New rules?? Advice please

rach29

Hi guys, I'm hoping someone out there can advise me on this. Sorry it's a bit lengthy but I wanted to make sure I got it all down.

We are selling a house & contracts should be exchanged in the next few days but our purchaser has e-mailed EA with a request.

He wanted to buy some of the furniture etc. which "goes with the property" We made a list of what we would be prepared to sell & the prices which we were prepared to sell at (stated clearly that these were not negotiable) He visited the house again to look at the property & then came back with offers on the things he wanted to buy.

Along with his offers he stated that if we chose to remove the oven we must have it removed by a Corgi registered gas engineer & provide him with paperwork to evidence this. (he didn't make any offer on the oven)

Then he stated that if we wished to remove any light fittings we should have them removed by a qualified electrician and provide paperwork etc.... (he didn't make any offers on the light fittings either)

We mailed the EA to explain that we did not want to accept his offers & would take our goods with us. We also said that the oven was connected by a self sealing bayonet type valve so that when disconnected the supply would be stopped at the valve & therefore leave it safe. We further replied that since my OH had put the light fittings up he would take them down and of course leave an ordinary flex & bulb in it's place.

Our solicitor confirmed that this was sufficient but now the EA has called to say we may want to reconsider this as "there are new rules"

To be frank we believe our purchaser is just trying to be difficult so that we will leave the oven & light fittings for free to avoid the hassle (The oven is worth £1200 new but he didn't want to pay £500 for it!)

Can anyone confirm what the "new rules" might be? Or are we just being scammed?

AndrewSmith

Not sure about 'new rules' but I can comment on you removing the oven.

I have just re-fitted my own kitchen, I called a Corgi registered gas engineer to ask about removing the old gas oven. He told me that it was not considered a 'JOB' under the corgi rules thus I coud legitimatly remove it myself. Tip with this is to hold a cup of water over the end of the bayonet valve once the cooker pipe has been removed. If it is leaking there will be bubbles.

As for the electrics, well only you know your own level of competency with removing and replacing light fittings, it is not rocket science however as a purchaser I would expect it to be done properly so I can sort of see where he is coming from on this one, but removing the oven, a corgi registered engineer would laugh if you asked him to come and do it for you. The one I asked certainly did lol.

Andy

zar

Re: electric bit. The EA might have been refering to "Part P", but replacing a light fitting is exempt from being checked according to the IEE website:

iee wrote:

Q11: How will Part P apply to DIY work?

Part P will apply to all electrical work in dwellings, whether carried out by professionals or DIYers.

Some DIY work will require the submission of a building notice to the local authority and the payment of a building control fee.

Some minor electrical work will not be notifiable, as explained above. Examples include adding a lighting or power point to an existing circuit, adding a spur to an existing circuit or replacing a light fitting.

See here.

AndrewSmith

Thanks Zar

Very useful

Andy

rach29

Thanks guys, very helpful both.

Have told EA we think she should check out the facts. Our solicitor is still adamant that we are correct so I guess we will have to wait & see what our purchaser comes up with next.

bunking_off

On the light fittings, I beieve it's exempt other than in the bathrooms.