Gas and Electric Safety Certficates vendor has not had them done who should pay?

topcat007

Hi ,

I am buying a house and there is no safety certificate for GAS or Electric in the last 5 years.

Who should be responsible for obtaining and paying for these checks to be done?

if it is me how much do they cost roughly?

Also are they needed for house insurance purposes and by the mortgage lender?

Any help appreciated

Alter_ego

They should be paid by whoever wants them. There is no legal reason to have them done except for rental properties.

jbainbridge

Neither are required - by anyone. If you want them done you'll probably need to pay for them yourself. I've no idea of the cost I'm afraid.

topcat007

yay more money going out

anselld

topcat007 wrote: »

yay more money going out

Not necessarily. Your choice. Not many owner/occupiers have these as a matter of course.

Hoploz

I don't know about electrics but I paid £70 (plus vat) for a gas safety certificate with boiler service when my buyer suddenly asked for it on what should have been exchange day last year.

topcat007

anselld wrote: »

Not necessarily. Your choice. Not many owner/occupiers have these as a matter of course.

Only issue is the electrics are quite old and the full structural surveyor and solicitor keep strongly recommending me to get them especially the electric one.

I guess if there is a big electric problem i.e its shorting etc its going to cost thousands for a rewire?

Thanks for advice

anselld

Well if you can see the electrics are "quite old" then yes you should allow for the cost of rewire in due course, depending on how old. That does not mean they will electrocute you tomorrow.

Surveyors and solicitors mainly like to protect their ars*s by recommending further expert reports. It doesn't necessarily mean there is an immediate problem.

EmmyLou30

An owner occupier would never have either of these things, they're s rental thing. If you want to get them checked for piece of mind then you pay. About £60 for a gas one, £80 for electric. Well that's was we pay for our rental anyway.

Annie1960

I have just bought a property and paid £50+VAT for an gas safety inspection, and £300+VAT for electrics. I had the full electrical check, they went through every single socket, as this is what I wanted. Took about half a day, but gives me peace of mind, and I knew what work needed to be done before I bought.

EDIT: It's the buyer who pays if they want this, it's part of the due diligence.