Boiler broke down in the house we are buying - seller asking us to pay 50% costs

numbercruncher8

There is nothing to say that the whole thing is fiction, you are simply paying money in good faith.
Is there a specific reason why the boiler is condemned? Could you get access with a tradesperson to get another opinion on what needs to be done?

It seems slightly illogical that they should be trusted. If it was a broken bathtub and they were asking for money to buy a replacement and its installation cost I think the answer would be to not bother and you'll do it yourself.

IMO the EA has probably seen the £15k over and FTB and put it down as an easy target for extorting more cash, knowing that if they threaten a delay they will probably fold. 

princeofpounds

As others have said, it is generally not wise to get vendors to do work for you. They have no stake in the long-term quality of that work.

Their request is not as cheeky as it sounds. They may be buying a boiler with a useful life of what, 15 years, and benefit from it for just a few weeks. 

If you could trust the work and be sure you will get the property, it's not actually a bad deal for you. You get a 99% new boiler for 50% of the cost.

They don't have to claim on their insurance. They may not want to, or it may not cover the situation. But given their earlier response you may wish to enquire as to why they are not using it. Might be an interesting answer!

The correct response would be one of two things:
- Say you will deal with it when you move in, and reduce your offer by 50% of the cost of the boiler. Economically it makes sense, but it may not be that well-received as psychologically a reduction isn't fun and it leaves the question of what to do in the meantime.
- Offer to pay 50% on exchange of contracts on condition that you pick (or approve) the contractor, quote and materials.

davidmcn

Chandler85 said:

But if the vendor pulls out, or the sale falls through for some other reason, the buyer loses half the money for nothing.

Agree to pay (and agree a boiler choice) and give them the money on exchange, seems like the most sensible method.

I presumed the intention was to adjust the price on completion, rather than for the OP to be handing over any cash in advance. I wouldn't even be paying on exchange.

Mutton_Geoff

Personally I would take the whole story with a pinch of salt and get your own Gas Safe heating tech in there to give you a second opinion and quote. The boiler worked when you viewed the house and made your offer on that basis. That is how it should be when you complete.

Any issue of betterment could be down to you but if the boiler really is beyond it's useful life, then what about other parts of the system, controls etc? Might be time for a refurb (at your expense). Maybe the house wasn't worth above asking after all?

Chandler85

davidmcn said:

Chandler85 said:

But if the vendor pulls out, or the sale falls through for some other reason, the buyer loses half the money for nothing.

Agree to pay (and agree a boiler choice) and give them the money on exchange, seems like the most sensible method.

I presumed the intention was to adjust the price on completion, rather than for the OP to be handing over any cash in advance. I wouldn't even be paying on exchange.

I was going down the lines of not getting the mortgage lender involved with a different amount paid, especially if it was being increased.

davidmcn

Chandler85 said:

davidmcn said:

Chandler85 said:

But if the vendor pulls out, or the sale falls through for some other reason, the buyer loses half the money for nothing.

Agree to pay (and agree a boiler choice) and give them the money on exchange, seems like the most sensible method.

I presumed the intention was to adjust the price on completion, rather than for the OP to be handing over any cash in advance. I wouldn't even be paying on exchange.

I was going down the lines of not getting the mortgage lender involved with a different amount paid, especially if it was being increased.

The timing of the payment doesn't really make a difference if it's obviously part of the deal - but there may in any event be sufficient leeway for this sort of thing, lenders don't necessary need to know about fairly small adjustments.

FaceHead

The vendor absolutely should be replacing the boiler. What if it broke the week before you viewed the property, rather than after? You'd be knocking off the whole price of the boiler. 

What if you refuse to pay the 50% asked? The sale falls through and they decide to find a new buyer. Are they going to say "hi new buyer, the boiler is broken and I'm making allowance for half of that in my asking price". Of course not, the new buyer will expect the vendor to replace the boiler or knock off the full amount. 

Ideally they knock off the full amount from the sale price and you can get a boiler to your own standards. More likely they will choose to do the replacement  and be warm for the next few weeks. 

Jumblebumble

seradane said:

You have not exchanged yet, so there is no contract. You are not liable for anything. Any party can do what they want. At this point its all negotiation. They can ask. You can say no.

But let's break it down - there are a couple of different outcomes here

1. You pay 50% of the boiler
2. You don't pay 50% of the boiler, the seller replaces it themselves to ensure the sale goes through
3. You don't pay 50% of the boiler, the seller doesn't replace it, you then have to replace the whole thing when you move in
4. You don't pay 50% of the boiler, the seller doesn't replace it, you pull out of the sale
   

Both options 3 and 4 will put you out of pocket more than the £1375 for the boiler, so on balance you're probably better off just sucking it up and paying for it. Is it worth losing the whole house over a thousand pounds? But then if you think the seller would prefer to swallow the whole cost to avoid losing the house they're buying, maybe you can threaten to pull out and hope that they don't call your bluff. 

Up to you.

 Option 5
The vendor has a second hand boiler installed by a cowboy firm as they are only interested in it working for a month

hounsehunterftb

Hello guys!! Thanks a lot for all the replies. There were some really good suggestions. After an immense amount of back and forth between us and seller, we have agreed to pay towards 25% price for the installation of the new conventional boiler (5 year warranty) as opposed to the combi boiler that we were suggesting. Needless to say that installation of comb boiler was a huge inconvenience and work for sellers who weren't ready to do in this pandemic also because we had not exchanged. And we live in north of england currently the weather conditions are so horrible (snow everything), so eventually in the interest of keeping the sale intact, 25% contribution from us has been agreed. 
We just want to move forward now with the exchange (given the boiler is fixed now) and completion for our family home!

hounsehunterftb

Its worth pointing out that how much ever we would have preferred to get the work done ourselves or get the type of boiler that we want, the seller were still living in the house with two children and without boiler it just isn't habitable.