Should the seller service the gas boiler??

Dannydee333

I'm a first-time buyer of an apartment and things are progressing. It will probably be completed at the end of the month or in February.

On the fittings and fixtures form, they answered "no safety checks have been carried out" to the question Have all gas appliances in the Property been safety-checked by a Gas Safe registered fitter within the last year?

I would have thought as a seller it would be considerate to make sure this is safe before passing it on to a buyer.

Is it reasonable to request this is carried out first, or is that on me to do after the sale?

theartfullodger

Depends what is agreed between the two parties.  No legal requirement (AFAIK in England..)

Nothing stopping you asking (calm, polite).  What happened when you did?  Me, only bother for rented properties (legal requirement for GSC).

There are no 100% gold plated guarantees for any parts with  property sales.   "Guarantees" frequently not worth the paper they are printed on. (Sold 3.5 houses in past 5 years).

GrumpyDil

It's not a requirement to carry out a gas safety check on houses/flats other than ones being rented out so you can ask but likely to be told no. 

propertyrental

Most sellers will say if you want a gas inspection and/or servce - no problem. Get your gas engineer to do it for you (and we'll facilitate access)

If they happen to have had the boiler serviced recently/within last year or 2, they would have said so.

Section62

Dannydee333 said:

I would have thought as a seller it would be considerate to make sure this is safe before passing it on to a buyer.

A buyer could draw up a very long list of things they want the vendor to have checked as being 'safe' before the sale is completed.  The vendor may well say 'no' to all of them.

From the vendor's POV, a safety check on the boiler (which isn't the same thing as a "service") could lead to them having to pay for a new boiler before they move out, so expect some resistance to your request, if you make it.  If they do decline, use that as a guide to you potentially needing to budget for a boiler replacement in the near future.

junglist_matty

When we bought our house we asked for a gas boiler check, sellers refused, we already had a low offer accepted so we let it go....after we moved we had it serviced and it was disconnected as it was deemed unsafe (carbon monoxide levels were too high in exhaust gas)... That was just as beast from the east hit, took 3 weeks to arrange a new boiler to be fitted (house was sooooo cold), at a cost of £3500.

DullGreyGuy

Dannydee333 said:

I would have thought as a seller it would be considerate to make sure this is safe before passing it on to a buyer.

Is it reasonable to request this is carried out first, or is that on me to do after the sale?

A house is bought as seen, hence why you pay for a survey to be done on it. You can ask for it, they will most likely say no, so it comes down to if you are willing to walk away from the deal over the status of the boiler? If you are, then pay for it to be checked before exchanging the same as the survey, if you aren't then do it before or after, up to you.