Hello,

I'm hoping to get some insight on a dilemma. I'm not an expert at
explaining this type of thing, so please forgive me if this all sounds
confusing.

We (my wife and I) recently purchased a home, had our inspection, and
were waiting for a few final details to be taken care of before the
closing. One of which was that the current owners would agree to
replace the fuse panel in the basement with breakers. The current power
for the house is 100 amp.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, until the people we're buying
the house from said they couldn't put the breakers in after all
(despite the fact that they agreed to do this in writing). The reason
being? In order to replace a fuse box with a breaker panel in this
particular city, a person is required to upgrade to 200 amp service.
This wouldn't be that big of a deal, but they happen to have a patio
built in the area where the power comes into the house, and if the
upgrade goes from 100 amp to 200 amp, there are stricter regulations on
what can be near the power lines, etc. To make a long story short, the
existing deck would have to be altered or removed. This would create
quite an expense, so obviously they don't want to do it. This is the
only way they can put the breakers in according to the city. We don't
really want a power upgrade, and have no real use for it, but would
really like the breakers install for insurance reasons and added safety
(if we don't have the breakers, our premiums rise and we're unable to
take advantage of discounts, etc.).

So does anyone have some advice on this? Is there a way around the
codes for this city? From what I understand, it's not a state thing,
just for this community. We're currently looking into it on our end.
Or, if we can't have the breakers put in with the current 100 amp
system, should we force the owners to come down in price or to
compensate us in some other way? After all, they did agree to do this.
And if they don't, it puts us in a bad position.

Please, if you have an opinion or some advice on this, please let me
know what you think.

Thanks,
Mick