Buying: Asking for a boiler safety certificate / service

mqandy

I've just read an interesting thread (forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3974587) on testing things out when buying.

When we bought our current home, it was winter and the heating was clearly on. However, when we moved in, we quickly realised that in order to get the heating on, you had to stand next to the reset button, pressing constantly for about 20 minutes to get it to fire up.

The money we spent on plumbers and eventually a replacement ended up being over £4,000.

I know when renting LL's needed annual certificates...
Would you get anywhere - and has anyone ever - asking for some sort of service before buying?

After all the moving expenses, being stung with that sort of money was a REAL pain!

G_M

Quite common. Just ask a local GasSafe registered engineer to inspect the boiler and give you a report. Cost you £50 ish?

£4000! What the **** for? A new boiler, water cylinder, pipework and radiators?

mqandy

At our expense - hadn't thought of that - £50 is no problem on top of everything else!

It ended up being a lot (perhaps a bit less than I said..?!) because we tried to resist buying a new one for too long - not having the £1.5k for a new one in cash, so we spent £200 a time on plumber call outs ('yeah mate, I can fix it no problem...' )

googler

Maybe it should have been 'call a heating engineer' rather than 'call a plumber' ......

Can I refer the OP to post #5 in this thread?

jetblack61

I think the general consensus is you can ask, but don't expect the vendor to say yes.

We're in the process of buying and the paperwork from the vendor (via the solicitor) showed the boiler hadn't been serviced since 2007. We wanted this checking to make sure it was safe and functional, so asked that the vendor to have it serviced.

We sort of expected her to say no, but in actual fact, it's been done and we've got the certificate.

So...I'd say worth an ask, but the vendor isn't obliged to do anything, so if they say no, you might want to pay to have it done yourself.

mqandy

Jetblack, that would probably have worked for us last time - I don't think it had ever been serviced! In any case, as you say, can always ask...

Thanks.

AquaJen

You can ask them to get the boiler serviced or a safety check done, but there is no guarantee that the boiler won't break down the next day! The Potterton Suprima boilers are notorious for this fault and there is no sign that the PCB is on its way out, it can be working one day and then the next day... nothing.

unclebulgaria

I carry out loads of these requests, usually the seller relents if it means a sale will go through. Its usually those who know there's a problem that refuse because they dont want that problem found and you request a reduction.