Boiler broken ,exchange tomorrow.

NewLibra

Hi,


We have encountered one last bump in the road before exhange, after MSE forum users were so helpful over loft room definitions I thought I would ask your advice.


Despite continually asking the vendors to put the boiler on in their vacant property when it got below freezing in the last few months they refused. Because it is vacant we asked for a pre-exchange inspection visit yesterday which was allowed. During the visit both the estate agent and my husband tried to start the boiler and it wouldn't start.
We desperately want to exchange tomorrow as we have to give notice on our rented by the 7th or we will have to pay another months rent however we dont' have the spare £1K-2K to buy a new boiler as soon as we move into the house.
Is there any (legal!) way to exchange tomorrow but see if the vendors will contribute to a new boiler that doesn't rely entirely on the goodwill of the seller?


Thank you in advance.

jbainbridge

Simple ... tell the vendors / your solicitor that you are not happy to exchange without seeing the boiler working.

HouseBuyer77

Is there any (legal!) way to exchange tomorrow but see if the vendors will contribute to a new boiler that doesn't rely entirely on the goodwill of the seller?

You get the house in the condition it was at exchange, the boiler would be broken so no comeback there. The vendor's refused to let you try out the boiler so you were unable to check it so were basically taking the risk all would be ok.

Legally only possible comeback is if on the property information form they ticked 'yes' to the question 'is the heating system in good working order'. However as you are fully aware that it isn't and you have yet to exchange this may not get you far.

Really it's down to negoiation with the vendor. Note that even if they do knock £2k off the price that's £2k off the mortgage, not £2k extra cash you receive. So if you don't have the spare money you'll still be without a boiler.

Could be worth having a plumber over to see if they can get it going for a reasonable cost.

G_M

and if that means waiting a month, well, you pay another month's rent and save a month's mortgage. Plus earn a month's interest on your cash.

Chances of getting the terms of the contract changed (price, get boiler fixed by Completion, whatever) are zilch.

HouseBuyer77

If the property has been left empty for a long time they may have drained down the system (it would be a condition of their insurance) in which case it's no wonder the boiler didn't fire.

Filling it up is simple, however you need to add inhibitor to the system, and avoid getting any air locks in the sytem. You can google for instructions (kit + chemicals available from screwfix) or get a plumber in.

[Deleted User]

Without wishing to sound patronising - is there a mysterious switch that appears to do nothing anywhere near the boiler, the previous location of the boiler, or the wall thermostat?

I called out a heating engineer to fix my broken boiler after moving into my flat

(I needed him to check the safety and service it, so it wasn't a totally wasted visit, but I did feel like a bit of a plum).

NewLibra

The EA and vendor are going out today to see if they can fix it so I'm guessing it hasn't been drained down and there is no mysterious switch! That would be nice however as it means there would be no problem exchanging tomorrow.


I guess we might as well continue to be comfy in our rented accomodation.

foxy-stoat

You could ask your plumber if he would fit a secondhand boiler, plenty for sale on the ebay.

If you do not have a spare £1000-£2000 to replace/repair the boiler maybe home ownership is not right for you at the moment.

Grenage

Did the vendor state that the boiler was in working order?

foxy-stoat

NewLibra wrote: »

Is there any (legal!) way to exchange tomorrow but see if the vendors will contribute to a new boiler that doesn't rely entirely on the goodwill of the seller?

You haven't exchanged yet, so you can walk away if a non-working boiler is a deal breaker for you or renegotiate, but as the other poster stated, £2,000 off the mortgage will be very little in your pocket.

dc197

Grenage wrote: »

Did the vendor state that the boiler was in working order?

They may have done, but if the OP saw that it was not working before exchange I'm not sure that the statement would mean very much.

Surely any statement that the boiler is working would only be useful if the OP exchanged before learning that the boiler was not in fact working.
If they received such a statement, it's almost better to have not tested the boiler before exchange.