Moral dilemma

lobsterpot11

I have a moral dilemma. We're due to exchange and complete within a fortnight and our very old boiler (18 years old) has stopped working reliably. We sometimes have heat and hot water and sometimes it just refuses to work.  We had it serviced in September before receiving an offer, and were honest about the age of the boiler on the form we filled in back in October/November. The boiler got us through several winters without a problem despite its age but if I was staying in this house I'd certainly be replacing it now. (A gas Safe engineer I called out struggled to identify the fault after a very thorough search - he quoted £1600 to install a new boiler)

I know what you're all thinking - the moral thing is to come clean, get it replaced, perhaps ask the buyer if they'd contribute (I can bet they would not). But the buyer spent 2 months up to Christmas chipping away at the price. We agreed to £10000 off. Then they asked for another £5000 off or they'd need to pull out. So we sort of feel we've given them the cost of 10 boilers off already. If none of this had happened I'd be honest about the fault, no question.

I feel awful that they're going to have to replace it straight away but I dread opening yet another round of back and forth through the EA and fear it will delay our move even further if we tell them. With removals booked, our own vendors waiting etc, I'm tempted just to say nothing and move on.
What would you do?!

princeofpounds

This is a business transaction and your only real moral obligations are to follow the law and not to misrepresent what you are selling. The buyer bought that boiler from you, not a lobsterpot11 boiler coverage insurance program. Depending on the language in your answers, you should have clear conscience. It's not as if the buyer is operating on a higher moral plane.

As long as it doesn't actually break, I would do the transaction, not leave a forwarding address for them (any future communication can be via EA or solicitors), and if there is anything to deal with, do it afterwards. 

lobsterpot11

princeofpounds said:

This is a business transaction and your only real moral obligations are to follow the law and not to misrepresent what you are selling. The buyer bought that boiler from you, not a lobsterpot11 boiler coverage insurance program. Depending on the language in your answers, you should have clear conscience. It's not as if the buyer is operating on a higher moral plane.

As long as it doesn't actually break, I would do the transaction, not leave a forwarding address for them (any future communication can be via EA or solicitors), and if there is anything to deal with, do it afterwards. 

Thanks @princeofpounds
That makes sense. They have made mugs of us really in this whole process, so yes, I agree about them not being on a higher moral footing! If it *does* break down completely - what should we do?

FTB_Help

Out of curiosity why did they ask for £10k and then £5k off? Did something get thrown up in the surveys/ enquiries/ searches?

youth_leader

It's a risk we all take when we buy a house with an old boiler, it could stop working at any time.  I've just sold my house with an eighteen year old oil boiler, it was clear on the recent service documents that the baffles needed replacing.  I wasn't going to replace it as I'd had a quote for £8K and was told I'd need new pipework.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it continues to work until you complete.  

londonlydia

Seeing from the other side, I know when I was an FTB and we got our survey back it can be quite worrying when you get flags. We had a few and you envisage yourself living in a death trap. So we negotiated the price down by £12,500, which was the cost of the immediate remedial work. It sounds like in your case that the survey was OTT/ wrong, but if you're buying you are inclined to trust them more than the vendor's advice. As for the further £5k, there isn't really anything you can do in that regard as a buyer other than negotiating it down or stump up the difference. So overall, they may not be intentionally mugging you up and you may well have got the same from other vendors.
However, as others have said, they have had a survey and were told the age of the boiler on purchasing. If they were under any illusion that they wouldn't need to be replacing the boiler asap, I think that will need to be a lesson learned for them. 

NameUnavailable

They have probably factored in the cost of replacing the boiler in their offer. For all you know they could be intending to do that as soon as they get the keys.

I assume they didn't get a separate report done on the heating system? (given that the surveyor would have suggested they do so).

In your case I would say nothing carry on.

lookstraightahead

Two things I think. You didn't give them money off, your accepted the price they were willing to pay, and they thought it was overvalued.
I don't think you're morally obliged but they might bring it up after the sale. They have bought an old boiler though. 

Crashy_Time

15k off isn`t really "making a mug" of anyone IMO, but yes let them sort out the boiler themselves. TBH if you bring it up now they are going to try and get more off?

princeofpounds

lobsterpot11 said:

princeofpounds said:

This is a business transaction and your only real moral obligations are to follow the law and not to misrepresent what you are selling. The buyer bought that boiler from you, not a lobsterpot11 boiler coverage insurance program. Depending on the language in your answers, you should have clear conscience. It's not as if the buyer is operating on a higher moral plane.

As long as it doesn't actually break, I would do the transaction, not leave a forwarding address for them (any future communication can be via EA or solicitors), and if there is anything to deal with, do it afterwards. 

Thanks @princeofpounds
That makes sense. They have made mugs of us really in this whole process, so yes, I agree about them not being on a higher moral footing! If it *does* break down completely - what should we do?

Get a different gassafe technician in. Tell them you will not consider a replacement because you are moving very soon, you just want to get the boiler running again even if very imperfectly, if possible, and if it's not working you will leave it to the new owner to decide what to do with a new boiler. This will give you a second opinion and ensure their incentive is to repair rather than sell a replacement.

I'm not saying your previous technician was upselling, it's not the most likely scenario, but it does happen.

IF they can't repair it reasonably, then ask for a quote to replace. Keep that quote, so if the buyer comes back to you trying to chase the matter after the transaction, you have a quote in hand to use as evidence in settlement. If they ask for £3000 for a new boiler, you can tell them it actually costs £1700 (or whatever), that the boiler was 18 years old and highly depreciated and that was disclosed to them. So you will offer 10% of that price, plus 10% goodwill for the hassle, in full and final settlement. Take it or leave it and there will be no further discussion. 

Josquin

You buy a house 'as is' don't you? Otherwise where does it end-new kitchens etc? No house is perfect and compromises surely have to be accepted.