Buying house - boiler not serviced for 10 years. What wouldl you do?

big5

The previous owners of our house never got the boiler/central heating system serviced since it was installed about 6 years ago. The pressure has been fluctuating a bit recently, so we got a family friend who is a heating engineer to have a look at it. Turns out we have an unvented mains pressure system in the loft and if it's not serviced regularly, the pressure could build up and blow the roof off. £70 for a service, or £???s for a new roof? Hmm, let me think about that one...

Mrs_Z

We're buying a house and the vendors haven't been able to evidence any servicing of the boiler in the last 10 years or any sort of check of the electrics.

Would you ask them to produce an inspection certificate prior to exchange of contracts?[/QUOTE]

To be honest, it would not be a show stopper for me. What's the worst that can happen - you need to get a new boiler - that's around £2,000 - not a lot in the scheme of things if you're spending £200,000 on the house itself.

I'd say that the boiler is probably working perfectly fine because it has not been serviced for 10 years (no need). We moved in 1996 and thought, yes, what an old boiler - that'll be the first thing we replace. Roll forward to 2011 - that's 14 years later... we finally got round to it. Serviced the boiler about 3 times during that time. It never broke down, it was still going strong last year.

For the piece of mind, i would get it checked and serviced when moving in though.

Good luck.

Yorkie1

Craig you are not allowed to advertise. Reported for spam.

seven-day-weekend

Daisy70 wrote: »

The house we are buying has a very old boiler and apparently when it's windy, the wind blows the pilot light out through the outside vent:eek:

We're going to ask for a service history but if they can't provide one, it's not a deal-breaker, we plan to replace it when we move in.

I'm a bit surprised people don't get their boilers serviced, we get ours done every year!

That happened to in my Spanish house, we had to just not use it when the wind was blowing. And that WAS a new one!!

kevws77

Enough with all the winding one another up. I do feel though that people on here are genuine and their advice is free and from the heart (and experience). I too would like to think that I am thorough enough that I would think of this but you can't think of everything all of the time. I think you are being hard on yourself about this. Ask the seller if they would mind you sending someone in to check that the Boiler is OK (bear in mind that it could conk out at any time anyway, like most things these days). If it could do with a good service or even replacing, then explain to the seller that you are reducing your offer accordingly. Or if it really worries you then don't go ahead. I too have a young family, and the Boiler at mine is playing up a but at the moment (although not unsafe I hope), and you are absolutely right that safety is a primary concern, but always remember, it's the family that make a house a home, not the bricks and mortar. Good luck.