Boiler service and electrics testing prior to exchange?

jetblack61

Hi all,
Wondering where we stand with getting vendor to have electrics checked and boiler/gas appliances tested as condition of the sale?

We're FTB and following solicitor's paperwork, boiler hasn't been serviced since 2007 (she bought the house in 2009) and she's never had the electrics checked. We're waiting to hear about the gas fire, but given the boiler hasn't been serviced, probably safe to assume the fire hasn't been checked either.

The EA has suggested that it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask for the boiler to be serviced prior to exchange and we've subsequently thought about the electrics.

I guess we're worried that if anything is wrong with any of it, we don't have the money to foot the bill to fix it.

So...questions:
(1) Can we ask the vendor to pay for the boiler service and a check on the electrics prior to exchange?
(2) Maybe we could negotiate a contribution from her to the cost of the testing/servicing rather than her pay the whole lot?
(3) If she says no she won't pay for it, and we then arrange for it to be done prior to exchange (at our cost), is she still liable to make it 'safe' (i.e. replace condemned gas fire/dodgy wiring etc) prior to completion of the sale?

We're sort of guessing that anyone who were to buy the house would want to know these things and therefore we're not being unreasonable; but at the same time, it's knowing what it 'acceptable' and what is not in terms of asking for her to get things done.

Thanks in advance...

sjlou

I would have been happy to go halves with our buyer, so I would suggest that.

angrypirate

Push for the vendor to pay for the checks. After all, you're only asking them to pay for proof of quality and safety of something you are buying off them.

jetblack61

Thanks...

...am I right in thinking she's obliged to fix things if they're not safe before the sale? i.e. she is liable prior to the sale completing? So regardless of who pays for the servicing/testing - if anything needs sorting out - is she liable to pay for the work and have it done before we take ownership?

StuC75

Seller may be wary of committing to spending when buyer isnt committed to the sale going through - seller could incur the cost but the buyer simply walks away.

Having recently sold & bought; my view was always best to get checked & maintained after buying.. In the absence of a transferrable warranty think that its likely to need replacing in X amount of time. If matters that much look to negotiate on price..

Always assumed certificates meant more for rentals than property sales. Would they even be transferrable or worth anything?

Things can always breakdown - but the seller isnt going to indemnify you forever..

Better_Days

My understanding with property purchase it that it is 'buyer beware'. That is why purchasers have surveys done. The eventual selling price may be negotiated with the vendor depending on the outcome of the surveys.

If you think about it lots of properties are sold with potentially unsafe gas, electrics and there are those that are structurally unsafe too. The vendor isn't liable to fix all these things (if they are not landlords) but there can be some negotiation if work needs doing.

There are also a lot of variables including the age of the property, how well it has been maintained, and how reasonable the offer that has been accepted is. If you have knocked the vendor down quite a bit below the AP then they may be more reluctant to negotiate further with you. Although you want to get a good deal, try not to p$ss off the vendor unnecessarily. I had some buyers that drove me mad with their pettiness, so there was no good will left and among other things I left an empty oil tank which I would have otherwise refilled (oil was much cheaper then).

Finally you do need to build up a reserve fund to deal with potential problems, being a homeowner is great, but you do need to take into account the fact that unexpected costs will arise, however thorough your survey and gas/electric checks.

Lovelyjoolz

jetblack61 wrote: »

Thanks...

...am I right in thinking she's obliged to fix things if they're not safe before the sale? i.e. she is liable prior to the sale completing? So regardless of who pays for the servicing/testing - if anything needs sorting out - is she liable to pay for the work and have it done before we take ownership?

No. She doesn't have to agree to the checks and she doesn't have to fix it if problems are flagged up. You will just get a clearer picture of what you are buying.

Think of it as buying a second-hand car with no MOT from a private seller. You can ask the seller to get an MOT done before you buy it and they may or may not agree to. However, they'd probably tell you to get stuffed if you asked them to repair any problems the MOT bought up. You would then just have to decide if you can afford the car plus the repair costs.

