15 year old boiler never serviced

autopetfeeder

Hi

We're selling our house and a colleague at work suggested that we might want to get our boiler serviced prior to getting that all elusive offer.

The boiler works fine (always has done), does not give off CM but looks very old, dusty and grimy behind and has never been serviced. Its also behind 2 kitchen cupboards which would need to be removed to gain access.

Would potential purchasers try to use this to get a discount on the selling price? Should I pay to get it serviced?

Also, I hope the cupboards don't fall foul of buildings regs?

Any advicwe most gratefully received!

Thanks.

bryanb

There is no legal requirement to have a boiler serviced in a private dwelling. That's not to say it isn't wise to have it done.

Milliewilly

autopetfeeder wrote: »

Hi

We're selling our house and a colleague at work suggested that we might want to get our boiler serviced prior to getting that all elusive offer.

The boiler works fine (always has done), does not give off CM but looks very old, dusty and grimy behind and has never been serviced. Its also behind 2 kitchen cupboards which would need to be removed to gain access.

Would potential purchasers try to use this to get a discount on the selling price? Should I pay to get it serviced?

Also, I hope the cupboards don't fall foul of buildings regs?

Any advicwe most gratefully received!

Thanks.

It came up on a homebuyers survey that was done on my property that the boiler should be serviced (it had been anyway but thats another story) and my boiler isn't even located in the house!!

onionz_2

"Caveat emptor" - let the buyer beware. It's up to the buyer to carry out inspections and surveys and satisfy themselves on points like these.

marcg

As others have said, you are under no obligation to service it. Nor is the access a real problem since there are many walled-up back-boilers still in people's houses. However, an old or inaccessible boiler is to many surveyors considered a write-off. Immediately a new combi-boiler is priced into the value. I'd say it takes £4k off the value.

If the house is fairly up-together (reasonable carpets, double-glazed, neutral colours, passable roof) then a recently-serviced old boiler doesn't affect the value since you aren't going to have to do much to the rest of the house. If the rest of the house needs work then your buyers have already got their calculators out and the boiler is going on the list, recently serviced or not.

Basically, if it's letting the side down, sort it out. If the rest of the house is a bit tatty then nothing short of a new replacement is going to get you the value back.

autopetfeeder

Many thanks all for the advice. The house is in fairly good condition and since a buyer would assume an unserviced old boiler is a write off, I guess I should get it serviced and under contract.

clutton_2

i would be getting it serviced immediatelyfor my own peace of mind.... 15 years ??? gas equipment does need servicing every few years, and sooner or later it could well blow up if you dont get it cleaned out ... i have known of 3 boilers blowing up thru utter lack of care by owners....

Squish_21

Its best to have a boiler serviced every year, in my flat I have to have it done every year as part of the lease. It depends what kind of boiler you have but it costs around £90.

It would certainly help reassure a potential buyer if you did get it done the alternative is that they may use it as an excuse to put in a lower offer etc.

blckbrd

A 15 year old boiler is probably approaching the end of its useful working life and may well be uneconomical to repair (obsolescence of parts etc.) should it develop a fault. Although I'm sure there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of longer-lived boiler installations.

Servicing the boiler now, other than to ensure your safety, may throw up problems which will need to be fixed and may need to be disclosed to a potential buyer. The boiler may well appear to be working properly but in a worst case scenario an engineer could condemn it.

Maybe get some quotes on replacing the boiler so you know a ball park figure of any price reductions that may be requested and wait until it comes up in negotiations.

G_M

I would leave well alone if it's working well. Servicing, quite apart from the access, could throw up issues when you are happy as things are.

It's unlikely to stop interested buyers from making offers - if the boiler is mentioned as a bargaining chip, offer to reduce price by the cost of a service!

ps - my last oil boiler was aged by the manufacturers as ' at least 25 years old - our records don't go back beyond that'. It worked well till finally spares became impossible.

VickyA_2

The bloke who came to do an Energy Performance Certificate on the house that we rent (as tenants - we're buying our own house now) said that you should expect to change your boiler every 10 years. The house that we're moving to has a boiler that's at least 20 years old. We'd already factored the price of a new boiler into our offer.