Selling a house – do I need to get my boiler serviced?

I’m in the process of selling my house. We’re quite far along in the process, and hoping to exchange at the end of October. For reasons unknown to me, the buyers have asked for an inspection of both the electric and gas systems. The house is approximately 15 years old, with the boiler having been replaced approximately six years ago. Everything works as it should and there are no unusual features in either system.

Our solicitors  have not advised anything similar for the house we’re trying to buy, but our buyers are telling me their solicitors (A different firm) strongly recommend these inspections. My gut feeling is that this is completely unnecessary and only serves to hold up the sale and cost me a couple of hundred quid for very little benefit to anyone (except central heating engineers and electricians).

What am I missing? WWSTWD?

We didn’t get ours serviced, but we had service records that we gave to our buyers. I don’t think this is unreasonable.

If your buyer is insisting on it, just get it done. Not worth losing a sale over. And I very much doubt it will hold up a sale unless you are days from completion.

If it’s a 6 year old boiler, then still within life, so a service should be easy enough, electric safety certificate is a couple of hundred and takes no time at all, gives the buyers a bit of confidence, i’ve noticed in the past younger buyers tend to want everything checked, but not pay for a more intensive survey.

Their solicitor is giving them good advice. But it shouldn’t be at your cost at all – you wouldn’t pay for their structural survey?

I wish we’d got an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) as it would have saved us a fortune.

when did you last have a yearly service, just show them the records. ;0)

It’s very simple – if they want an inspection, they can pay for and arrange an inspection.

I thought this was normal and yes at the seller’s expense if you can’t provide recent records.

You can just say no, though. Up to them how much they care- I guess they could reduce their offer by 1k or something on the basis they think they may have to spend money on a faulty gas/electric system when they move in and have no reassurance to the contrary.

Surely not a deal breaker but could be more admin to avoid it then just doing it IMO.

As above. An extension of a the house survey. Buyers wants, buyer pays.

I’d be more worried that your solicitor isn’t suggesting you get this from your vendor. It’s a potentially significant cost (and safety) item if it goes wrong which can be easily and cheaply mitigated by demonstrating it’s been serviced.

It’s always been a sellers cost when we’ve moved.

Personally, I think this is the sort of thing that a house seller should have to provide. But at the moment there is no legal obligation to, so if they want it done they should pay for it like any other survey.

I sold a house I was renting out a couple of years ago, it had everything, gas safety, electric safety, boiler service records and the buyer still tried to get me to reduce the price because the boiler was 10 years old and the house hadn’t been rewired for how ever long. They got told to get **** and pay up, which they did.

I reckon it’s just a tool to try and get money off the property.

I’ve never offered or accepted a request for an inspection unless they pay. When it comes to costing money, every one of them has ordered proceeded with the purchase without the inspection they ‘needed’.

I’ve had a couple of buyers who had very unrealistic expectations of things like 30 year old wiring and 15 year old boilers.

If you have a service record less than a year old, supply that and suggest that if the buyer’s solicitor insists on anything more then that is up to the buyer.  If you haven’t had a service in the last year…..get it done any way.  I like to think I can improve my buying process as a result of learning from the questions asked by my buyer – you might do the same.  In my experience, at this stage of the process it often a case of the buyer’s solicitor trying to prove they are worth their fee, or if it is a junior, they are merely following a catch-all process, and it may require your solicitor to politely point out the limits of what is reasonable and necessary to ask for.

It’s very simple – if they want an inspection, they can pay for and arrange an inspection.

I think the forum needs a ” delete all replies except IHN’s” button…..

I’d use it loads.

Having had an eicr and gas safety carried out recently on a property that was in good condition, both flagged up issues that did not meet current standards. We got these rectified no problem but there was a cost implication of several hundred quid on the owner. Nobody considered the issues unsafe, just not current standards. So there’s that to consider and any issues arising are likely to  equal some sort of attempt at negotiating.

In Scotland the heating system must work as part of the standard clauses same as the sewage/ septic tank.

If it doesn’t the buyer has four days from point of entry to check and make a claim as necessary via their solicitor

At the end of the day, if they really want the house, they’re going to buy it.

I moved house in 2020.  It was never mentioned as a “thing” at all when either selling or buying.  It’s probably just as well.

