Alarm bells?
Author
Discussion

Georgiegirl

Original Poster:

869 posts

232 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
No, not the intruder sort.
We viewed a house on Saturday that is up for £15k over our budget, and it is really stunning but one thing the chap said worried me. He pointed out the new boiler, said it was only a year old, so when I said oh its still under guarantee then he said no, he has a friend in the trade, say no more etc. This has worried me. Should it? I am asking because apart from this, it is amazing, and under regular circumstances we couldn't afford it but they have found a place they want and so want to sell quickly, so would accept a lower offer. Am I being a fool for passing up a lovely house, or a fool to even consider it?

Torquey

1,944 posts

251 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Yep, I'd say you are being a fool.

You would get a 1 year guarrente with the boiler, I have the option to extend mine to 2 years by registering it - Baxi. A friend fitted mine and to be honest I'd rather he did than someone I didnt know or trust their experience.

I dont see what the problem is, if they have a certificate of installation (CORGI registered), it obviously isnt leaking gas. What are you expecting to go wrong??
If you are worried then take out British gas's homecare. It should be nice and cheap on a 1 year old boiler.

SwanJack

1,948 posts

295 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Can't you put in an offer subject to a satisfactory central heating/boiler inspection?

Ledaig

1,799 posts

285 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Torquey said:
Yep, I'd say you are being a fool.

You would get a 1 year guarrente with the boiler......
Not if it fell off the back of a building site you wouldn't wink

RedLeicester

6,869 posts

268 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Ledaig said:
Torquey said:
Yep, I'd say you are being a fool.

You would get a 1 year guarrente with the boiler......
Not if it fell off the back of a building site you wouldn't wink
Either way the vendor is stuffed if it doesn't have all the certificates as he's legally bound to have them at point of sale.

Make sure the paperwork is all there, and go get the house.

Timmy35

13,014 posts

221 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
RedLeicester said:
Ledaig said:
Torquey said:
Yep, I'd say you are being a fool.

You would get a 1 year guarrente with the boiler......
Not if it fell off the back of a building site you wouldn't wink
Either way the vendor is stuffed if it doesn't have all the certificates as he's legally bound to have them at point of sale.

Make sure the paperwork is all there, and go get the house.
yes

If the boiler isn't kosha you can have a retention set against replacing it with a safe one.

prand

6,230 posts

219 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
I suppose you ought to be worried if the house, and all its "improvements" look lovely, but have not been done properly - i.e. scratch the surface and the stunning extension, kitchen, bathroom, wiring etc etc has been severely bodged and are not up to standard.

If you are suspicious, make sure you get all signed off certification for gas, wiring, windows, building regs and so on, and also if you are still suspicious, ask for a more in depth building survey.

RedLeicester

6,869 posts

268 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
prand said:
I suppose you ought to be worried if the house, and all its "improvements" look lovely, but have not been done properly - i.e. scratch the surface and the stunning extension, kitchen, bathroom, wiring etc etc has been severely bodged and are not up to standard.

If you are suspicious, make sure you get all signed off certification for gas, wiring, windows, building regs and so on, and also if you are still suspicious, ask for a more in depth building survey.
Was just thinking along these lines - though as we have recently discovered, many of the recognised certificates are not worth the paper they're written on. Still, at least if they exist you have some form of come-back.

Go for it!

Georgiegirl

Original Poster:

869 posts

232 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Prand yes thats what I am thinking - if he has done a dodgy with that, what else might he have done?! The trouble is I am very green at this house buying lark seeing as its our first. We're viewing a few more on Wednesday so perhaps one of them will be even better! Thanks for all the replies.

Ledaig

1,799 posts

285 months

Monday 19th July 2010
quotequote all
Timmy35 said:
RedLeicester said:
Ledaig said:
Torquey said:
Yep, I'd say you are being a fool.

You would get a 1 year guarrente with the boiler......
Not if it fell off the back of a building site you wouldn't wink
Either way the vendor is stuffed if it doesn't have all the certificates as he's legally bound to have them at point of sale.

Make sure the paperwork is all there, and go get the house.
yes

If the boiler isn't kosha you can have a retention set against replacing it with a safe one.
Yes indeed, your solicitor will ask for the certs and if they are not available will suggest that you take out an indemnity policy - or in the case of the place we have just bought, get the vendor to pay for it.

arfur sleep

1,166 posts

242 months

Tuesday 20th July 2010
quotequote all
prand said:
I suppose you ought to be worried if the house, and all its "improvements" look lovely, but have not been done properly - i.e. scratch the surface and the stunning extension, kitchen, bathroom, wiring etc etc has been severely bodged and are not up to standard.

If you are suspicious, make sure you get all signed off certification for gas, wiring, windows, building regs and so on, and also if you are still suspicious, ask for a more in depth building survey.
Yep. bought a house from a builder that looked ace but once we moved in we discovered lots of things needed repairing (eg hole in the wall behind where their TV had been, painted round wardrobes & rugs rather than doing the whole wall or floor) and some are just plain odd (rear garden flood light is plugged not wired (literally 3-pin plug on end of cable which comes through the wall) into a socket in a first floor bedroom rather than wired into garage feed which is 5 feet from where the light is fitted. Basically been done on the cheap or with odd bits left over from other jobs by looks of things.

So whilst it looks good its been more work than expected.

Going through next house purchase with a magnifying glass and lists of questions!!

RedLeicester

6,869 posts

268 months

Tuesday 20th July 2010
quotequote all
arfur sleep said:
Going through next house purchase with a magnifying glass and lists of questions!!
That's all very well, but you simply can't account for everything. Our new pad has certificates up to the hilt, most of them from within the last three years, and was only built in the 50s so isn't "old". Yet in doing a bit of alteration work this last couple of months, we are now faced with total rewiring, replumbing, and a full new set of windows and doors... All stuff that either went unnoticed, was certified by questionable types, or had literally papered over the cracks...

So yes, get everything you can, but don't rely on it 100%.