Transfer of guarantees - who pays?

Mile2go

Hi we are in the late stages of selling our house and have been asked by our buyers to get all applicable guarantees (windows, timber treatment) transfered into their name prior to completion. They seem to expect us to pay for this which we're not really willing to do. 
Is it reasonable to expect us to pay? From all other threads I've found it seems the buyers sort this themselves once they have moved in. Any advice confirming the usual way of doing this would be appreciated! 
Thanks. 

user1977

I would say for you to pay, if you were offering the guarantees as a selling point in the first place. And they can't necessarily just "sort it themselves" anyway, as the guarantors may require you to make the requests.

But are the guarantees even worth the fees involved? Bearing in mind the likely caveats in what's covered (and the remaining duration).

anselld

Buyer wants, buyer pays.
I don't imagine they were ever offered up other than response to buyer's enquiries.
And don't transfer anything prior to exchange.

youth_leader

I hope they appreciate how lucky they are to have current guarantees.  The 25 year timber guarantee I was given on completion on this bungalow in 2021 was worthless, the company had gone out of business in 2018.  I'm in the middle of having all the floors ripped out and replaced,  the company used untreated wood to repair, on top of existing rotten joists.

jimbog

Do it after exchange. I would simply email the companies concerned asking them to change the name of the beneficiary. of the guarantees.

I wouldn't raise the issue of 'fees' or 'costs' for that with the companies as it might give them ideas. In all likelihood they would just delete your email or the email will be junked

eddddy

I think it's more a question of psychology than anything else.

• Do you want to 'buy' a bit of goodwill from your buyers by paying for the guarantee transfer?

• Or do you want to risk causing some friction by refusing to pay?

(But it may be that the buyer hasn't specifically asked you to pay - it's just their solicitor who routinely asks sellers to pay these fees.)

If you decide not to pay, maybe ask the EA to pass on that message - before the buyer gets the info in a solicitor's letter. The EA will probably 'drop it into the conversion' much less harshly than it sounds in a solicitor's letter.



FWIW, I think I'd disagree with some other posts...

I wouldn't raise the question of whether the guarantees are worth paying a transfer fee for. I'd do the opposite and suggest that's it's really good to be buying a house with those guarantees.

Also, if you agree via solicitors to transfer the guarantees, I wouldn't just send vague emails to suppliers without fees etc - I would liaise with the suppliers to make sure it was done correctly. Otherwise, if the windows fail and you haven't transferred the guarantee properly - your buyers might have a go at trying to sue you.

user1977

eddddy said:

if the windows fail and you haven't transferred the guarantee properly - your buyers might have a go at trying to sue you.

Surely it's up to the buyers' solicitors to ensure the assignment is done properly? Same principle as making sure the property itself is transferred properly.

Mile2go

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! 
As it turns out we responded saying we wouldn't pay and that we would only transfer the guarantees after completion and the buyers were fine with this. We got the impression after speaking directly with the buyer, that these demands were put in by their solicitors as a few other demands had been included and refused, but they really didn't care.

I'm almost starting to suspect house buying and selling could be far less stressful if it wasn't for solicitors but I'm sure that can't be true.........