Seller forcing me to complete in less than 2 weeks

Marvel1

dander said:

But why are you asking for electricity and gas checks? No-one gets these done as standard on their house so of course they haven't been done for "many years".  I can totally see from the sellers point of view that this sounds like a timewaster thing to do. I would also be telling you to get lost. 
If you are really desperate for a boiler service, you can pay £100 or so and get one done when you move in. 

But allowed a Asbestos Survey to take place.

EssexHebridean

If the electrics and heating etc have been unchecked for a few years this seems like a totally fair request - although it's not unusual for a seller to decline to share the cost, a complete refusal to allow it to happen screams to me that they already know that the results will not be good... 

(And actually, plenty of responsible homeowners do get a boiler service done annually...)  

GDB2222

Normally, the estate agent is a good point of contact between buyer and seller. But, there’s really nothing to stop you talking directly to each other. 

diggingdude

dander said:

But why are you asking for electricity and gas checks? No-one gets these done as standard on their house so of course they haven't been done for "many years".  I can totally see from the sellers point of view that this sounds like a timewaster thing to do. I would also be telling you to get lost. 
If you are really desperate for a boiler service, you can pay £100 or so and get one done when you move in. 

Erm..... Because if the boiler is knackered that's several grand straight away. The real question is why would someone stop them getting checked if they wanted to sell a house? I wouldn't complete certainly without a gas check. 

dander

Can't understand why everyone on this thread seems to think these checks are a/ standard process and b/ any guarantee against future breakdown. You can tell if the boiler and the electrics work by turning them on and seeing if they work. What are you going to find out about the electrics through an EICR? Chances of finding out that a normal house that people are living perfectly happily in without exploding is some kind of crazy electrical/gas deathtrap? 
 Low. Chances of finding out about minor non-compliances with current electrical guidance? High. Those things are going to be basic things that are easy to fix. Maybe you'll have the wrong sort of light fitting in a bathroom and it will cost £50 to replace with the right one. Your regular survey will have pictures of the consumer unit, would have noted if there was obviously ancient wiring. You survey will also have a standard disclaimer that they aren't electrical professionals and you should get a check done by someone else if you really want an electrical check. That's what surveys are full of - surveyors washing their hands of legal liability for everything. "Got a roof? It might leak at some unspecified time in the future. Don't come back and blame me when it does."

Similarly, what do you expect to find out about a normal boiler if it was fitted by a Gas Safe professional and is currently in working order? Even letting regulations don't ask for a "gas check", just regular servicing. Services are inexpensive and if they give you peace of mind then you can have one as soon as you move in. 

Are you really expecting to find anything in these checks that would be a dealbreaker. The reason a seller is going to say no is that a person that demands checks for non-problems is a person that will start trying to reduce the price simply on the basis of an old house being old. There will be loads of things in non-brand-new houses that are not compliant with the regs for building brand new houses. If you're going to struggle with that concept, you need to buy new build only.

GDB2222

Let me give a counter example. I own a house built in 1972, with original wiring that is not causing any problems, but it must be reaching the end of its life. We have the original fuse box, and I do mean fuse box, and I am thinking of replacing it with a modern consumer unit.

If I were selling the house, I could honestly say that we’ve had no problems at all. Once the new consumer unit is installed, buyers may assume that the electrics are all up to date. But, of course, an EICR will tell them the correct position, ie that a full rewire will be needed pretty soon, if not immediately. 

dander

GDB2222 said:

Let me give a counter example. I own a house built in 1972, with original wiring that is not causing any problems, but it must be reaching the end of its life. We have the original fuse box, and I do mean fuse box, and I am thinking of replacing it with a modern consumer unit.

If I were selling the house, I could honestly say that we’ve had no problems at all. Once the new consumer unit is installed, buyers may assume that the electrics are all up to date. But, of course, an EICR will tell them the correct position, ie that a full rewire will be needed pretty soon, if not immediately. 

This exactly illustrates my point. Anyone who has already had a regular survey will already have the information about the age of that fuse box and the age of the electrics. If the consumer unit was replaced that would not be completed and signed off if the rest of the house electrics were not in safe condition - and someone selling the house would have to tick the box saying electrical work had been done in the property pack and supply the appropriate paperwork. Adding an EICR will not magically tell you "these wires date to 1972" and those wires dating to 1972 does not in itself make the system dangerous or in need of rewiring. It won't even look at the detail of the wiring (it's not going to rip out the walls to see them), it will test the compliance of the system against current regs. 

This is a perfect illustration of why my post said "WHY?". If you don't know what you want out of a test, or expect to get information that a test won't give you, what reason is there to insist on it to the extent of jeopardising a property purchase?

FlorayG

While these checks aren't required I can see why the OP wants them. When I bought my house I arranged ( after moving in) a boiler service only to find out the gas boiler leaks water and although the leak is minor the boiler is 20 years old and the leak not repairable; so I'm tolerating it until it becomes unmanageable. My neighbour tells me it's been leaking for years ( gas service engineer says safe, though) and the previous owners were cheapskates. So OP may want to know if they need to factor in the cost of a new boiler to their finances. It doesn't necessarily mean they are going to ask for a reduction in price.
Would I have paid the same amount for this house if I'd known in advance about the boiler? Absolutely I would

eddddy

doublewobble said:

On top of this, my solicitor(and myself too) believes seller’s solicitor doesn’t send all our inquiries to seller.
E.g my solicitor send an email about a price negotiating retainer. Within exactly 1 minute, reply was back from seller’s solicitor about 5 rows of words, giving ultimatums as “we haven’t got time for these, could you hurry up”.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of wanting gas or electric checks, I think a significant part of the problem is using the solicitors as "message passers".

It sounds like the seller's solicitor is getting fed-up with this. They're probably charging the seller a fixed fee, with the expectation that they'll primarily be doing the legal aspects of conveyancing. And not getting involved in passing messages backwards and forwards about gas and electricity checks.


It sounds like perhaps the estate agent is the real problem, because they are not managing this situation and progressing the sale.

If that's the case, perhaps the OP needs to bypass the estate agent and talk to the seller directly about gas and electricity checks - and reach some kind of agreement.

EssexHebridean

Negotiation about things like gas checks etc is pretty "bread and butter" for high street firms, and nobody is ever massively surprised by it. Of course, if the seller is using a conveyancing factory type firm that may well be a different story! 

And yes - I'd agree that the agent sounds like they could be the issue here. 

Again OP - your request for gas & electrical tests to be done is not unreasonable. Being willing to fund these yourself it very reasonable. A straight refusal from the seller would raise red flags in my mind. If there is nothing for them to be concerned about then there is no reason for them to refuse.