Am I being an idiot?

Stormchild414

I’ve recently put my house on the market (and accepted an offer) and put an offer on a new property.

the property I wish to buy is an 1880s cottage and whilst needs things doing to make it what I want, has the bones to make a fantastic home,  I factored in the things I would need to do in my offer and although they pushed me to the top of my budget I was content,

I have now had the survey done and discovered a couple of issues including minor damp. Alright, older property, maybe expected.  I then discovered no record of when boiler was installed and it hasn’t been serviced or checked for at least 8 years. Nor is there a record of wood burner installation, check or chimney sweep and the surveyor couldn’t look at electrics box as buried under stuff in a cupboard.

i Understand not a legal requirement but I’m very twitchy now. The owner won’t have the issues checked nor let me organise at my expense as may delay sale.    None of this may be an issue but I feel it’s high risk as if I move in and then find a problem, could be looking at £1000s and interest rates going up if a need a loan.  My friend, however, thinks I’m being too risk averse as viewing didn’t fire off any alarm bells

Love some advice of what other people have done in this situation.  I am willing to walk away but I don’t want to

user1977

None of that sounds like a major issue, though the reluctance of the vendor to let you investigate would make me more cautious.

Did you at least check the boiler works? Plenty of people don't have them checked or serviced regularly.

Martin_the_Unjust

No record of boiler service? Not at all unusual.

No record of when wood burner was installed etc? Not at all unusual.

Unable to check electric’s? If he had checked the report would have said ‘electric’s do not conform to current standards’ get them checked by an electrician’ or similar.

Ramouth

I would accept it and keep going.  But then maybe I’m an idiot!

A little damp is not unusual in older houses and I tend to just live with it keeping the house well ventilated and drying washing outside / using rack dehumidifier rather than radiators helps a lot.

The boiler, even if it had been serviced last week there is no guarantee it won’t conk out the day you complete.  Unless it is still in warranty you always have that risk.  

Woodburner installion should have building regs certification.  You may need vendor to provide an indemnity policy.  Worst case scenario, they have boxed around it with timber and plasterboard and/or not used the correct chimney liner.  This could be rectified by a professional installer and wouldn’t cost crazy money.  You can always live without the stove until you have the funds to rectify if it does turn out to have issues.  (Having said this, if it were me and I knew the current vendors had been using it without the house burning down, I would just use it)

Ask the vendors to send you a photo of the electric box for you to forward to the surveyor for comment.  Surveyors generally say that it is not up to current standards and you should get it checked by an electrician in their report but might give you an “off the record” opinion if you have a chat.

Stormchild414

Ok.  Thank you. Just a bit twitchy at the moment.  I did all that stuff in my house before I put it on the market and thought that was the norm.  Probably answering my own question about being an idiot!

SavingPennies_2

Perhaps they are sensing your twitchiness and willingness to walk away over what sounds quite minor, and don't want to waste time having various tradespeople coming in etc and slowing down the sale. However, if it was just one thing you wanted to check and they said no then that could ring alarm bells. I never had my boiler serviced in about 8 years either, and had no paperwork, it's pretty typical. Bit of damp in and old house, again as expected. Generally speaking there are always going to be costs involved in buying a house, especially an old one, so you want to factor that in and have a bit of money spare anyway whenever buying a new home, or be prepared to live with various issues until they can be resolved.

Stormchild414

I never considered that at all so really grateful to get other perspectives. 

I honestly didn’t know that getting boiler serviced annually wasn’t normal practice. At least this allayed my concerns somewhat.

I almost wish I hadn’t got a survey done,  I was v happy until then!

lookstraightahead

I bought an 1860s house last year. I've budgeted for lots of things to go wrong over the next few years.  We took on just a small mortgage and haven't stretched ourselves.

the things you mentioned wouldn't bother me, although our vendors were quite happy for us to visit the property as often as we liked to check things. They were extremely accommodating. 

You will never get to know everything about an old house until you move in, go through all four seasons which is what we've done before undergoing any expensive work.

The biggest issue here seems to be the vendors.

FreeBear

Ramouth said: Woodburner installion should have building regs certification.  You may need vendor to provide an indemnity policy.  Worst case scenario, they have boxed around it with timber and plasterboard and/or not used the correct chimney liner.  This could be rectified by a professional installer and wouldn’t cost crazy money.

Depending on when the stove was fitted, BR certification may not have been required. I think the requirement was introduced in 2006, with further amendments made in 2010.

If the stove installation is shown to be unsatisfactory, budget £2K for a new liner and any remedial work around the stove. But as long as there is a working Carbon Monoxide (that's CO, not CO2) in the same room, I'd not treat the stove as urgent unless it is seriously defective. Get the flue swept (should cost £50-80), and the sweep can give the stove a quick check to make sure it is OK.

markin

"I factored in the things I would need to do in my offer and although they pushed me to the top of my budget I was content,"

And what will you do if the boiler breaks down the first week and need replacing and the electrics are still 1960's rubber or just very dangerous.

eddddy

Stormchild414 said:

The owner won’t have the issues checked nor let me organise at my expense as may delay sale.

That's the bit that sounds a bit worrying - as long as what you've been asking for is reasonable. Is the owner trying to hide something?

To avoid a protracted discussion about all this stuff, if you want, you can start by phoning round to find appropriate tradespeople who would do a boiler inspection, wood burner inspection, and electrical safety check - then just phone the EA and say you need to agree dates for each of them to visit. 

Stormchild414 said:

...they pushed me to the top of my budget I was content,

... if I move in and then find a problem, could be looking at £1000s and interest rates going up if a need a loan

With an 1880s house, I think you need to assume that problems will crop-up and repairs will be needed, as time passes. You'll probably need a bigger budget for maintenance and repairs than you would for a more modern house.