Buying and selling potential problem arising

BrOz

Hello all, 

Without going into to much detail my house has sold and my offer was accepted on another property. Things appear to have gone smoothly up until recently where we have had a few calls from the estate agents of the home we are buying. The seller organised an electrical and gas safety certificate. Unfortunately the gas safety certificate could not be issued due to a fault that could be rectified for what I estimate as approximately £200 based on what the problem was that they told us about (there could be more problems but this is the information we were given). The seller who currently lives at the property does not want to fix it and thinks that I should resolve this when I move in. I've looked into this and although there is no legal requirement for a gas safety certificate to be issued for property that is not being rented it could make home insurance void if something were to happen. Part of our mortage agreement is that we have valid home insurance. Also me and my husband are expecting a baby and I don't feel comfortable moving into a property where we know it has failed the gas safety check. Or a boiler that has been condemned and we have no heating in the winter. 

We made it clear to the estate agents our views on this matter and they seem to agree on the matter to a point they have arranged to go to the sellers house to see what the problem actually is and arrange to support the seller to fix it (if he agrees). 

My worry is if they say no.

We could arrange to fix it ourselves however the property is not ours yet and we would be spending our own money doing this and they may pull out. I feel the seller is being unreasonable. I have arranged all of this on my property I am selling maybe due to feeling its morally right and would hate for an accident to happen that was partly My fault. Same as I agreed with my husband if there was an issue in the survey we would say our buyer can have money off to fix it. If in the situation our boiler has been condemned and was easily fixable we would have also sorted this. 

I understand this is my own thoughts on how the situation is but I would like to know what other people would do in this situation. 

Flugelhorn

I  think it is one of the problems of buyinig and selling - you may well do lots to your house and make everything fine for your buyers (as we did) but then find there are problems at the house you move to  (as we did) - just one of those things. Might be helpful if the estate agent can get some more info and see if they can help to get it sorted - if they don't then you will have to decide if you want the house as it is or walk away and look at another 

davidmcn

BrOz said:

it could make home insurance void if something were to happen

No, it won't make the insurance void. Who told you that? The insurance will not however cover you to fix any defects you already knew about when you took out the policy.

What exactly is the defect?

FinallyStoppedLurking

You could offer to reimburse them (up to a certain amount) on completion.

BrOz

I've been informed its due to a lack of ventilation as it's an old back boiler and an air vent needs to be put in. Which is simple as I had to do it in my house when I put in a gas fire. 

No, it won't make the insurance void. Who told you that? The insurance will not however cover you to fix any defects you already knew about when you took out the policy.

What exactly is the defect?

I've been looking online at insurance and knowing about faults. So if in the unlikely situation there was a gas issue and something bad did happen. Which may not but it could. We would not be covered because we knew there was a fault. 

searchlight123

at £200 it's hardly going to be a major issue to correct. are you happy to lose a house you are otherwise happy to purchase for a paltry £200? i guarantee you'll discover much more expensive corrections / repairs will be needed in the near future. is this outside of england because it's unusal for the vendor to conduct a safety check on their own house. that's normally the perogative of the buyer? 

davidmcn

BrOz said:

I've been informed its due to a lack of ventilation as it's an old back boiler and an air vent needs to be put in. Which is simple as I had to do it in my house when I put in a gas fire. 

No, it won't make the insurance void. Who told you that? The insurance will not however cover you to fix any defects you already knew about when you took out the policy.

What exactly is the defect?

I've been looking online at insurance and knowing about faults. So if in the unlikely situation there was a gas issue and something bad did happen. Which may not but it could. We would not be covered because we knew there was a fault. 

If the defect in question results in an event which would otherwise be insured, then yes you might have difficulties with a claim. But it doesn't sound like that's relevant anyway. It certainly doesn't void the policy.

BrOz

tonygold said:

at £200 it's hardly going to be a major issue to correct. are you happy to lose a house you are otherwise happy to purchase for a paltry £200? i guarantee you'll discover much more expensive corrections / repairs will be needed in the near future. is this outside of england because it's unusal for the vendor to conduct a safety check on their own house. that's normally the perogative of the buyer? 

It's in Cardiff, Wales. I don't think it's a legal requirement to have these completed, they are in the conveyancing paperwork though to include them along with when it was last serviced. The estate agents advised the seller to complete them. I have my boiler serviced annually and a gas certificate comes with it so already had one. 

I'm basing my assumption on what the estate agent told me, which could be not the full truth. There could be more to it which is why the seller won't fix it as they still wouldn't get a gas certificate perhaps. So it could be 200 based on what we know, or a few thousand if a new boiler is needed and we have no heating when we move in. 

It's weird because the first call was to inform us of the fault and the options for us to pick. Options were leave it and move in or the seller will fix it if you want the certificate. We said fix it as the issue sounded like it could be easily fixed for a low price, my husband could probably even do it himself. The next call was the seller thinks you should move in and do it yourself.

BrOz

I think I need to try and get hold of the report to see what the actual problem is and how to fix it, then go from there 

Mickey666

If the OP prepared to spend the money on fixing the problem then I'd be very surprised if the seller refuses as even if the sale falls through they will still get the advantage if the fix.

However, if the seller DOES object, how about if it was done after exchange?  At that point, both parties are committed to the sale anyway - plus, I believe that's the point at which a buyer (ie the OP) would have to insure the property anyway, so it's pretty much theirs in practice.  I'd say it would be VERY unreasonable for the vendor to refuse the necessary repairs to be done after exchange so they can be completed before the OP moves in.

I doubt that the OP's insurance company requires a valid gas certificate though.  I've never had house insurance that required such a thing.

But, thinking worst case scenario and the fix can't be implemented before the OP moves in, would it really jeopardise the sale?  Firstly, the vendor has presumably been using the gas boiler for a long time and is still alive - not meeting current regs is not necessarily the same as being in a dangerous state.  Secondly, a CO alarm would give plenty of warning of CO problems during the short time it might take to get the work done.  Thirdly, if the OP is really worried, could they really not resort to temporary electric heating and the immersion heater for DHW until the problem is fixed? 

Definitely not ideal, but is this issue really a deal-breaker?

Tiglet2

If the property has a back boiler and they are stating that there should be an air vent, could you ask the vendor if they originally had an air vent that they bricked up?  If so, could they reinstate it?  I believe gas fires above 5 kilowatts have to have an air brick/vent in the room, but that fires below 5 kilowatt do not (at least that was the case a few years ago).  I am, of course, assuming that the back boiler is behind a gas fire.