Rewiring or replumbing a house

[Jordan Lagrassa]

the question is have any of you heard of or has had this happened to you. 

My father in law or boss has been in the construction business and roofing business for 40+ years now. He knows my goals in real estate investing and he warned me that there are certain situations you would be forced to rewire or replumb a house based on if it was up to code or not. Is this a logical thing ? I could understand if some shady wiring was done and having to redo that but rewire a house because the home didn't have power for a few months and now needs an inspection??? Thanks guys

[Marcia Maynard]

Your father-in-law may be right, depending on your local building codes. If certain remodeling is done or certain components of a system are replaced, it can trigger an inspection and/or a requirement to bring the entire house up to code.

When purchasing a property that is new to you, be sure to do a comprehensive inspection. Then address safety issues and poor workmanship from the past. You have an opportunity to do your due diligence and improve a property. That is a good thing. Some things may be grandfathered in, even if not up to current new building code.

A friend of mine had a rental house and the tenant messed with both the electrical and the plumbing when trying to hook up his large RV to the house utilities. Unfortunately, because he compromised the electrical by spicing newer wire into the old aluminum wiring and messing with the electrical panel, the entire house had to be rewired and brought up to code. Also, a good portion of the plumbing had to be redone too. If the house wiring had been left intact, even though it was aluminum wiring, the city would not have required the rewiring of the entire house.

If a property is disconnected from power for a period of time and the utility company notices something unsafe when attempting to reconnect power, that could trigger an inspection or repair order too.