Seller Has No Gas or Electricity Cerificates

RelievedSheff

RS2OOO said:

As for cars - My main daily car gets serviced every 7000 miles regardless of what the handbook says (24,000 miles / Condition Based I believe), my 2nd car has oil changed annually regardless of miles (usually sub 1500 miles a year).

But I keep my cars forever, and doing this makes them last forever. Pulling the dip stick on my 84k miles car (the sub 1500 miles a year one) reveals nice fresh orange coloured oil. Internally the engine is like new. 

But as said, I keep them for so long all 3 of my cars are appreciating assets, the youngest being 7 years old and the oldest now 52 years old.

Unlike with Boilers, I'm a strong believer in over-servicing cars. I also believe that manufacturer service schedules are way too far apart - clearly aimed at attracting new car sales across the fleet sector, but not aimed at longevity of the car itself.

Modern oils can go for far longer between services.

Ther service interval on our motorhome which is Fiat based is 30k miles or two years and on our daily driver Hyundai it is 20k miles or two years. The Hyundai gets serviced every year because it would do too many miles in two years. The van will reach it's two years easily before it needs the oil changing.

We get the boiler serviced every year to keep up the 10 year warranty on it. It costs us £50 every 12 months so hardly a major expense.

in_my_wellies

RS2OOO said:

After moving in to current property which is the first where I've had a condensing boiler, I called British Gas to carry out a service, and I watched what he did from a distance.

• Removed front cover
• Poked around with a screwdriver and looked inside from various angles
• Brushed everything inside and dusted it with a paint brush (the most time consuming part)
• Turned the Boiler on and off and rotated manual timer
• Measured gases being released from external flue
• Wiggled parts of the wiring loom (to check connections)
• Stood around for 10 mins looking at his phone.
• Replaced front cover.

Total time at the property = 22 minutes.

Too right! Way back in the 1990's my dad got a job servicing boilers but was sacked after two weeks because he was 'taking too long and being too fussy' He was told to do exactly as you quote above. "Look busy and take 20 minutes"
The boss also told him to try and find a fault if the boiler was getting on a bit and the householder looked gullible. 
He was happy to leave.  

jimbog

Have you checked on here? At least you can see if one exists
https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/gas-safety/gas-safety-certificates-records/building-regulations-certificate/order-replacement-building-regulations-certificate/

FataVerde

Section62 said:

TheJP said:

Really? That's like saying why bother servicing your car.

If you installed the boiler/depending on age and don't service it annually you lose the warranty plus the added risk of something going wrong when you actually rely on the boiler.

Unless there are parts subject to wear and tear which would be replaced during a service (e.g. the igniter on an oil boiler) there is no "added risk" of something going wrong - the existing part(s) will fail when they were going to fail.  In fact a good argument could be made that some failures might be triggered or hastened as a result of a service.

As for car servicing, the only 'work' carried out on the majority of services on modern cars is the replacement of the engine oil/filter.  The rest of the service consists of checking stuff (aka looking for faults the customer can be charged extra to fix, no matter how trivial)  If you can't change the oil yourself, get a local garage to just do an oil change in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations.  The amount saved on 'servicing' will almost certainly offset any notional loss when selling the car without a full service history.

I had a chat with the gas engineer who just came today to do the annual inspection at the property I'm renting. He said I shouldn't let any gas engineer convince me to service the boiler because if it has been serviced for a year or two, it's not worth it (probably the warranty mentioned). He also said boilers do tend to go bad after servicing. He recommended a safety check only. 

FataVerde

jimbog said:

Have you checked on here? At least you can see if one exists
https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/gas-safety/gas-safety-certificates-records/building-regulations-certificate/order-replacement-building-regulations-certificate/

Thanks! What's a Building Regulations Certificate? I found a record on the website: for completion date 17/03/2010 for gas boiler. Does this mean it was installed in 2010? Or that it was serviced or got a safety check in 2010? Does it make sense to order the certificate or will it just confirm it was installed according to regulations? 

Snookie12cat

FataVerde said:

jimbog said:

Have you checked on here? At least you can see if one exists
https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/gas-safety/gas-safety-certificates-records/building-regulations-certificate/order-replacement-building-regulations-certificate/

Thanks! What's a Building Regulations Certificate? I found a record on the website: for completion date 17/03/2010 for gas boiler. Does this mean it was installed in 2010? Or that it was serviced or got a safety check in 2010? Does it make sense to order the certificate or will it just confirm it was installed according to regulations? 

It just proves it was installed. Just paid £6 for mine and you would rather you didn't 🤣 almost as much info from the page showing its registered

FataVerde

Thank you, all! Thanks to the collective wisdom in this forum, I now know the boiler is 12-year old and my photos indicate the make is Ideal Logic (Plus) Combi boiler, likely this model or similar https://www.directheatingsupplies.co.uk/ideal-logic-plus-24-combi-boiler

My offer on the house was pretty generous and assumed everything would be in working order. Would I have grounds to ask for a reduction of price given that this is an aging boiler and likely on its last legs?

FataVerde

Snookie12cat said:

FataVerde said:

jimbog said:

Have you checked on here? At least you can see if one exists
https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/gas-safety/gas-safety-certificates-records/building-regulations-certificate/order-replacement-building-regulations-certificate/

Thanks! What's a Building Regulations Certificate? I found a record on the website: for completion date 17/03/2010 for gas boiler. Does this mean it was installed in 2010? Or that it was serviced or got a safety check in 2010? Does it make sense to order the certificate or will it just confirm it was installed according to regulations? 

It just proves it was installed. Just paid £6 for mine and you would rather you didn't 🤣 almost as much info from the page showing its registered

I googled sample Building Reg Certificate sample and figured it's useless as a document 

Slithery

FataVerde said:

My offer on the house was pretty generous and assumed everything would be in working order. Would I have grounds to ask for a reduction of price given that this is an aging boiler and likely on its last legs?

Does the boiler not work? First time you've mentioned this.
What makes you think that it's on it's last legs?

sammyjammy

I wouldn't say 12 years is that old, mine is around 20 years old and will probably end up being replaced due to obsolete parts according to my gas man.