Home/Electrical Guides/Before Buying
Guide · 04
Checking the electrics before buying or renting a flat in Valencia.
The electrics are the part of a flat nobody looks at during a viewing and everybody pays for afterwards. Twenty minutes of attention at the panel, and a written inspection before you sign, will tell you whether you are buying a home or a rewiring project with a sea view.
The inspection
What a pre-purchase electrical check involves.
From — with the findings and photos in a written report
Insulation, earth continuity, trip times, voltage drop
The report written in English, Spanish or Russian
Nothing recorded as fine because it looked fine
Scope
What the inspection actually looks at.
What protection is present, whether differentials exist and function, whether breakers match the circuits behind them, and whether anything has been bypassed by a previous occupant.
Whether an earth exists, whether it is continuous to the points that need it, and whether the bathroom and kitchen are bonded as they should be. This is the single most common failure in older stock.
Cable sizes against the loads they carry, the condition of the insulation, and how many additions have been hung off circuits that were never designed for them.
Sockets, switches, outdoor fittings and the wet zones in bathroom and kitchen — where they are, what condition they are in, and what would have to change.
At the viewing
What you can see for yourself in twenty minutes.
A board with ceramic fuses, or breakers with no differential
Round-pin sockets with no earth contact in the outlets
Discoloured, cracked or scorched switch plates and sockets
Extension leads doing permanent work behind the furniture
Surface cable clipped along skirtings as an afterthought
Air conditioning units fed from an obviously improvised line
Ask the seller
Five questions worth asking before the offer.
The answers matter less than whether anyone can produce documents. A flat with paperwork was maintained by someone who kept records.
When was it last rewired?
A date, or an honest do not know. Both are useful; the second tells you to budget as if the answer were never.
Is there an earth throughout?
The most expensive thing to add retrospectively, and the thing most often assumed rather than verified.
Has the panel been changed?
A recent board on old cable is a common half-measure. It looks reassuring in photos and solves less than it appears to.
What was added recently?
Air conditioning, an induction hob and a charging point are the additions most likely to have outgrown the original circuits.
Are there any documents?
Invoices, test results, photos of concealed work. Their absence is not a deal breaker, but it changes what you should budget.
How it works
From viewing to written report.
Book around the viewing
Tell us the address and the window the agent gives you. We arrange access with them directly if that is easier for you.
Inspection on site
The panel, the earthing, the circuits and the points, measured rather than eyeballed, with photographs of everything noted.
Written report
Findings, photos, and what each one would take to put right — separated into safety issues and improvements, in your language.
Costed next steps
The items that matter priced against our standard list, so the report doubles as a budget for the first year.
Using the report
What a written report does to the conversation about price.
A verbal impression is easy to dismiss. A written report with photographs, measurements and costed remedies is not, which is why the inspection tends to pay for itself in a single conversation. You are no longer arguing that the electrics look old; you are showing which circuits lack an earth and what putting that right costs at our published prices.
That changes the options in front of you. You can ask for the price to reflect the work, ask for the work to be done before completion, or simply proceed with an accurate figure in your own budget instead of a surprise in month three. All three are better positions than discovering it after the keys change hands.
For renters, the same report is worth having for a different reason. It establishes the state of the installation on the day you moved in, which is a useful document if something fails later and the conversation turns to who is responsible for it.
Remote buyers get the fullest use out of it. If you are purchasing from another country, we can attend the property with the agent, report by message with photos as we go, and send the written findings the same working day — so the decision you make from abroad rests on measurements rather than on listing photographs and optimism.
Keep reading
Before you sign anything.
Questions, answered
Checking the electrics before you sign — common questions.
Can you inspect a flat I have not bought yet?
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people call us. We arrange access with the agent or the seller, attend during a viewing window, and send you a written report with photographs. You do not need to be in the country, or in the flat.
What does the inspection cost and what do I get?
From €140. You get the measured tests — insulation resistance, earth continuity, differential trip times and voltage drop — photographs of everything noted, findings separated into safety issues and improvements, and each item costed against our standard prices in your language.
The listing says the installation was renewed. Is that enough?
It is a claim worth verifying. A renewed panel on original cable is a very common half-measure: the board is modern, the circuits behind it are not, and the flat still has no earth. Twenty minutes of measurement distinguishes a genuine renewal from a cosmetic one.
Is it worth inspecting a rental before signing?
For a long let, yes. It tells you what you are living with, and it records the condition of the installation on the day you arrived — which is exactly the document you want if a fault appears later and responsibility is being discussed.
How quickly can you attend a viewing?
Within working hours we can usually fit an inspection into the following day or two, and often the same day inside Valencia city. Tell us the agent's window when you message and we will confirm what is realistic before you rearrange anything.
Twenty minutes now, or a rewiring later.
Send us the address and the viewing window. We attend, measure, photograph and send you a written report with costed findings — usually the same working day, in English, Spanish or Russian.