In a home yesterday, circa 1955. Basement was recently finished and found that most, but not all of the basement 3-prong outlets are un-grounded. Reported on it and seller is coming back saying that the GFCI breaker in the box provides the protection. If that is the case, then why not all outlets be un-grounded? And, wouldn’t they need to be labeled “no equipment ground”?
The seller is correct and they should have the NEG stickers.
Because they would have no equipment ground to protect electronics (the reason for the label). GFCI devices are also not failure proof, but if you have a two wire system, they are the best way to go to install three prong receptacles and the method is approved by the NEC.
If the recent finishing of the basement involved new wiring then an EGC run with the circuit conductors to each receptacle is REQUIRED. Using a GFCI device in lieu of the proper EGC is not permitted.
The use of GFCI protection in lieu of no equipment ground is only permitted for replacement of receptacles on existing circuits where no equipment ground exists.
Based on your post, I would assume that new circuit(s) were run when the basement was recently “finished.” In such a case, the use of ungrounded circuits would not have been allowed.
I don’t think this would have been the case, sounds to me like they used existing circuits and installed newer fixtures.