Buying a house - no boiler cert

Greymug

get a quote for a new boiler installation and lower your offer based on the quote

davidmcn

Why is everybody assuming that just because the boiler is "old looking" (whatever that means), it's pretty much a write-off? We don't even know whether or not it works!

theoretica

davidmcn said:

Why is everybody assuming that just because the boiler is "old looking" (whatever that means), it's pretty much a write-off? We don't even know whether or not it works!

We are not assuming it is a write off - we are counselling against assuming it has a long life ahead of it.  Plan for the worst even if hoping for the best.

Soot2006

davidmcn said:

Why is everybody assuming that just because the boiler is "old looking" (whatever that means), it's pretty much a write-off? We don't even know whether or not it works!

This. If the boiler works, it works. they can all break down tomorrow. My gas engineer says some of the older boilers are likely to outlive us all.  In our "new" house, we got rid of a 25-yo Potterton boiler after 18 months of living with it. It was fine. Water was hot, heating came on. New boiler is in better location, quieter, and costs less to run (though will still take a while to offset installation costs!) ...

Irishpearce26

A lot of valid points here. A serviced boiler is a good one but also think of what type of system it is, is it gravity fed (tank in the loft that fills with water, that feeds the hot water tank, low pressure) or is it a combi which is instant hot water. We got £3k knocked off our purchase price as the boiler is 22 years old has been serviced but is passed the manufactures life cycle of roughly 15 years. The boiler is fine and works well but we want a combi system so will be changing it. 

justworriedabit

Abbey131 said:

We are in the final stages of buying a house. Recently found it has an old looking boiler with no service certificate. What are our options please to ensure the boiler is working well? Being sold through probate/solicitors and attempts to get them to book a service are very lengthy!

Hi
Bottom line and I'm surprised not one else said it, one is not required. No cert required, no service record required that or anything else.  You are confusing your own purchase with rentals.
It is up to you with being happy with what you buy, get it checked out, you pay for it, get the electrics, gas, etc checked out - not sure what a full survey entails as we have never had one just the basic when we took out a mortgage a couple of times.

You offer what you think the house is worth and if you feel it needs a new boiler via BG/etc costing easily 4/8k, ask for a discount but I doubt you'd get it.

The house we live in basic survey, we just new we were going to do a new roof, new CH, new wiring, gas, windows, door, kitchen bathroom full refurb - we were only interested in the location and price we paid - the house was well looked after and we sold the old boiler, kitchen.

So, it is up to you to check - CH does not just depend on the boiler but it could be contaminated and rusty rads, pipes you may need a complete new system - so if you have any doubts get a CH engineer to check if sellers agree.

Thanks

justworriedabit

davidmcn said:

Why is everybody assuming that just because the boiler is "old looking" (whatever that means), it's pretty much a write-off? We don't even know whether or not it works!

You forget that the whole heating could need changing - please see my previous post. Thanks

squirrelchops2

Also there is a difference between a boiler working well and one being safe. I would see if it works ok and if so just pay for a gas cert to check it is all safe. £40 we pay for a gas check here.   

justworriedabit

Irishpearce26 said:

A lot of valid points here. A serviced boiler is a good one but also think of what type of system it is, is it gravity fed (tank in the loft that fills with water, that feeds the hot water tank, low pressure) or is it a combi which is instant hot water. We got £3k knocked off our purchase price as the boiler is 22 years old has been serviced but is passed the manufactures life cycle of roughly 15 years. The boiler is fine and works well but we want a combi system so will be changing it. 

Never hurts to try but when we sold our previous property came up with last minute concerns saying boiler was old - it was 7 years old serviced 5 yrs for warrnty and then no service and they wanted, 3k off - 3k on 400-ish k at the time is not a lot but we were selling at a good price and had had an offer over that soon after we decided to sell to this buyer - we said no and this buyer bought. But it does not hurt to try it.

AnotherJoe

Irishpearce26 said:

A lot of valid points here. A serviced boiler is a good one but also think of what type of system it is, is it gravity fed (tank in the loft that fills with water, that feeds the hot water tank, low pressure) or is it a combi which is instant hot water. We got £3k knocked off our purchase price as the boiler is 22 years old has been serviced but is passed the manufactures life cycle of roughly 15 years. The boiler is fine and works well but we want a combi system so will be changing it. 

instant ???   It has to travel from the boiler to the tap which can take just as long as from a hot water tank.