Ready to exchange but boiler appears broken after my final viewing

silverbanana

Thanks all, especially about the service doc. I couldn’t read the handwriting at all so not sure what it said.



re: renegotiation, can’t really do that - I got my formal offer the day of the mini budget and the rates have soared since so I can’t revisit the mortgage!

Bendy_House

silverbanana said:

Thanks all, especially about the service doc. I couldn’t read the handwriting at all so not sure what it said.



re: renegotiation, can’t really do that - I got my formal offer the day of the mini budget and the rates have soared since so I can’t revisit the mortgage!

That's a Safety Cert, so has nothing to do with how well the boiler has been maintained, or is running - although had it not been working, the report would surely have mentioned this; eg, they'd have no 'flue test' readings.

There are seemingly two appliances there - one is the combi boiler, and the other is lawd knows as - as you say - the writing is abysmal.

BUT, you have asked for proof that the boiler works. You have NOT been given this. The usual way - and it's a very common ask, pretty much a requirement for a seller - is for a recent SERVICE cert. That ain't a service invoice, and that ain't a recent safety cert - it is virtually a year old.

So, keep that in your mind - you have NOT been given what you have ASKED for. You haven't.

What you do about this is your call. I understand - from another thread - that there are ways of having an 'allowance' added to the deal; ie an amount to cover new contingencies, such as (not sure) purchase of furniture, and the discovery of a previously-unknown defect.

If you are adamant that you ain't going to rock the boat, then there was little point in you asking about this boiler :-) Personally, I would ask for a new service to be carried out, and  - if the GasSafe returns an official "It's kaput" report, then some level of 'allowance' would be perfectly fair. The property has clearly been sold as if the boiler was working. I'd also suggest that the vendor will be equally as reluctant as you for the deal to collapse, as the market is not running in their favour at the mo' - and for a ***-load of time in the future.

RAS

The other item is the hob in the kit(chen).

silverbanana

Thanks Bendy. I guess the boiler needs fixing and I think it would be reasonable ask the vendor to do it as I don't want to buy a house where the boiler needs costly repairs / replacing within the first few months (I know there is always a risk of this happening), plus the boiler will need fixing and if they didn't fix it for me then they will need to fix it for someone else...

For what it's worth it's only a £117.5k house (on the market for £115k, offered a bit more).

I can't reopen the mortgage as I'll lose the pre-chaos rate I got...

housebuyer143

silverbanana said:

Thanks Bendy. I guess the boiler needs fixing and I think it would be reasonable ask the vendor to do it as I don't want to buy a house where the boiler needs costly repairs / replacing within the first few months (I know there is always a risk of this happening), plus the boiler will need fixing and if they didn't fix it for me then they will need to fix it for someone else...

For what it's worth it's only a £117.5k house (on the market for £115k, offered a bit more).

I can't reopen the mortgage as I'll lose the pre-chaos rate I got...

In fairness, they could test the boiler and it break the day after you move in. Costly repairs come with homeownership. My recent house has a 20yr old boiler, I thought I would need to do that soon but it turns out the 10yr old tank is the thing that broke in the first 3 months and leaked through my ceiling, costing me £2500.

You can never know only do what you can to mitigate that risk 

aoleks

I’m sure you can adjust the amount you borrow from the bank without re-applying for a mortgage, speak to your broker.

having said that, I would want that boiler replaced anyway. A 14 year old boiler is not the most efficient and with today’s gas prices, a last genration, brand new boiler makes a lot of financial sense.

the good news is, most companies allow you to spread the full cost over several years, interest free.

cymruchris

I'm not a boiler engineer, electrician or anything such - that although this isn't a service report - it does indicate that the boiler was started and run. There's an analyser reading for initial combustion and final combustion which should indicate that it was working at that point (working as in starting up). 

As for the other notes - I can see that the engineer has commented around an earth issue, and a warning was issued. (Was this rectified?)

It also mentions that the cables are 30-40 years old, and that there's no RCD protection for the shower and socket circuits(is my take on the writing) (so if there was a fault it wouldn't trip). They also indicate that the reading on the CPC is high and that the smoke alarm which was battery only had no working battery.

If it's an old house - you might need to budget for a bit of work on the electrics, as they might need updating to current standards (for your own safety). 

silverbanana

cymruchris said:

I'm not a boiler engineer, electrician or anything such - that although this isn't a service report - it does indicate that the boiler was started and run. There's an analyser reading for initial combustion and final combustion which should indicate that it was working at that point (working as in starting up). 

