On 20 May 2004, Martin Angove wrote

-snip-


Not sure where this is going so I'll stop. Basically I agree with
your argument, but dislike the "confidence in your competence"
statement.

I do find the original question interesting, though.

As you say, insurance companies generally try to avoid paying out.

Presumably they could argue that the wiring wasn't to code -- and
therefore broke the insurance terms -- if any of the correct sleeves
and markings of wires weren't in place. (Has that argument ever been
tried? I don't think I've ever come across an installation where
*every* earth in *every* socket was sleeved, nor where all the switch
wires to all the lights were correctly marked.)

So my suspicion is that some of the companies would be more than happy
to try the argument of "well, it had absolutely nothing to do with the
fire, but as one of the spurs in one of the bedrooms wasn't cleared by
a certificate-carrying electrician with liability insurance, we ain't
payin'...."

--
Cheers,
Harvey

For e-mail, change harvey to whhvs.