Buying a house with re-commissioned boiler

AMH3

Hello, Looking for some advice please. We are due to exchange on a property the boiler was installed in 2010 and no buildings Reg certificate. The owners have had a gas safe engineer apparently inspect the boiler and hes applied to gas safe to register it and the certificate is due to be posted.

The owners claim they cant remember who installed it and no way of finding out, so we have to assume the worst and that it was installed by a non gas safe engineer.

The estate agent is saying its been certified as safe and the correct paperwork is in place (the paperwork obviously states its was installed last week b the person who did the safety check) they cant be back dated. The agent is constantly threatening to put the house back on the market if don't exchange soon - they dont care as they get the fat commission payment eventually.

My question is if after moving in (due to be in 2 months) if we discover an issue with the central heating (house is empty and has been for months) would the person whos re-commissioned it be responsible to put things right? or could they just say it was fine when I checked it in Jan.

We are kind of left with little choice to accept things or pull out and its been a long slog finding a house (2yrs).

Thanks

davidmcn

They'll just be certifying that it was fine when they inspected it, nobody's going to guarantee that your central heating system will be working x months later. Presumably it's going to be drained while the property is unoccupied, you can get problems when systems are refilled and started back up.

Typhoon2000

Yes Certified just means it was safe when it was inspected. Much like a MOT, it's no garantee it will be still be working in 2 weeks.
Still I would be more comfortable with a boiler that has been inspected and certified recently rather than 7years ago.

eddddy

The gas safe engineer is saying that the boiler has been commissioned in compliance with current regulations - and is safe to use.

He/she is not offering any warranty about the condition of the system. Although presumably it worked on the day he/she commissioned it. It could stop working tomorrow.

If you want a report on the condition of the system, you'd have to pay a heating engineer to do that.


Alternatively/additionally, there are lots of companies that offer central heating breakdown insurance. Although if it breaks down because it's badly installed, the insurance company might refuse to fix it.

ReadingTim

AMH3 wrote: »

My question is if after moving in (due to be in 2 months) if we discover an issue with the central heating (house is empty and has been for months) would the person whos re-commissioned it be responsible to put things right? or could they just say it was fine when I checked it in Jan.

So in other words you're taking no more of a risk than every home owner does every autumn when they turn on the heating for the first time since the end of winter and hope the radiators warm up?!?

If you're freaking out about this, no wonder it's taken you 2 years to get this far...

davidmcn

ReadingTim wrote: »

So in other words you're taking no more of a risk than every home owner does every autumn when they turn on the heating for the first time since the end of winter and hope the radiators warm up?!?

To be fair, most home owners aren't going to shut down and drain their system over the summer, especially if the boiler is still being used for hot water.

AMH3

ReadingTim wrote: »

So in other words you're taking no more of a risk than every home owner does every autumn when they turn on the heating for the first time since the end of winter and hope the radiators warm up?!?

If you're freaking out about this, no wonder it's taken you 2 years to get this far...

Not freaking out about it - just know the vendor has lied about work done and cut corners so its not like Im buying a lawnmover. Also the 2yrs is because we had chain collapses not our fault.

AMH3

davidmcn wrote: »

To be fair, most home owners aren't going to shut down and drain their system over the summer, especially if the boiler is still being used for hot water.

The system isn't drained (combi), supplies are still on in the property, thanks for the response.

davidmcn

AMH3 wrote: »

The system isn't drained (combi), supplies are still on in the property, thanks for the response.

Fair enough, though my main concern if the property's empty for the next couple of months is whether they're protecting against frost, whether by keeping it heated sufficiently or draining everything.

AMH3

davidmcn wrote: »

Fair enough, though my main concern if the property's empty for the next couple of months is whether they're protecting against frost, whether by keeping it heated sufficiently or draining everything.

Thanks, I would have thought it would be ok from frost as its a combi so no tanks, it would need to get extremely cold I assume to freeze pipes internally as will be insulation in the walls and loft.

G_M

AMH3 wrote: »

Not freaking out about it - just know the vendor has lied about work done and cut corners so its not like Im buying a lawnmover. Also the 2yrs is because we had chain collapses not our fault.

Look - if you don't trust the seller and are worried there may be lots more wrong with the property, stop prevaricating,pull out, and find another property.

Otherwise be grateful the boiler works (you've seen it chuck out heat and hot water?) and is safe (gas engineer says so?) and .... stop prevaricatimg and buy the property.