Buying a house that’s been empty for a while

mini_lidi

Hi All,

we are hopefully purchasing a house that’s been sat empty for about a year now and is due some TLC.
Have read the solicitors will request copies of Boiler inspection certificate among other things. If the property is being sold as part of probate, who’s responsibility is it to get these all checked? Ours or the other party?

AnotherJoe

Yours. For everything. And solicitors may ask but they may not get. It's not obligatory to have anything. Will you be getting a mortgage? 

mini_lidi

AnotherJoe said:

Yours. For everything. And solicitors may ask but they may not get. It's not obligatory to have anything. Will you be getting a mortgage? 

Thanks for the reply. Yes getting a mortgage and a survey will/is being done. But they will only do visual checks apparently and nothing specific in relation to electrical. So would assume we, we would need to get this done by an engineer 

Slithery

mini_lidi said:
So would assume we, we would need to get this done by an engineer 

Nope, an electrician.

FreeBear

If it has been locked up and unheated for a year, expect the surveyor to say "evidence of damp". Unless there are serious issues with the roof, gutters, drains, or external ground levels, a good airing over the summer months should dry it out.

greatcrested

Your solicitor will ask the seller for all sorts of things - warranties, planning, service records..... If they have them, great. If not you either buy without or get things checked yourself.

Gas engineer for boiler. Electrician for electrics, surveyor for the building itself, drainage specialist for the septic tank etc.

But has it been ignored for a year? For insurance reasons, the water may have been turned off and drained down, in which case you can't even check the boiler works. Or maybe the Executer has been going in, keeping it cosy etc. I suggest you ask/check before sending in a gas engineer......

davidmcn

mini_lidi said:

we are hopefully purchasing a house that’s been sat empty for about a year now and is due some TLC.
Have read the solicitors will request copies of Boiler inspection certificate among other things.

Inspected how long ago, and by whom? (if not somebody you've instructed, you've got no comeback against them). Better to get your own people in to have a look (or at least check yourself that everything appears to work, if you haven't already).

If plumbing has been drained down, try to get the water turned back on so you can check for leaks etc (may be a hassle at the moment though if the vendors want it drained down again afterwards).

mini_lidi

Cheers guys! 

The house has been getting cleared out on and off over the last year (lockdown means it keeps stopping and starting) so has been been somewhat looked after. But will have a convo with the executor and then start to plan some visits in if needed

AnotherJoe

Bear in mind its not mandatory to have any of these checks. Depends on the situation.

Is this a newish house? Or built 30 years ago? Or 300?

Have a look at the boiler. Is it filthy and old looking or newish?

Have a look at sockets and light switches and the consumer unit? Old? new? Some will be obvious? If theres one socket per room and the consumer unit is wired fuses then budget for a rewire and replacement rather than spending ?? £250?? for soemone to tell you that's needed.

I just bought a 30 year old house and went in on the assumption that it was likely to be better than my 40 year old house and so far it is apart from a few quirks. I could have  spent £250 for someone to tell me about those quirks but I knew there be some, there always is. OTOH If it was 300 years  I'd probably have spent the money unless it had been rewired recently.

And in your case, this hosue is by the sound of it going to be sold as seen so unless there's soemthing massively wrong with the structure, dont expect money off if for example its obvious it needs a rewire or a new boiler.

If you start spending money like water , you'll find the electrical survey says "not up to current standards" which no house will be unless built in the last few months. Same for gas, i the boiler less than 10 years old (assuming there is one) shoudl be fixable even if its not working. Or a new boiler can be had for £1500 or so.

Is it more than 40 years old? Almost certain theres asbestos in the artex. No need to panic but again no need to pay someone to tell you that. Maybe mine does. I dont care, I plan to drill into the ceilings and inhale the dust so no worries.

Bottom line dont just go plunging in spending money on every survey under the sun unless teh results are likely to eb catastrophic shoudl they turn out bad and you didnt factor them in. Eg if you are thinking at first sight the house needs a rewire,  dont spend money on a survey spend it on the rewire.

Slithery

AnotherJoe said:

Is it more than 40 years old? Almost certain theres asbestos in the artex. No need to panic but again no need to pay someone to tell you that. Maybe mine does. I dont care, I plan to drill into the ceilings and inhale the dust so no worries.

Did you miss a don't out of that sentence

nyermen

I bought a probate house that was empty for nearly a year as a result (due to the probate delays of 2019).  Might be bad luck, but three things I noticed on completion:
1) Boiler hadn't been serviced (so warranty was therefore invalid)
2) Many of the electric socket "switches" had seized up (may just be the brand)
3) Furry little pests had moved into the loft