Gas safety check/certificate?

proformance

Hi guys
As contract particulars are thrashed around, my solicitor has informed me that there is still a gas certificate missing from the vendor's side.
However, EA, who is just as keen as we are to get this over the line before the SDLT-holiday is over suggests I pay for it myself, or instruct the solicitor to disregard it and explains "it is not a legal requirement".
My limited research suggests that this is more for landlords than purchases, so I thought I'd ask here what your advice might be.
Thanks,
Z

greatcrested

There is no legalrequirement for a gas cert for home-owners or sellers.

If you are woried about the boiler/gas etc, pay a gas engineer to do an inspection for you.

Irishpearce26

It depends weather you want to compromise on safety. The certificate will show that the boiler or gas hob or gas fire have been installed and maintained to a regulated standard. I would ask the vendor to pay the costs if possible as an inspection could show that the said appliance wasn't installed properly and may need to be replaced etc.

Irishpearce26

Remember your conveyancer is acting in your best interests. The EA wont care either way as they want it done to get paid. You could carry on and do it when you move in but it could raise issues. An inspection will only take a couple of hours so i would push the vendors to get it done.

Surrey_EA

Does your solicitor mean there's a missing gas safety certificate for a new boiler installation or somesuch, which the seller is obligated to provide, or are they referring to an annual gas safety inspection? The latter only applies to properies being let out, and whilst you might be able to persuade some vendors to carry out a check most will tell you to sort it yourself if you want an inspection.

proformance

So, given the EA has basically said the vendor won't bother with this, my options are:

1) Get an INSPECTION done at my expense
2) Get a CERTIFICATE done at my expense
3) Do nothing (which I'm going to rule out now)

And if the inspection throws up any issues, then I would push the vendor to sort them out, right? But if it isn't a legal stip, then they could just say no?

Crazy these types of things aren't checked as part of the building survey!

Irishpearce26

proformance said:

So, given the EA has basically said the vendor won't bother with this, my options are:

1) Get an INSPECTION done at my expense
2) Get a CERTIFICATE done at my expense
3) Do nothing (which I'm going to rule out now)

And if the inspection throws up any issues, then I would push the vendor to sort them out, right? But if it isn't a legal stip, then they could just say no?

Crazy these types of things aren't checked as part of the building survey!

Will the vendor let you have an inspection carried out before completion? If they don't that would be alarm bells for me.

proformance

proformance said:

So, given the EA has basically said the vendor won't bother with this, my options are:

1) Get an INSPECTION done at my expense
2) Get a CERTIFICATE done at my expense
3) Do nothing (which I'm going to rule out now)

And if the inspection throws up any issues, then I would push the vendor to sort them out, right? But if it isn't a legal stip, then they could just say no?

Crazy these types of things aren't checked as part of the building survey!

Will the vendor let you have an inspection carried out before completion? If they don't that would be alarm bells for me.

Access is no problem.

moneysavinghero

Boiler is not part of the building so not crazy that it's not checked as part of building survey. Don't think most people bother having the boiler checked unless they have a reason to believe it might have issues. Do you have reason to believe it may be defective, or do you just want to belt and braces double check everything?

Irishpearce26

Then for peace of mind have an inspection carried out. 

AdrianC

proformance said:

Crazy these types of things aren't checked as part of the building survey!

The surveyor is not a gas engineer. Nor is he a plumber or an electrician. He is a surveyor, performing a general survey of the property.

Surveys always state this, and point out that - if you specifically want a gas safety check, an EICR, or any other specialist report, you should commission them separately.