Buying a house with 18 year old boiler - renegotiate price?

pinkshoes

If the boiler is 18 years old and still going strong it is clearly a good one.

Some of the older ones were MUCH better built than the modern cr*p.

Ours is nearly 40 years old and works fine. My grandad has a 60 year old boiler.

Far too much obsession with having to have a new boiler. If it int broke, don't fix it!!

In our previous house the boiler died after 7 years and we discovered the parts were obsolete so we had to replace it.

goodwithsaving

I operate on the basis of, if a buyer can see it when viewing then no I won't discount. You can buy a new house with the cheapest boiler going and that one will no doubt require replacing sooner than an older boiler still going after nearly 20 years!

chucknorris

We always look at the boiler, and we just bought a house 3 months ago, although the boiler was old but working, we replaced it anyway, obviously our offer was based on doing just that. We are currently selling our previous home, the survey was last week, I would not be inclined to accept a lower offer for what was blatantly obvious at the time the offer was made.

theartfullodger

Antiques are often worth more - lucky you!

agrinnall

NewB wrote: »

It hasn't been serviced, was planning to arrange that as a follow up to our survey so we know what to expect / budget for.

It's not clear exactly when you plan to have the service done, but I would suggest you wait until you have completed so that you are in control of who does the service, rather than the seller finding the cheapest possible provider.

robatwork

pinkshoes wrote: »

If the boiler is 18 years old and still going strong it is clearly a good one.

Some of the older ones were MUCH better built than the modern cr*p.

This.

However job one on moving in should be a service (local, independent firm).

If there are lots of other issues eg. needing a rewire, you can lump in boiler servicing/fixing to an overall negotiation, but I don't think it's reasonable to ask for any discount for this alone.

googler

NewB wrote: »

We've had an offer accepted on a house that we love, at the top end of our budget. In the process of getting the survey done and cross checking with the sellers questionnaire, we now know the boiler and heating system is nearly 20 years old.

... and, if this is important to you, you could have asked what age it was before making your offer

I don't know at the moment what make the boiler is, nor the type - I can ask the seller, but not til the new year.

... surely you saw the make etc. when you viewed? And if the type is important to you, you could have asked?

Would you say that the age of the heating system is cause to try to reduce the offer amount by a few grand?

No. If all this was important enough to influence the level of your offer, you should have established it all before making your offer.

Bad faith negotiation on your part ... essentially "I never thought about that before making the offer, but now that the seller has put the thought in my head..."

PhilE

You definitely need to allow for the cost of a new heating system. You need to get it checked for asbestos also, your looking at a couple of grand alone for the extraction of high content asbestos.

If this has already been factored into the asking price fine. If not, then re negotiate. I insisted on re negotiation, based on an old heating system. I own the house now.

Some here are claiming that old boilers last ages. Without knowing the make of the boiler, if it has been serviced, you can't make that assumption. The boiler could make it another 10 years, or pack in next week. What is clear, is that there is the possibility of the boiler failing, much more so than say a 5 year old Worcester combi.

Saying, 'Well its an older boiler, but hey old boilers are better than new ones,' is crazy.

AdrianC

PhilE wrote: »

Saying, 'Well its an older boiler, but hey old boilers are better than new ones,' is crazy.

Nobody said "better than". There's a slight trade-off of efficiency for simplicity. (Even vaguely) Modern condensing boilers are far more complex than older non-condensing, and there were a LOT of problems with the electronics on earlier condensing ones.

Remember that the newest non-condensing boilers are 12 years old, and everything less is condensing. I know that I'd rather be looking at a 15yo non-condensing than a 10yo condensing, because it's far less likely to need replacement in the short-to-medium term.

Tom99

PhilE wrote: »

You definitely need to allow for the cost of a new heating system. You need to get it checked for asbestos also, your looking at a couple of grand alone for the extraction of high content asbestos.

Of course you don't. 'Nearly 20yrs old' So 1998 or later, long after asbestos was allowed.