On 25/07/2019 08:43, MM wrote:
snip

I gather from what I've been told that the electrical system in the
old house is quite ancient, as the electrican stated that after the
immediate fault has been rectified, at least temporarily, the whole CU
urgently requires replacing. Maybe the wiring, too, which would be an
enormous (and costly) job. It's a large house!

MM


The only thing to look out for (initially) is the presence
of rubber coated wiring or those sockets with round pins
(except for diddy little lighting ones).

If the cables going into the sockets and lighting roses
looks like pvc cable then an urgent isolate and rewire is
not needed, IMHO. Sparkys OTOH just love to frighten and
bull**** clueless owners into expensive rewiring.