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

We have an oil boiler.

It was 3 years old when we moved in 7 years

I finally got it serviced last winter as it was getting a bit smelly when running.

I’ll probably wait another 3 years before the next time.

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).

Sold my mum’s house when she went into a home and it was clearly a complete refurb job – needed new windows, kitchen, bathrooms, internal doors, et cetera, et cetera. Some of the stuff that buyers solicitor started asking for was ridiculous and I just kept saying no. (“I haven’t lived there for >30 years. My dad is dead. My mum’s demented. I have no idea where there might be planning permission or building regs for a conservatory that was installed nearly 40 years ago that would’ve been permitted development anyway). I think I estimated the install date of the boiler and consumer unit update and told them they could make their own assessment about how much work would be needed based on that.)

Boiler service -As others have said, when we got our new one installed it was a condition of the warranty

The engineer who fitted hours didn’t even want to come and do paid servicing at the boiler each year. Said he’d say he’d done it and handle the warranty if needed. Taught me how to top up the pressure in the expansion vessel.  it’s quite a high tech boiler though and it’s meant to have good reporting if anything does go wrong.

We replaced our heating system a couple of years ago and get the boiler serviced annually as it’s one of  the Valiant guarantee terms.

We’ve already had to have a leaking diverter valve replaced under warranty, I’d imagine the cost of that exceeds the cost of a service.

When buying we did ask if the boiler and fire had been serviced. They hadn’t, but the vendors did have them serviced as they were over 30 years old. However the fire never worked properly.

I recently sold my late grandmother’s house.

Simmilar scenario… They wanted gas and electrical tests, plus they tried to get me to pay for an indemnity policy for the conservatory due to a covenant that wast written in a very wooly way.

I had paperwork from the council from when the conservatory was built confirming no planning permission required and a lot of houses on the street all have very similar conservatories.

I know the house well and the gas and electrics are all pretty modern… And I knew they were in good working order.

Also I’d been keeping an eye on the local market like a hawk, so I knew it was competitively priced anyway.

I’d already given them a bit of a discount following survey as it flagged up a few ‘nice to have’ rather than urgent issues… Typical survey stuff… “gutters might need replacing” (no actual leaks but they could do with cleaning out etc.).

I basically told them to sod off on all counts… But I had some leverage as the hour was late and I knew they’d already sold thier place to an FTB, so I knew they were pretty committed..

Just depends on the individual circumstances as to what’s reasonable IMO.

In my case they were just trying to nickel and dime me for a bit more discount, so I took a calculated risk and called their bluff.

We’ve already had to have a leaking diverter valve replaced under warranty, I’d imagine the cost of that exceeds the cost of a service.

They’re about £20, bit of a faff to fit depending on how many isolator valves there are so it’s either a half hour job or a couple of hours and a bottle of inhibitor if the system needs draining.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256539427910

As others have said, I’d offer to get the boiler serviced but tell them an electrical test is on them. I would refuse to pay to bring things up to current regs as well. They were current when installed and the house is not especially old.

Had our boiler serviced once or twice but that was on the back of a repair then them following up the next year. Haven’t bothered for the last 5 years or so and carry out basic  maintenance (replace rad valves, top up the system, add inhibitor, etc.) myself.

I’d probably forget to ask if buying another and certainly wouldn’t back out of a sale because of it. If you’ve had a proper look around your prospective house and have half an idea about diy it should be pretty obvious what may need looking at and that should be factored in to the price/offer IMO.

Cheers, I didn’t know how much they were. The cost Vs service was accounting for paying someone to repair it though. I’m happy to spanner on my bikes and cars, but don’t have much experience with heating and plumbing.

I would refuse to pay to bring things up to current regs as well

I’d end up pretty much rebuilding my house if I attempted to bring it up to what current regs would dictate.

Some buyers seem to have really unrealistic expectations …… Not sure if that’s naivety from the buyers, or solicitors not operating in the real world.

If you want current standards buy a new house/or a house that was built after the date of the most recent standards change at least.

Absolutely agree. Most things get upgraded over the life of a house anyway so no need to do everything at once unless you are doing a full renovation and if you are the buying price should have reflected that. Estate agents are paid to sell any given house at market value (give or take) so the asking price should be based on the overall condition of the property.

I think a lot of the questions / requirements are solicitor driven, especially when cheaper remote solicitors are involved, the first buyers of my friends house came up with a right load of twaddle & my solicitors had to remind them on a few occasions that being a sale of a deceased person’s estate there was no guarantees in any event.

Agreed…

Some buyers seem to have really unrealistic expectations …… Not sure if that’s naivety from the buyers, or solicitors not operating in the real world.

Might be unrealistic, might just be trying for a cheeky discount from a nieve seller… a house, even if 20 years old is going to have 20yo old electrics, etc… you don’t re-wire a whole house just ‘because’.

It’s a second hand (or 3rd or 4th hand) house, not a brand new house, and if it’s priced realistically compared to the local market than it is what it is. Houses need maintenence, and to try to argue a discount because ‘the boiler is more than 8 years old’ or whatever, is frankly ridiculous.

I think a lot of the questions / requirements are solicitor driven, especially when cheaper remote solicitors are involved,

I forgotten the best one. The solicitors website and making a fuss about a tree protection order. The house (in a small estate of about 40) was about three years old and my parents bought it in about 1982. There are no mature trees within the boundary of the property.

“2. The result of the search shows there is a Tree Preservation Order 19th December 1972, can you advise whether there are any trees within the boundaries of the property that would be subject to this Order?”

From my memory of being a kid and looking on Google Earth, I think it related to an oak tree that was in the garden of a house about four doors away.  What they expected me to do about it, I’ve no idea