No Boiler Building Regulation Certificate of Compliance

wackorash84

Hiya,

Hope I'm asking this at the correct forum.

Not far from exchange and we came across a snag.

It has come to our attention through my conveyancer that the vendor cannot provide a 'building regulation certificate of compliance' for the boiler. The boiler was installed in 2010.

I was informed that the vendor has requested a copy from the person that originally made the installation but it seems that it might take them up to 2 weeks to get it sorted. They also offered an indemnity insurance.

In the meantime, my conveyancer advised hat we do not exchange until one is provided as we would not have recourse if we exchange and the vendor later choose not to provide it.

Our conveyancer also added stating that I might want to look into an independent gas safety check (boiler+central heating+ gas appliances) since there's been no service record for the boiler or central heating since it was installed in 2010.

Are we being pedantic or are we within our rights to stand firm on this issues?

Thanks for all your replies.

G_M

Up to you. How confidant are you in the integrity of the boiler? You could:
a) delay Exchange and wait for the vendore to sort out paperwork
b) send in a boiler engineer (your cost - £50?) and have an inspection done
c) accept indemnity insurance - this will protect you from the (HIGHLY) unlikely possibility of the council inspectors making you move/adapt/re-install the boiler, but will NOT protect you from the boiler breaking down
d) Exchange and deal with the boiler (which in all likelihood is perfectly sound) after you move in.

Your conveyancer will do whatever you instruct him, but has a duty to advise caution so you don't sue him later!

wackorash84

G_M wrote: »

Up to you. How confidant are you in the integrity of the boiler? You could:
a) delay Exchange and wait for the vendore to sort out paperwork
b) send in a boiler engineer (your cost - £50?) and have an inspection done
c) accept indemnity insurance - this will protect you from the (HIGHLY) unlikely possibility of the council inspectors making you move/adapt/re-install the boiler, but will NOT protect you from the boiler breaking down
d) Exchange and deal with the boiler (which in all likelihood is perfectly sound) after you move in.

Your conveyancer will do whatever you instruct him, but has a duty to advise caution so you don't sue him later!

Thanks. That has given me a good outline of what I need to do.

I will want to do b) send in a boiler engineer but ask the vendor to cover the cost and c) accept indemnity insurance.

Dangle the carrot to the vendor that it will help make the exchange quicker as the vendor is moving into renting and has seen a property that he really likes but cannot put deposit since we've not exchanged.

Doozergirl

Sounds fair enough to me!

sonastin

I'd advise you take that route too. The vendor might not be able to supply the certificate that easily. My mother had a boiler fitted by a cowboy gas fitter. She's since had another gassafe engineer put the work right and complained to gassafe about the original cowboy. But from the way they are all ducking and diving, no one other than the original engineer is able to register the installation with the council. And as he should have been wearing spurs and a stetson, that ain't gonna happen.

I believe the only way she can get a certificate is to apply to the council building control department for regularisation but even they don't seem to want to know - the initial conversation directed her back to gassafe. If/when she comes to sell, we'll have to have a more detailed conversation with the council if this is an issue but for the time being we are just content that the boiler installation is now safe.

G_M

sonastin wrote: »

If/when she comes to sell, we'll have to have a more detailed conversation with the council if this is an issue but for the time being we are just content that the boiler installation is now safe.

As long as ou realise that 'having a more detailed conversation with the council' will remove the option of offering your buyer an indemnity insurance.......which is the usual solution in these cases.

Mrs_Z

Not sure if it helps but you can also call Gas Safe to check whether they have a registration of the work done in the property. If it was fitted by a Gas Safe engineer they should have registered the work.

sonastin

G_M wrote: »

As long as ou realise that 'having a more detailed conversation with the council' will remove the option of offering your buyer an indemnity insurance.......which is the usual solution in these cases.

Was counting on indemnity insurance as one of the ways of this not being an issue. But if it still is after that has been offered...

wackorash84

G_M wrote: »

As long as ou realise that 'having a more detailed conversation with the council' will remove the option of offering your buyer an indemnity insurance.......which is the usual solution in these cases.

You are 100% correct. Our conveyancer said the exact same thing that the moment the local authority is approached in relation to this, the indemnity insurance will be void and not available.

So, I spoke to the EA stating that we will accept the indemnity insurance and also want a Gas Safety Inspection (vendor to cover the cost).

We were soon inform that the vendor would not be paying for a Gas Safety Inspection because they find that they are being fair by already paying for an indemnity insurance. (wait a minute, the indemnity insurance just covers the building reg aspect and not the safety of the installation) They initially stated that the boiler was installed in 2010 and now changed their position stating the boiler was put in 2009. Also, they should have mentioned the point that there's no building regulation certificate for the boiler at a very early point in this process. Not impressed :mad:

They've got us by the balls there. They must have guessed that we aren't going to throw away the purchase for £100 extra cost.

If this Gas Safety Inspection bring up any major issues. We'd be very annoyed if they are not going to pay the cost to put it right. How frustrating!!

G_M

I'm afraid it's just part of the frustrating process of house-buying. Sometimes the paperwork etc is just that - paperwork.

And the "who pays what" negotiations are often gamesmanship - who is most desperate for the deal to go through? Who has already invested the most time/emotion/money in the deal so far? Who blinks first?

If you feel strongly, you could stand firm, insist the seller pay for the insurance AND inspection, and insist you'll walk away if he declines. But you need to either mean it and follow through, or be willing to be caught out bluffing and back down.

ognum

This is really your choice to pay for it or not I am afraid I would be stubbon and walk away from the purchase if the vendors did not get it but most of the purchases I do are head not heart purchases If you are worried about carbon monoxide a monitor will help buy really it is a saftey issue so needs to be sorted!