Seller 'confused' over boiler service.......

phoebe1989seb

Hi folks,

I'm looking for some advice on this please -

A family member is very fortunate to be in the position to buy a property in London with his girlfriend outright at a relatively young age. They saw a flat they liked and made an offer which was accepted six weeks ago. They instructed a solicitor and had a Homebuyers' Report carried out which valued the property at the agreed price. The chain is very short and they had hoped to exchange within the next week or so, although there are one or two points which still need ironing out.

For example, on the property information form the vendors indicated that the gas central heating boiler had been serviced this year, but when my relative asked through his solicitor for documentation supporting this (ie a boiler service receipt or certificate) there was none forthcoming. It now transpires that the vendors haven't had the boiler serviced at all and their explanation for the entry on the form was that they didn't understand what was meant by the term 'service' :eek: They are refusing to pay for a service to be carried out on the boiler.

As my relative and his GF are young FTBs, they feel they are perhaps being seen as somewhat naive and are unsure how to proceed for fear of being taken advantage of - should they insist the vendor foots the bill for a service/offer to split the cost etc?

Any advice would be most appreciated, thank you!

Phoebe x

Auntie-Dolly

Why? They are buying the flat 'as is' - there is no obligation for the vendor to service the boiler for them. If they filled in the form incorrectly & have admitted as much then it is hardly a deal breaker.

MacMickster

I would suggest that the buyers get a heating engineer to check the condition of the boiler. It may be dangerous and/or not working. They may then want to renegotiate the purchase price.

I would also suggest that their solicitor asks the vendor's solicitor to go through the declaration form with their client in case there are any other questions which they have "misunderstood".

k3lvc

MacMickster wrote: »

I would suggest that the buyers get a heating engineer to check the condition of the boiler. It may be dangerous and/or not working. They may then want to renegotiate the purchase price.

I would also suggest that their solicitor asks the vendor's solicitor to go through the declaration form with their client in case there are any other questions which they have "misunderstood".

I'm with MacMickster - we had a similar situation but found out after completion when British Gas came for there inspection for service cover - boiler comdemned along with radiators in one room. Bill t0 sort and make good came to £4.5k.

phoebe1989seb

Auntie-Dolly wrote: »

Why? They are buying the flat 'as is' - there is no obligation for the vendor to service the boiler for them. If they filled in the form incorrectly & have admitted as much then it is hardly a deal breaker.

Thank you for your reply - I understand that, but this 'mistake' in filling out the form was only admitted in the last few days. My relative's solicitor had assumed until then that the boiler had been serviced (as that's what the form implied) and that a receipt or similar would be forthcoming before contracts were exchanged. I find it hard to believe that a couple in their 30s who have bought and sold several properties previously would not understand what was meant by the term 'service' and could fill out the form incorrectly or that they would then keep quiet about this until the buyer's solicitor made repeated requests for some documentation to back this up. I'm inclined to think they saw my relative and his GF (early 20s FTBs) as unlikely to query this and that they could get away with not providing the relevant paperwork.

.........and when we recently sold our house (completed in May) we were perfectly upfront with our buyers that our boiler (Rayburn) hadn't been serviced for a while. They insisted we had it done at our expense or they would pull out of the purchase.........suffice to say whilst we weren't happy to have to do this we did it to keep the chain complete. My relative's vendors seem to think that because they are in London if they lose this buyer another one will come along straight away - despite the fact one sale has apparently already fallen through and not everyone has £250k cash to spend, even in London!

phoebe1989seb

MacMickster wrote: »

I would suggest that the buyers get a heating engineer to check the condition of the boiler. It may be dangerous and/or not working. They may then want to renegotiate the purchase price.

I would also suggest that their solicitor asks the vendor's solicitor to go through the declaration form with their client in case there are any other questions which they have "misunderstood".

Thanks MacMickster, I will advise them to do that