Hi all,
I had an electrician go out by my PM to my IP today to have a look at a faulty outdoor light and to replace a blown transformer on one of the down lights. The electrician advised my PM that all the electrical wiring for all the down lights were an "amature" job and obviously not done by a licensed professional electrician. He said that all the down lights in the house will need to be re-wired and is going to charge $2200 to do so. The house is a single story 3 bedroom approx 15 sq meters. Does this sound reasonable? What are my responsibilities as the landlord to have the lights re-wired? If I do get it done, is this claimable on tax as maintainance/repairs?
Thanks for your help.
Australia catches no ones cold anymore, we are in the middle of the greatest resources boom in history. 21 million individuals reside in a land mass 90% that of America, and we now have 2.5 billion new buyers we never had before! CHINDIA!
Lucky country, America is no longer the centre of the Earth guys, Saudi Arabia took 1.5 trillion dollars in crude oil profits last year, so were does that leave the US? One word " Suckers" literally I may add.
The transitional shift of funds has long begun. Shame I have not heard any more about Steve's launch into the US property market. Last I heard (2 years ago) that it was all "Happy Dayzzz". Watch the fingers.
It is your responsibility as the owner to ensure that the house is in a habitable condition – unsafe lighting which may cause a fire is not 'habitable' as there were working lights when the tenant moved in and providing they did not install them are not their responsibility. They may have cause to break the lease.
Halogen downights will be phased out in 3-5 years so make sure that you install new LV fittings which will be compatible with LED downlights. Use electronic ransformers rather than iron core (old technology and less efficient), and that each transformer is a plug-in rather than hard wired (that way you just replace the transformer without calling in the sparky each time).
As the work is repairs but exceeds $300 it should be depreciated.
Further to what Scott said, you have been put on notice that the electrical wiring is faulty. If there was a fire, arguably your insurance company could decline to cover you because you were aware of the fault but did nothing to rectify it.
If I were you I would get a second opinion. Two grand is a lot of money to spend but if the wiring is faulty, you really do have to spend it. Did this problem come up in the pre-purchase electrical inspection?
As far as depreciation goes, I would think that it would be classified as a repair rather than an improvement and therefore would be deductible.
Cheers
K
lopetha wrote:Hi all,I had an electrician go out by my PM to my IP today to have a look at a faulty outdoor light and to replace a blown transformer on one of the down lights. The electrician advised my PM that all the electrical wiring for all the down lights were an "amature" job and obviously not done by a licensed professional electrician. He said that all the down lights in the house will need to be re-wired and is going to charge $2200 to do so. The house is a single story 3 bedroom approx 15 sq meters. Does this sound reasonable? What are my responsibilities as the landlord to have the lights re-wired? If I do get it done, is this claimable on tax as maintainance/repairs?
Thanks for your help.
Really you have no option but to proceed . Re the cost, hard to say without more deatils …but….15 squares, say 7 rooms (if all use downlights) say 2 lights per room plus a couple for the lounge area = 16 lights. $2200/16 = $137 a light. If he is supplying and installing and fixing up someones elses non professional work this sounds pretty reasonable.
Thanks guys. I spoke to the electricial directly this morning rather then going through the PM so I could get the full story. Apparently the person who did it did a really dodgy job. From what he said the transformers are the incorrect ones used, the wiring used is the incorrect wiring and many of the lights are wires are loose being a hazard. He quoted $100 per downlight to rewire so $2200 all up since there are 22 downlights. Does this sound reasonable? Wouldnt this be classified as a repair for taxation purposes?
Hi Lopetha, I suggest compact fluoros if you're going for down lights. You can use the same holes in the ceiling. But if you want to stick with the old fittings to save money you should get an electrician to do the job, bad wiring is dangerous. But get a few quotes.
If anyone sees incorrect information here please make a post informing so. I'm not an expert, I'm just stating what I know from recent experince.
I recently rebuilt an extension on my PPR and renovated half the house to blend in with it. I had no down lights before, but opted to put in compact fluoro type down lights throughout. These lights work directly from 240V, with the required electronics being integrated in the base of the globes. Low voltage down lights still consume considerable power, wth losses through their associated tarnsformers. 50 watts is 50 watts whether its power conumed by a 240V light or a 12V. About 10watts is wasted in the tranformer producing heat in the celing. The globes get hot too, (compact fluoros run cool, but are less efficient than fluorescent tubes). The compact fluoro lights come in various wattages, I think from about 7watts up to 18, (not sure), and you can get big double bulb units. The best looking ones have a frosted lense to cover the ugly bulb, and they're not that expensive. They give an even spread of light which spreads right up to the cornicing. As opposed to the spot on the floor effect of halogen lights. You'll also have to choose the colour light you want, (different variations of white). Best to asks the salesperson about this.
There's not a lot of info. on how far apart to locate these lights but I put in 14 watt (normal size down lights) and 11 watt (smaller halogen size) at between 1.5m and 1.8m apart and switching them in groups of 3 or 4. And that gives heaps of light.
Cheers Zig
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