Vendor says it too much hassle to let me test the utilities

BeansOnToast_2

Mojisola wrote: »

When I had an empty property up for sale, I left everything on but with the CH set for frost protection. The insurance company was quite happy with that.

Same here. When my mum died I was the local family representative when we sold her empty house. We left the heating on low and I checked the house a couple of times a week. The buyers wanted to check the heating and I had no problem with them doing that

G_M

The only way to determine this is to see the vendor's insurance policy. Different policies have different conditions.

Now I may be wrong, and in reality the vendor knows the heating system is busted and hence not allowing inspection. But the insurance explanation I offered is equally (more?) possible.

Without all the facts, we are all just hypothesising.

phoebe1989seb

BeansOnToast wrote: »

Same here. When my mum died I was the local family representative when we sold her empty house. We left the heating on low and I checked the house a couple of times a week. The buyers wanted to check the heating and I had no problem with them doing that

Me too - we sold my parents' house in 2012 when they both had to go into a nursing home and we left the heating on low whilst the sales process went on (less than six months). We had no issues with the buyers checking stuff out to make sure there were no probs, although our EA oversaw this as we were not local.

Also, the house we bought at the end of 2014 had been vacant for at least eighteen months as the vendor had already purchased elsewhere and moved out. He left the Aga on low - or at least it was on when we viewed at the end of July and again in October when we offered.

We later arranged to have an hour (ended up being closer to two) at the house so that we could check everything was functioning ok. The EA actually let us pick up the keys from their office and drop them back when we were done.

AubreyMac

I'm in a similar position so need to know things like this too.

Does it have to be the actual vendor to come round and turn things on? I don't see why the agent can't do it.

The place I'm purchasing the vendor lives in another part of the UK (the property is also vacant) so when I request to make sure things are fine and working, I do not want to be fobbed off with saying it's a lot of hassle.

DRP

you can't force the vendor to do anything.

perhaps you should consider what it would cost you to rectify any issues, and reflect this in how much you wish to pay for the property.

martin1959

Perhaps you should consider how desirable the property is. If there would be other people around the corner who would not be so demanding the seller may just look for another buyer.


Hold back £10k? You could have 4 boilers installed for that. Pay a registered gas fitter to do a report on the boiler....the rest of the heating system is just pipes and rads which are fairly cheap.

G_M

martin1959 wrote: »

Pay a registered gas fitter to do a report on the boiler....the rest of the heating system is just pipes and rads which are fairly cheap.

How is the gas fitter gong to report on the boiler if the gas is off and ch system drained??????

Oh - yes, by getting the vender to set up a gas account, switch on the gas, and re-fill the ch system. So gas fitter might as well check the rads and controls as well!

Annie1960

Your solicitor has advised you of the 'buyer beware' principle. So, it depends on your attitude to risk. Would it bother you if you bought the place and later found the boiler, electrics etc did not work?

I would not buy in these circumstances, but you may be different.

Ultimately, if your vendor wants to sell, they have to make an effort. If they are too lazy to let you test the utilities, what else have they been lazy about?

Do you know what the market is like in that area, e.g. would you find it easy to find another property, or have you been looking for a long time and this is your dream property?

Yolina

When I bought my flat 16 years ago, it had been vacant for some time, the CH system had been drained and the gas was off. Didn't bother me in the slightest TBH, I was told that it was working but obviously had no proof. The water and electricity were on when I viewed so I did try all the taps/lights/sockets.

I simply had the boiler checked and serviced after completion (and as an aside, it's now 25 years old and still working fine, though the CH pump did give up the ghost last week - but I can't complain really, given its age )

Mojisola

Yolina wrote: »

When I bought my flat 16 years ago, it had been vacant for some time, the CH system had been drained and the gas was off. Didn't bother me in the slightest TBH, I was told that it was working but obviously had no proof. The water and electricity were on when I viewed so I did try all the taps/lights/sockets.

I simply had the boiler checked and serviced after completion (and as an aside, it's now 25 years old and still working fine, though the CH pump did give up the ghost last week - but I can't complain really, given its age )

Would you feel the same if the boiler was broken and you'd had to pay out for a new one as soon as you moved in?