Same thing with houses, basically.

An important point here though is this:

jetblack61 wrote: »

I guess we're worried that if anything is wrong with any of it, we don't have the money to foot the bill to fix it.

If you can't afford to do the repairs, can you really afford to be a home owner? Things go wrong all the time. Boilers pack up, ovens break down, roofs leak, guttering falls, windows break etc etc etc. If you don't have an emergency fund available to cover things going wrong, then you might find yourself stuck if anything happens.

jetblack61

Ok, but presumably if we have the electrics checked (regardless of who pays for this) and the wiring is deemed unsafe, we then have room for negotiating on the offer price of the property? It would be expected that we would need to have something serious like this dealt with so the services in the property are safe surely?

We do have money for back-up problems, but the potential for a new boiler and re-wiring is a pretty hefty amount to find upfront having just made the purchase. I guess we're wanting to know what we're getting with the house in terms of potential problems and where we stand initially if anything from the checks are thrown up.

Sounds like - she can refuse to pay for checks and refuse to do anything about it if there's an issue...however, we could negotiate on the price given the outcome of the checks, having paid for them ourselves?

arbrighton

our first buyer (who later pulled out) comissioned a check of the electrics and we were not billed (as we'd had them checked on moving in 4 years before, don't think we'd have stumped up the cash). Shame the bloke broke a light fitting and didn't bother to tidy up after himself. Fortunately it was a cheap fitting or I'd have been asking for the spark's details to get the cost of replacement back.
The buyers who just completed had a gas safety check done (and the boiler serviced) despite it being less than 2 years old and just checked for gassafe register after a muck up during the change over from corgi. Again, they met the costs. We paid for the gas cooker to be disconnected and removed from the property as a gesture of goodwill/ encouragement to proceed

We are in the process of deciding what, if any, additional surveys/ checks to have done on the house we're buying, but as we're likely to have electricians in to do some stuff after completion and the boiler in the house is fairly elderly, they'll probably get checked and replaced as necessary as part of renovations.

lippy1923

jetblack61 wrote: »

Ok, but presumably if we have the electrics checked (regardless of who pays for this) and the wiring is deemed unsafe, we then have room for negotiating on the offer price of the property? It would be expected that we would need to have something serious like this dealt with so the services in the property are safe surely?

We do have money for back-up problems, but the potential for a new boiler and re-wiring is a pretty hefty amount to find upfront having just made the purchase. I guess we're wanting to know what we're getting with the house in terms of potential problems and where we stand initially if anything from the checks are thrown up.

Sounds like - she can refuse to pay for checks and refuse to do anything about it if there's an issue...however, we could negotiate on the price given the outcome of the checks, having paid for them ourselves?

Correct. She could refuse to do anything. You can then try to negotiate on the price, but again she isnt obligated to reduce her asking price.

Do push this though. As a FTB is a lot easier to make demands... or it was for us anyway
We had smiliar issues, when the report came back and we demanded the electrics be sorted as they were deemed unsafe and the boiler serviced. As the person we were buying from was part of a chain and needed a quick sale, they had no choice but to comply

jetblack61

The surveyor has listed the electrics as a '3', so I think we could safely say that our offer was subject to a satisfactory survey, and this is not satisfactory.

There is another issue with the place which we're in the process of dealing with and that is potential asbestos in the artex ceilings. Have gone to the vendor and asked her to have that tested given that the kitchen ceiling needs repairing from a previous leak.

You can see that the boiler servicing, the electrics being tested and the asbestos being tested is adding up to an unexpected amount we may have to find, having practically given her the asking price for the property (rejected lower offers).

I guess we'll find out soon enough what she's prepared to pay for and what she's not...we ultimately want to make sure we're getting a safe house to live in...not too much to ask?! :embarasse