The boiler was a back boiler which was 40 years old if it was a day and its service history was years out of date because the last Gas Safe engineer I had out to it, his opening gambit was “what the **** is that?”  I kept it running myself after that, replacing things like the HT ignition switch cable that a mouse had eaten and obviously never touching the gas supply side of things because that would be illegal.

The wiring was almost certainly the original from when electricity was first introduced to a house built in the late 1800s, there were still round-pin sockets in some rooms which dates it as pre-war and possibly pre-20th Century.  One socket was a 2-pin which is very old, the 3-pin plug wasn’t introduced until the 1930s.

Let’s not mention the plumbing, hey.  That was a proper horror story.

When I sold a couple of years back the buyers asked for this to be done. I responded that as with any kind of survey it’s the buyers responsibility so if they wanted it doing I was more than happy to allow their contractors access to do the work at their cost.

Oh and when the EICR comes back and there’s stuff not up to current regs (plastic fuseboard will be one) tell them of cause it’s not, it was done 15 years ago!

My most recent buyer requested both a boiler service and the extra surveys.

I said if they wanted extra surveys they would have to pay for them. They didn’t bother.

But I decided that since the boiler hadn’t been serviced for 12 months, it was reasonable to expect that I should keep it in good working order during the sale, so I paid for the service which cost less than £100.

When buying, I didn’t get a survey done on the heating system, but should have, as it was not working at all and cost over a grand all in to get working, and I’m still left with a miserable old boiler which could fail at any minute

We got these rectified no problem but there was a cost implication of several hundred quid on the owner.

Interesting. Was this a house you were buying? If a potential purchaser ask me to upgrade to current regs from those in force at the time of installation, I’d tell them to jog on. Genuine faults might be a different, more accommodating discussion.

Selling a house – do I need to get my boiler serviced?

No. I have 1st-hand knowledge of this and as said ^^, some conveyancers suggest that and an electrical inspection.

It’s optional, it’s on the buyer to pay and it’s all about sorting out two potentially expensive problems before completion, if necessary negotiating on price for repair/purchase.

I think the forum needs a ” delete all replies except IHN’s” button…..

I’d use it loads.

https://media1.tenor.com/m/jVpInx3xCqgAAAAC/blushing-shucks.gif

Nope, still can’t get GIFs to work

I’m guessing their other surveys didn’t turn up anything they could use to try to knock you down a bit. In the good old days of gazundering, people weren’t so cowardly and just demanded a price reduction for no reason two days before exchange.

Buyers can ask, you can either comply or not. Sold a friend’s house after he passed away, buyer wanted service history of boiler (no idea & very old boiler) & guarantee that burglar alarm worked (didn’t even know the code) – all this was made clear to the buyer when they viewed the property and negotiated the price, so got told to jog on.

OK this all seems sensible. I’ll organise a boiler service but if they want someone to check the electrics I propose they organise at their cost.

Related question: Do people actually pay to get their boiler serviced yearly? It never occurred to me that would be a thing. Suffice it to say, I haven’t. Although it was[/I] serviced a couple of years ago when one of the electric servos failed.

Nope, still can’t get GIFs to work

Oh sod off

Related question: Do people actually pay to get their boiler serviced yearly?

No.

To my mind, this is simply a licence to print money, it’s an arbitrary figure someone’s pulled out of their arse.  I don’t give my cooker an annual service and that uses gas too.

I got the new boiler serviced when we first moved here as I didn’t know its history, that seemed a sensible precaution.  I had them out for a second, I dunno, three years later maybe.  If it goes wrong it goes wrong, the gas fitter who does the servicing is two minutes’ walk away.

This could be foolhardy, I don’t know.  But the boiler is a premium brand and, well, see my previous post for my experience with boilers.  With the old 1970s Glow-Worm back boiler a service consisted of taking the fire off, undoing two bolts to take the front off the casing, hoovering out all the shit that had fallen down the chimney, lighting a candle to see if smoke still came out the top, and putting it all back together again.  It wasn’t rocket surgery, the only remotely technical part was shutting off a three-way valve correctly to isolate the supply to the fire before removal (I imagine from watching Gas Safe engineers do it).  The combi looks to be more complicated but not by much.

Related question: Do people actually pay to get their boiler serviced yearly?

In my last house, got new boiler fitted & never got it serviced for 10yrs, no problems at all, just got new boiler fitted here & will get it serviced to maintain guarantee but only because I’m trying to sell the place – it is something purchasing solicitors will ask though.

Related question: Do people actually pay to get their boiler serviced yearly?