As for the other notes - I can see that the engineer has commented around an earth issue, and a warning was issued. (Was this rectified?)

It also mentions that the cables are 30-40 years old, and that there's no RCD protection for the shower and socket circuits(is my take on the writing) (so if there was a fault it wouldn't trip). They also indicate that the reading on the CPC is high and that the smoke alarm which was battery only had no working battery.

If it's an old house - you might need to budget for a bit of work on the electrics, as they might need updating to current standards (for your own safety). 

Can’t thank you enough for being able to decipher the handwriting. I don’t suppose I could be cheeky and ask you to flag any issues on this page?


should any of it stop me exchanging?? I don’t want to be a fusspot but also don’t want to be mugged off.

cymruchris

If it's an old house - at some point it'll need work doing on the electrics - and from the sheet above there's certainly some things you'd want to get done. It shouldn't be a deal breaker though if it's an old house. 

Just to emphasise I am not an electrician - but a reasonably competent DIY'er. 

You may want to run this past a qualified electrician to get an idea of what's urgent, and costings. They have labelled each line with C2 - Potentially dangerous urgent remedial action required - or C3 - Improvement recommended - so you'd want to ensure that all the C2's have been addressed as a minimum.

I imagine you have a very old fuse box - did you see it?

Now that you've shown this page it confirms what I thought on the previous page - you have no RCD protection on the shower or socket circuits - so a significant shock risk if there was a fault. 

There's a cover missing off what I think is the bus-bar - the strip of metal across the bottom of where the fuses/trip switches are in your main fuse box. I can see it's labelled a C2. So be careful prodding around the fuse-box until you know this has been replaced/covered. 

Your Mains supply cable from your meter into the property is smaller than today's standards (would have been fitted when 16mm was big enough and we weren't all drinking electric all day). Your earth cable from the meter is also too small for today's standards.

There's a potential fault of some sort in the stairs lighting circuit that requires further investigation. 

The bedroom light switch has no CPC reading - so there's a fault there too.

Smoke detector as previously mentioned has no working battery.

Your main fuse for power into the property is 60amp - should be 100amp - they recommend you get the electricity supplier in to upgrade it.

The gas supply at your meter has no earth bonding - so will need an earth running to it. 

There may be experts can explain these things in a bit more detail - but as stated - if it's an old house, you'd expect to be doing some works on electrics to update them if it's not been done for a few decades.

silverbanana

cymruchris said:

If it's an old house - at some point it'll need work doing on the electrics - and from the sheet above there's certainly some things you'd want to get done. It shouldn't be a deal breaker though if it's an old house. 

Just to emphasise I am not an electrician - but a reasonably competent DIY'er. 

You may want to run this past a qualified electrician to get an idea of what's urgent, and costings. They have labelled each line with C2 - Potentially dangerous urgent remedial action required - or C3 - Improvement recommended - so you'd want to ensure that all the C2's have been addressed as a minimum.

I imagine you have a very old fuse box - did you see it?

Now that you've shown this page it confirms what I thought on the previous page - you have no RCD protection on the shower or socket circuits - so a significant shock risk if there was a fault. 

There's a cover missing off what I think is the bus-bar - the strip of metal across the bottom of where the fuses/trip switches are in your main fuse box. I can see it's labelled a C2. So be careful prodding around the fuse-box until you know this has been replaced/covered. 

Your Mains supply cable from your meter into the property is smaller than today's standards (would have been fitted when 16mm was big enough and we weren't all drinking electric all day). Your earth cable from the meter is also too small for today's standards.

There's a potential fault of some sort in the stairs lighting circuit that requires further investigation. 

The bedroom light switch has no CPC reading - so there's a fault there too.

Smoke detector as previously mentioned has no working battery.

Your main fuse for power into the property is 60amp - should be 100amp - they recommend you get the electricity supplier in to upgrade it.

The gas supply at your meter has no earth bonding - so will need an earth running to it. 

There may be experts can explain these things in a bit more detail - but as stated - if it's an old house, you'd expect to be doing some works on electrics to update them if it's not been done for a few decades.

Can’t thank you enough. 

I think I’ll ask if I can send my own inspector to report back.

Fuse box I think had some work and looked okay.
 Have asked to see the meters (electric and gas) but they’re locked in an outbuilding and the estate agent said today he couldn’t get access without cutting the padlock off.