Can I insist on a boiler service for my house purchase

claretking

Hi there,

I've hoping you can help, I'm a FTB due to exchange on a property next Friday. The property is approx 28 years old and one thing my solicitor has suggested, the vendor should get the boiler serviced. There is no record of it ever being serviced so can only assume it is as old as the property!! I'm just concerned, if it does fail post completion, it will be a hefty sum to replace which I won't be able to afford straight away.

Am I being fair insisting on this? The vendor's solicitors will not ask their client to fulfill this request so not sure where I stand.

We've been so flexible on move dates as they wanted a quick sale. Even at the cost of us having to pay additional rent in our current property because they unexpectedly moved the date forward. I believe its a small request given how easy we have made this.

Can I please have your thoughts?

thesaint

If I were the seller, I would tell you where to go.

Cheeky_Monkey

You can insist all you like but, as you've already been told that their solicitors won't even pass on your request, the chances of it happening seem to be quite low.

It is, of course, your choice whether you proceed or not if the boiler is not serviced before exchange.

If it were me, I would ask for another viewing before exchange specifically to check that the boiler/central heating is working.

mrginge

Any boiler can fail but if its 20+ years old at best it'll be horribly inefficient, however if it's working fine and has done then why do you expect it to suddenly fail?
You should certainly get it inspected, but you should be paying for it.
And given that you presumably looked at the boiler when you viewed, you should have factored a potential replacement into your offer.

stator

You can insist but if they refuse the whole thing might fall through.
You could always offer to pay for the service yourself, sending your own engineer who reports back to you. If he highlights serious problems then you've paid a hundred quid for a house you didn't buy, but you've saved yourself thousands in repair costs. If all is okay then you've got a bit more piece of mind. Although having it serviced doesn't mean it won't break within 3 months.
If it's an old boiler I would make sure it is reflected in the purchase price. If you couldn't afford repair/replace then don't buy.

stator

mrginge wrote: »

Any boiler can fail but if its 20+ years old at best it'll be horribly inefficient, however if it's working fine and has done then why do you expect it to suddenly fail?

In a house I rented there was a power cut and when the power came back the boiler was dead. Although it was a small part that needed replacing it was an old boiler, they couldn't get replacement parts and the landlord had to buy a new one! Old boilers are a big risk IMO.

G_M

Was it working when you saw it? Did you check?

Did hot water come out of the taps? Not rocket science!

If the vendors have lived there using it (probobly for years) and chosen not to service it, why should they now?

You want it serviced? Buy the house and get it serviced!
You want it checked for age/condition? Pay an engneer for a report (just like your survey).

eddddy

Hi claretking

It's better to make this kind of request via the EA - not the solicitor.

A standard boiler service normally costs about £60. Some vendors might agree to pay, others might expect you to.

A standard service would probably confirm that the boiler is safe and that it fires up. It probably wouldn't check that the radiators actually get warm, or the hot water actually heats up - or give an overall assessment of the condition of the system.

If you want a more thorough inspection try googling something like 'home buyers heating inspection'.

Or just contact a few local heating engineers, explain what you want and ask for a quote. Realistically, you should expect to pay for this (not the vendor).

Then arrange suitable dates for the inspection via the EA.

Gwhiz

Will be interesting to see if we get any more posts from the OP or if this is, yet again, another newbie who offers no value to this site after their initial take.

Sadly I see it happening more and more.

botchjob

Classic FTB mentality. This sort of thing just breeds ill-will and makes the house buying/selling process so tedious. Sure, you might ‘save’ yourself £60 but the flip side may well be that the vendor gets their own back in some tit for tat way.

I’m not proud of it but with my last sale the buyer played silly !!!!!!s like this and we eventually agreed to their money pinching and very irritating demands, just to get the sale through. The trade off was that, purely out of spite, I gleefully spent time, money, and effort replacing all the expensive light and plug fittings, door handles, etc, etc, with B&Q ownbrand stuff. Not specified in the fixtues and fittings, so nothing they could do about it.

The house buying/selling process often brings out the very worst in people.

eddddy

botchjob wrote: »

Classic FTB mentality. This sort of thing just breeds ill-will and makes the house buying/selling process so tedious.
...

Hmmm... a bit over the top.

The OP says:

claretking wrote: »

...and one thing my solicitor has suggested, the vendor should get the boiler serviced.
...
Am I being fair insisting on this?
....

Are you suggesting that FTBs should generally ignore their solicitor's advice?


And... what do you see as the purpose of this forum, if it's not for people who don't understand this type of thing to ask this type of question?