Mine is under warranty and it’s a condition, so yes.

Modern boilers seem to get finer and finer waterways in the heat exchangers to increase efficiency. A boiler service doesn’t address the build up of magnetite in the system, apart from emptying the magnetic filter (if fitted), which can be a) boiler stopping and b) spendy

I’d suggest that a cleaning chemical in the rads, drain and refill with inhibitor is every bit as important as a boiler service to keeping everything working efficiently. How many people do that?

Related question: Do people actually pay to get their boiler serviced yearly?

in the past – no

then I had a dead boiler to replace – since then I’ve paid the extortionate sum of £80 to my gas safe installer who comes out, checks everything is hunky dory, gives me a bit of paper that I can use to show it’s being maintained if there is a warranty claim etc.   he’s spotted a few problems over it’s 10ish year life, from a leaking heat exchanger (would have been £450+fitting if out of warranty) and some small washer/seals.

i don’t grudge it at all.  He does ride a bike though… so obviously not to be trusted.

Related question: Do people actually pay to get their boiler serviced yearly?

Nope.

Mines now 9 years old so I’m £1k up and no issues until this last week when it transpires one of my kids had turned off a tap underneath while trying to top up the water pressure…

(Leaky old 1970’s pipe system, needs topping up every couple of months)

Not essential, when we bought we asked to see the last ones as it was being rented out so we knew they must exist even if they had recently expired. I just wanted reassurance that they hadn’t been condemned and that was why they were selling.

In the end the boiler packed in 18months later because the condensate pipe didn’t have an air gap and froze solid. And the electrics we had the consumer unit replaced and he found a few serious issues that needed fixing that weren’t flagged on the old report (a completely unprotected spur to the loft). And another has since spotted that said spur is made from the wrong type of cable running up an exterior wall which will need replacing or putting in conduit but isn’t an immediate issue.

You can always say they are welcome to have the inspections done at their expense. Our sellers refused to spend any money so we had to get all our own indemnities etc.

related to the boiler servicing question….

Do unvented cylinders need regular servicing?

we had a new boiler and unvented cylinder fitted last year, plumber didnt say anything about needing to get either of them serviced regularly, but the internet (mainly the sales arms of various unvented cylinder manufacturers and the “associations” that they group themselves under) seems to think its a good idea … any views from the stw experts? or is servicing an unvented cylinder the same as servicing a boiler – not really necessary, put the money saved into a future repairs pot.

From reading what they look at during a service its seems to be :-

– the temperature controls work ok – well this ones easy to confirm myself
– the various pressure relief valves work ok- yep fair enough, dont think I can easily check this myself
– assess generalcondition of cylinder – think I could manage this

– some places say that the expansion tank might need re-pressurising – and its this that makes me think it might be a worthwhile exercise – but maybe not yearly – maybe it could be done every few years?

Gas central heating systems are not fit and forget. They need regular checks to ensure they are functioning properly. Some of these you can do yourself, e.g. checking pressures and bleeding radiators. Perhaps even system water quality.
My main concern is that it’s not leaking gas or CO and not about to catch fire. Plus a service record is likely part of any warranty or might need to be evidenced for a home insurance claim. Hence we have someone look at it, just in case.

As others have said, when we got our new one installed it was a condition of the warranty. It’s now out of warranty but to be honest, for the relatively little amount of money it costs me each year I’m happy to pay for the peace of mind it’s all ok. I appreciate that might be a waste of money but I’m happy to do it

Leaky old 1970’s pipe system, needs topping up every couple of months

Just be aware that you’re diluting the system water each time, possibly reducing inhibitor effectiveness, which could lead to other issues. Depends just how often and how much the top ups are.

some places say that the expansion tank might need re-pressurising – and its this that makes me think it might be a worthwhile exercise – but maybe not yearly – maybe it could be done every few years?

They use a Schrader valve so it is DIYable in theory. You also need to check the membrane is intact. With a faulty one water will come out of the valve when depressed

With regards to servicing, it’s basicaly clean the mag filter and add fresh inhibitor… you can buy inhibitor in pressurised cans (about £10) that you can add straight into one of the radiators. Pressure is easy to check as there’s a pressure dial on the boiler (hopefully).

So about £10 in materials and about an hour labour.

Bit like getting a car serviced, for a regular service you are really only changing the oil and oil filter, the rest is basically just a check over/tick box excersise.