it and have a licensed electrician replace it.

Smoke alarms are quick to get right and easy for an inspector to check. Look at the date on each one. The Building and Plumbing Commission advises replacing alarms according to the maker's specifications, generally after ten years, and new units carry an expiry date under the battery.

Check the type suits the house. Homes built after 1 August 1997 must have alarms connected to 240V mains power with a backup battery, and Fire Rescue Victoria's summary says homes built, largely renovated or extended after 1 May 2014 need interconnected, hard-wired alarms. Alarms belong on or near the ceiling of every storey, between each bedroom area and the rest of the house.

Replacing a hard-wired alarm is a job for a qualified electrician, although anyone can change the battery in a battery-powered alarm.

Yellowed switch plates, cracked oyster light covers, mismatched globes and dead downlights all show up in listing photos. Replacing plates and covers, fitting matching LED globes or simple LED fittings, and getting every light working is a modest job that helps the home photograph and inspect well.

Old halogen downlights are worth a look too. Swapping them for complete LED fittings takes the transformers out of the ceiling, and an inspector looking into the roof space sees a tidy job rather than a question mark.

Keep it simple. A pendant over the dining table or a neat entry light can lift a room, but a full lighting redesign is rarely worth starting just before a sale.

An old switchboard with ceramic fuses or no safety switches is one of the first things an inspector photographs. Replacing it before sale removes a common objection, and because a main switchboard is prescribed work, a Licensed Electrical Inspector checks the new board before it's switched on. Whether it's worth doing depends on the home and the buyers you expect; at the least, know what's there and what it would take.

Rentals are different. Since 29 March 2023, Victorian rental properties have had to have modern switchboards with circuit breakers and safety switches, so an investment property sold with a tenant in place should already meet that standard.

Black or pitch-type panels in older meter boxes may contain asbestos. WorkSafe Victoria lists pitch-based switchboards and ceramic fuses among asbestos-containing materials. Don't drill or clean them; if the board is replaced, the removal is planned around it.

A switchboard with every circuit clearly labelled tells a buyer the house has been looked after, and makes an inspector's job easier. Faded handwriting or blank labels can be sorted during a pre-sale check by identifying each circuit and relabelling it.

Gather the paperwork buyers ask about: Certificates of Electrical Safety for past work such as a switchboard upgrade, new circuits, air conditioning or an EV charger; manuals and service records for the heating, cooling and hot water; and any recent safety check. A Certificate of Electrical Safety is a legal document recording the work done, and a licensed electrician must provide one whenever they complete electrical installation work.

If you can't find a certificate for older work, ask the electrician or contractor who did it for a copy.

Book the electrical check before the photos and the first open inspection, so repairs are finished and the house shows well. It's one less thing to sort out with a buyer under a contract deadline.

Many sellers have the heating and cooling serviced at the same time, so the system runs quietly when buyers walk through and the service record joins the paperwork.