Pulling out of purchase week of exchange

Errata

My personal opinion is that you've done the right thing. You may have had a very long wait before you found another house that you like as much as this one, because I suspect the vast majority of potential sellers will decide to stay put for the forseeable future unless they're absolutely forced to sell.
Remember - in times past many people bought houses with boilers that were fairly old, had never been serviced and were still working well and buyers were happy to buy WYSIWYG.
If it's any comfort, my neighbour has had the service engineer out 3 times in the last 3 weeks for his 2 year old condensing boiler because it isn't coping well with the constant sub-zero temps. My over 10 years old non-condensing boiler is keeping calm and carrying on!
Enjoy your new home.

ffacoffipawb

Doozergirl wrote: »

You've gone back to negotiate £3k on a boiler which can't possibly cost £3k. They are probably quite surprised.

British Gas charged us £4,250 for a new (combi) boiler and a powerflush 2 years ago. We were desparate as the old boiler had packed in a few days earlier. So £3k is not unreasonable imho.

tommy75

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

British Gas charged us £4,250 for a new (combi) boiler and a powerflush 2 years ago. We were desparate as the old boiler had packed in a few days earlier. So £3k is not unreasonable imho.

That reminds me, I need some new mugs. Thanks.

geoffky

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

British Gas charged us £4,250 for a new (combi) boiler and a powerflush 2 years ago. We were desparate as the old boiler had packed in a few days earlier. So £3k is not unreasonable imho.

Christ, did you pay for the pipeline to be installed as well..?

2K around here as i just had to loan my daughter and her boyfriend it as the boiler was classed as dangerous and brutish gas shut it down with a notice. That included a boiler relocation

ffacoffipawb

geoffky wrote: »

Christ, did you pay for the pipeline to be installed as well..?

No, just ....

(1) a new combi boiler to an existing (non combi) system

(2) removal of old hot water tank

(3) boxing up the old airing cupboard for storage purposes

(4) boxing in the new boiler in the kitchen to hide any messiness.

Oh and also a new timer switch and a thermostat in the hall.

Probably was overpriced, but we were cold and we had 2 under fours in the house who needed to keep warm (i.e. desperate) and the whole thing was fitted within 3 days of ordering so the children weren't cold for long.

The powerflush is expensive too by the way.

Less than a year's worth of non ISA dividends paid for it all anyway.

ffacoffipawb

tommy75 wrote: »

That reminds me, I need some new mugs. Thanks.

If you saw how much I have in direct share investments and self select share ISA's (as opposed to overcharging funds) you wouldn't call me a mug. I could well afford the work and it was urgent, 2 young children and no heating. I value my children's welfare more than saving a few quid.

azkaban420

arachne wrote: »

Just to say a final thank you to everyone for your advice. On Monday night, we basically decided to pull out, then on Tuesday we woke up and decided we definitely wanted to proceed even without money off, then on Wednesday we weren't sure again. We sent the sellers the list of things the survey had raised, as they hadn't seen this before, and then last thing yesteday, the sellers agreed to meet us part-way with some money off the purchase, if we could exchange today. Our wonderful mortgage lenders (Ing) managed to fax our solicitors an OK to the reduced amount within 1 and a half working hours (usually takes days apparently) and we have just exchanged - PHEW!!!

Still don't know if it's the right decision but at least it's a decision and the posts really helped us to work out what was most important. 11 months after first putting our flat on the market (13 months after starting to prepare it for sale, including a FULL GAS SERVICE), the end is finally in sight :T. We will of course get the boiler checked as our first priority moving in and will then just cross our fingers it's one of these wonderful ones so many posters have mentioned that lasts forever. Thanks again to everyone - have a great Christmas

Congrats on exchanging and well done on getting them to mee you half way Arachne, hope it all works out ok for :beer:

Az

Needhelpsaving

My boiler was 3k - thats standard. I had BG and they done a fab job.

I would advise you to speak to your solicitor as when we bought we were told that if we pulled out after exchange that we would have to pay their legal fees and potentially our deposit. Don't be hasty, it could cost more than 3k if you do have to pay their legal fees/deposit.

ess0two

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

If you saw how much I have in direct share investments and self select share ISA's (as opposed to overcharging funds) you wouldn't call me a mug. I could well afford the work and it was urgent, 2 young children and no heating. I value my children's welfare more than saving a few quid.

Yawn............my wallets bigger than yours,take it on the chin BG stung you big time.

spannerzone

Personally I'd just buy the house as agreed.... if they had got the boiler serviced it still doesn't mean it won't pack up next month and need replacing so what's the difference?

I think you have to just weigh up whether you want to start all over again looking for a house or just accept that you might need to get a new boiler in the near future and be done with it. As I say, if the boiler had been serviced for 25 years it won't necessarily make it any more likely to last another 5 or 10 years.

Of course it would be wise to get it serviced as soon as you move in.