Do they need to know this?

kingfisherblue

My mum's boiler started leaking yesterday morning - again. It has already been repaired a few times, and it is serviced every year. My mum tried ringing her regular company who does the repairs and servicing, but no answer. He's a one person company. Anyway, as the leak was so bad, she rang another local company. This is a much bigger concern and has held a good reputation in our town for many years. As it happens, an inspector had an appointment with a neighbour of my Mum's, so they asked if they could come to her straight after that. My mum agreed. Over the phone, before the inspector arrived, my mum was told about the scheme for new boilers, free to certain people. My mum is almost 80, her boiler is 11 years old, and she gets pension credit.

The inspector checked the boiler and advised a new one under the free scheme. Now, my mum has no savings, so this will be a blessing for her as she was already worried about the cost of repairs. She already has all the pipe work in place, unlike her neighbour who still has a very old fashioned system. The inspector took a copy of proof of PC while he was there.

This morning Mum has had a phone call to say that it has been approved. She is, quite naturally, delighted. However, I am a bit concerned because they then told her that they have been in touch with the freeholder, who is willing to sell the freehold. They also want her to take the house deeds down to their company premises.

Now, I had a free boiler a few years ago under a similar scheme. I care for my severely disabled child and also claim income support, which is why I qualified. I live in the next street to my mum and the company that own her freehold also own mine. I have a mortgage. I was never asked for house deeds or proof of mortgage.

I can understand that my mum may need torove she is the owner of the house, but I cannot think of a reason that the central heating company would speak to the freeholders about my mum buying the freehold. Surely this is none of their business? It's only a small estate, just three roads, and we all pay £9 a year as leaseholders. When we did enquire about buying the freehold several years ago, it was around £1000, which wasn't worth it.

So, I'm a bit stuck. My mum was quite offended when I asked why they had spoken to the freeholders, and said that it was a condition of getting the boiler. Nobody asked Mum who the freeholders were, or even if the house was freehold or leasehold, so I assume that her neighbour mentioned that all of the houses are leasehold for some reason - although I can't imagine why he would tell someone that. I've known this chap as a neighbour since I was in primary school, and he has always been a fairly private person. He and his wife are in their early 80s.

Am I just being suspicious without reason? Can anyone think of a reason why the central heating company have phoned the freeholders, who are in Cornwall, to discuss my mum buying it? We're in Merseyside incidentally.

Any ideas, comments, etc most welcome.

Annisele

I'm similarly puzzled - I think either your Mum has misunderstood, or something fairly dodgy is going on.

The only thing I can think of is that installing the new boiler creates some sort of work the freeholder would need to consent to. But I can't get from that to buying the freehold.

Hopefully somebody else will have a better idea!

Mojisola

Would your Mum phone (or let you phone) and ask for written details of the scheme that is paying for the boiler? That should show what information a recipient is expected to show.

Cottage_Economy

Because the scheme probably isn't free.

If it is the Green Deal scheme she's having it replaced under, she is being 'loaned' the money and will be paying it back over a number of years through her utilities bills. However they won't be any higher. The new boiler will be saving her money due to its efficiency and it is the gap between the new bills and old bills that is paid back as loan repayments.

I think the whole freehold thing is due to the fact that the 'loan' stays with the property not the person, so if she moves it becomes the responsibility of the new owners. Technically however, your mum doesn't own the land the property sits on - she is a leaseholder and therefore is a tenant. The freeholder must be informed of any charge on the property because one day when your mum's lease runs out she has to give up the property, sign a new lease or buy the lease freehold. It could cause problems for the freehold landlord.

You may find that she is not eligible for the scheme if she cannot become the freeholder of the land the property sits on.

You definitely need to find out more info and go through all the small print of everything you mum has already signed and will be signing. Specifically if this is the same scheme you obtained your boiler under (if it was warmfront that scheme has now stopped?) or the new Green Deal, which only came in recently.

kingfisherblue

Thanks for your reply.

I don't think my mum has misunderstood, as the central heating company told her the name of the company that owns the freehold. Also, I picked her up to take her shopping less than five minutes after she received the phone call this morning. She may be almost 80, but her mind is sharp and she s quite an organised person.

I did wonder about something dodgy, although I can't imagine what. Having said that, the central heating firm have been around for over 50 years, maybe more, and have a good reputation in our town. The only negative thing I have ever heard about them is that they are a bit pricey, but in terms of honesty, reliability, quality of service and parts, etc, they are considered to be a very good firm.

Mojisola

Has she had anything in writing?

kingfisherblue

Cottage Economy, thanks for your explanation. That could be it then. I'll check to see if that is the scheme and I'll look into it. She would be stuck between a rock and a hard place then, as she couldn't afford the freehold either. The freeholder only bought the freeholds a couple of years ago - the first that we knew about it was a bill for the lease from a new company, explaining that they had bought the freehold from the previous owners. So I don't even know of they would want to sell.

Mojisola, she has a company letterhead type of paper, the sort that self carbonates. She showed it to me last night and it has her name and address, a drawing of the boiler, pipes, etc, and some almost unreadable writing that details the work to be done. It says something about boiler replacement, checking external pipes, and something else that I can't remember. I only glanced at it as I left yesterday evening. I don't know if she has signed it.

esmerelda98

The free boilers are offered under a scheme called the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO). I think it is part of the same initiative as the Green Deal, but I don't think it operates in the same way as the Green Deal in having a loan attached to the house. I believe the government decided to concentrate energy-saving grants on low income households, whereas previously they were more widely available, so I think there are free (or pretty much free) boilers available. However, I don't know whether the homeowner needs to be the freeholder. That may still be relevant under the ECO.

PoorCharleyBear

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

Because the scheme probably isn't free.

If it is the Green Deal scheme she's having it replaced under, she is being 'loaned' the money and will be paying it back over a number of years through her utilities bills. However they won't be any higher. The new boiler will be saving her money due to its efficiency and it is the gap between the new bills and old bills that is paid back as loan repayments.

I think the whole freehold thing is due to the fact that the 'loan' stays with the property not the person, so if she moves it becomes the responsibility of the new owners.

You may find that she is not eligible for the scheme if she cannot become the freeholder of the land the property sits on.
.

The first bit is correct (I worked for the company who was drafting the policy) . However unless something major has changed, this scheme was drafted to attract tenants (but is open to all). Many landlords will not pay for improvements and this was seen as a solution. Bills may increase but the initial aim was that billpayers should notice minimal changes to their regular bills.

Landlords do have to be informed but cannot unreasonably withhold consent.I cannot understand why this plumbing company would be interested in the freehold- sounds s bit weird. I would call them and ask why.