Selling house exchanging tomorrow and integrated washing machine dying

Burnside5

We are selling our house and due to exchange tomorrow and complete end of next week. Our integrated washer dryer has decided to start making a horrendous noise and turns out drum bearings have gone. We have tried to get it repaired but as welded drum this cannot be done (and that's a debate all in itself). What are our options? Our buyer is expecting a working 5 year old washer dryer, it does still work but the noise is awful and unlikely to last much longer, My thought was to make a contribution for a replacement, but should not have to pay for a new one outright, but legally or morally would should I do?

xylophone

As you say, the buyer is expecting a working appliance.

Tell him and offer half the cost of a replacement?

hazyjo

Same issue with our integrated dishwasher. One plumber visited, said it prob died, offered £120 to buyer which I thought was more than fair for a 5 year old dishwasher. Buyer says no. Wants a working one plumbed in. Tried an engineer as a fix would be cheaper. Said 90% sure it was the pump - nope, it was def dead. Bought new dishwasher and had the bloody thing fitted. Too much faff to source a second hand one which we couldn't guarantee would work. Spent nearly £500.

You're very slightly further ahead although we did think we were exchanging that week - until the buyer decided to have a full structural survey then a structural engineer round.

We thought we were doing the decent thing. I'd say offer a fairly generous cash offer and hope they're happy with it. Whether you wait until after exchange is up to you

davidmcn

I think legally that, like the rest of the house, you need to hand it over in the condition it's in at exchange i.e now, rather than when they last saw it (unless you've made some other guarantee about the state of the machine). And I suppose it is still "working".

But if they're expecting a properly working machine it might be less hassle just to source one. Or offer them the difference in value between a working 5 year old machine (which might die at any time) and one which actually already has died - not much.

Probably discuss with them before you do anything though, as often appliances are just passed on because it's slightly less hassle than moving them - I wouldn't really mind being given the opportunity to buy a shiny new appliance for myself when I move in, and your buyers might not be too bothered either.

Lunchbox

Could you buy a second hand one? You should be able to pick up a working one for under £100.

Debtslayer

I would mention it to your buyers and see what they say, at least then it's not a surprise when they move in and they curse you for not telling them. They may prefer just to get their own anyway. If it were me I'd be happy that is been told before I moved in so at least I had chance and knew to buy one. You could always offer a contribution of £100? if they complained about it, but it is just bad timing, it could have happened a week or so after they moved in, as appliances are unpredictable

Mutton_Geoff

What did you sell your house for? A new machine is £400. What fraction of the sale price is that? Personally, I might be tempted to do the right thing and put a new one in and let them know what a nice Burnside you are.

Simpler than offering £100/200 with hassle. Pay the extra £200 for a brand new guaranteed one and you can hold your head high when you hand over the keys. Just make sure door fitting is standard otherwise you'd have to buy another kitchen door as well. Or buy like for like.

Before you buy, check the TA10 entry you made. Does it state washer/dryer or just washing machine? You only need to supply what that states.

Most washer dryers are rubbish. I'd far rather have a separate dryer if there is room (but don't go offering to buy that as well!)

G_M

£30 from a place like this near you:

http://www.peacockauction.co.uk/

Burnside5

Not sure what the price we sold the house for has got to do with it to be honest? But as you are interested we accepted £10k under the OIEO price as our buyers were chain free and this enabled us to move quickly with our purchase. We are already leaving them a lot of fittings such as blinds that cost us over £1k new and a decent sized garden shed, so I think they are already getting a fantastic deal.

The cost of a new machine (including fitting is £500+) is just another extra cost at an already very expensive time. I already need to buy a new washine machine for my new house, along with a load of other stuff and all those extra £200s soon add up. I think that offering to replace with a working used machine (will cost £250 for supply, fitting inc adapting existing door to fit) or contributing that same amount towards a new machine of their choice is already very generous, especially as the current one still works it is just very noisy.

The TA10 states washer/dryer, and yes I agree separate washing machine and drier are much better and what we will have in our new house.

Mutton_Geoff

Burnside5 wrote: »

Not sure what the price we sold the house for has got to do with it to be honest?

£500 is 10x the percentage cost of a £150k house vs than if you sold for £1.5m.


I like to evaluate expenses on the basis of a percentage of the whole transaction rather than the actual pound notes. (I recently paid £73,750 stamp duty on a purchase so this was the only way I could bring myself to accept such a thieving amount to the government!)

thorsoak

Many people chose to change the kitchen as a priority once they move into a house - so I would be inclined to offer your buyers the cost of a new machine less a 5-year depreciation and leave the noisy machine there.