Boiler finance when buying house

indieash254

Hi. Newbie here hoping to get some advice. I'm a first time buyer - we're close to exchange but an issue has arisen whereby the vendor disclosed that a previous tenant acquired the boiler on a government scheme.

They said it was for free (and looking it up the scheme they mentioned certainly offered payment for a boiler free to low income households) but the solicitor wants to be sure we won't have any money to pay for it. With schemes such as green deal, it is the bill payer who is liable to pay for any finance even if they are not the same as the person who acquired it in the first place.

All we have been able to get from the seller is a letter from British Gas saying they have paid up an invoice in full but there's no mention of a boiler in the letter. The estate agent says that this is all the vendor is able to get from them and she has spent about 7 hours to their call centress to do so.

My solicitor is not suggesting any other proof as being sufficient. However if I had a letter from the vendor saying there is nothing outstanding to pay for the purchase of the boiler wouldn't that be sufficient? Wouldn't I be able to take them to court for misrepresentation if that proved to be false? I have already seen an email from their solicitor stating the vendor has stated the boiler has no encumberances.

It may seem I'm being too hasty but three months to purchase a house when neither of us is in a chain while being booted out of the property we used to rent, we are now living in a serviced apartment and we can't afford to do so beyond the end of April. On top of that our previous attempted purchase lasted four months before we backed out also. We really need an exchange of contracts by the end of next week.

Thanks in advance
Ashley

dc197

My solicitor advised I should only rely on what we are told via the other solicitor and that anything I am told directly by the oher party should not be relied upon.
So perhaps the statement via their solicitor about a lack of encumberances would be more worthy than an letter directly from them.

marksoton

Finance follows people, not properties.

tomtontom

marksoton wrote: »

Finance follows people, not properties.

Not always - the govt did offer a scheme whereby boilers were supplied at no cost but the property was tied to certain tariffs through which the cost of the boiler was repaid. I'm not sure how the OP could check whether this applies to their property, other than by a written statement by the seller.

(Edit: You're not tied to certain tariffs. Your electricity provider will collect repayments and pass them to the finance provider.)

indieash254

I agree marksoton. The recently decommissioned green deal scheme funded the boiler through an increase in energy bill costs tied to the property.

tomtontom

From what I can find repayments would be itemised on the electricity bill for the property. If they can provide you with bills for the past year then if nothing is listed that should satisfy your solicitor?