Gas, electricity certificate and indemnity insurance

JackWeil

Hello all,
We are in the process of buying a house.
Although everything seems to be in a good working order. Currently there is no: electricity certificates, gas safety nor boiler service cert that sellers can provide.
I know there is no legal requirement to get one, from sellers stand point.
my question are:
a) would indemnity policy cover any potential issues with gas or electricity installation (i know it wont cover things like boiler replacement)
b) do i have ‘legs to stand on’ if i try to put a bit of pressure on seller to get such a policy?

any advice would be appreciated.
regards

theartfullodger

You are at liberty to offer to have tests run at your expense to see if gas, boiler and leccy certificates can be done.

Leccy only needed if the place is to be rented out, gas likewise (service cert not required to rent out).  We have never bothered with leccy or gas certs for our owner-occupied houses, but do get the boiler serviced every few years.

With my sister we sold my late brother's house: Basically not touched since 1971 when he bought.  Think there was a boiler cert done but not the others: Not an issue with bidders or purchaser. 

user1977

I doubt an indemnity policy would cover more than the authorities taking action against you for something which wasn't compliant - which in practice is hardly likely to happen. It wouldn't otherwise pay to fix something.

If you're comfortable that everything seems to be in good working order then I probably wouldn't bother enquiring further.

JackWeil

Thank both of you. Follow up question i am reading online than you cannot sell the house without Boiler Installation Certficate.

https://www.readysteadysell.co.uk/can-you-sell-a-house-without-a-gas-safety-certificate/
is this true? 

And if so can require about that?

BarelySentientAI

JackWeil said:

a) would indemnity policy cover any potential issues with gas or electricity installation (i know it wont cover things like boiler replacement)

No.

JackWeil said:

b) do i have ‘legs to stand on’ if i try to put a bit of pressure on seller to get such a policy?

You won't know unless you ask.  Although it would be better to get them to supply the certificates rather than buy a useless insurance policy.  And you might have to pay for it.

JackWeil said:

Follow up question i am reading online than you cannot sell the house without Boiler Installation Certficate.

https://www.readysteadysell.co.uk/can-you-sell-a-house-without-a-gas-safety-certificate/

It's not quite what that link says - to comply with Building Regulations there should have been an install certificate.  You can sell a house without a certificate, or without BR if you want, but buyers won't like it.  If the boiler is old though, would a certificate saying "we installed this correctly 15 years ago" be very useful?

JackWeil said:

Although everything seems to be in a good working order. 

That's probably as useful as any old certificate would be - perhaps more so. 

Electrical certificate would say "doesn't comply with current regulations", which would probably scare you more than necessary.

JackWeil

BarelySentientAI said:

JackWeil said:

a) would indemnity policy cover any potential issues with gas or electricity installation (i know it wont cover things like boiler replacement)

No.

JackWeil said:

b) do i have ‘legs to stand on’ if i try to put a bit of pressure on seller to get such a policy?

You won't know unless you ask.  Although it would be better to get them to supply the certificates rather than buy a useless insurance policy.  And you might have to pay for it.

JackWeil said:

Follow up question i am reading online than you cannot sell the house without Boiler Installation Certficate.

https://www.readysteadysell.co.uk/can-you-sell-a-house-without-a-gas-safety-certificate/

It's not quite what that link says - to comply with Building Regulations there should have been an install certificate.  You can sell a house without a certificate, or without BR if you want, but buyers won't like it.  If the boiler is old though, would a certificate saying "we installed this correctly 15 years ago" be very useful?

JackWeil said:

Although everything seems to be in a good working order. 

That's probably as useful as any old certificate would be - perhaps more so. 

Electrical certificate would say "doesn't comply with current regulations", which would probably scare you more than necessary.

Valid points. 

The boiler is most def older than 15 years, more like 30. (buying probate house) old lady lived there without issues all those years.
i guess ill need fresh certificates if we are to update/exchange anything. 

Boiler is the first thing on the list.