First house - what to do with information from seller's
Discussion
Electrical safety check is what? £100ish? Just get it done after the survey. It’s small beer in the total cost and will give you piece of mind.
You should be looking at replacing the boiler and maybe rads anyway if it’s an old system and budget accordingly. I’d be doing this before any decorating starts as you can live in a house with dated decor just fine but a cold house is no fun.
Your house is over 100 years old. You’ll enjoy finding 100 years worth of bodges, f
kups and general nasties. It’s all part and parcel of buying an old house. Enjoy!
You should be looking at replacing the boiler and maybe rads anyway if it’s an old system and budget accordingly. I’d be doing this before any decorating starts as you can live in a house with dated decor just fine but a cold house is no fun.
Your house is over 100 years old. You’ll enjoy finding 100 years worth of bodges, f
kups and general nasties. It’s all part and parcel of buying an old house. Enjoy!We are currently selling our 1850s terrace and buying a 1980s detached.selling our house and buying another.
We have been in a similar situation, but on both sides of buying/selling.
We accepted an offer from the first viewing on our property, but the buyer was a moron. They had their survey done and wanted all kinds of things investigating at our cost. The boiler serviced, which we agreed to. The electrics checked, we said she would have to cover that. An asbestos survey (Go read the HSE website for that) we said she would have to cover that. A damp survey, which we paid for. Then she wanted 10k knocking off the agreed price, so we put the property back on the market. Had a viewing straight away, accepted an offer much higher than the first and it looks like they are not getting a survey carried out.
Buying has been a bit easier, boiler less than 10 years old, service record over the last three years. Electrics we are waiting to get a safety survey done, but as the property has a fuse board and not a consumer unit we've had some difficulties with electricians saying they cant do it. We're fairly happy as we've budgeted for a new consumer unit and some rewiring as part of the refurb works.
Ask for the boiler to be serviced, the solicitors should have asked them if the heating is in good working order, if its not been serviced for 10 years you could argue it is not. Electrics and anything else I think would have to be sorted out at your own cost.
We have been in a similar situation, but on both sides of buying/selling.
We accepted an offer from the first viewing on our property, but the buyer was a moron. They had their survey done and wanted all kinds of things investigating at our cost. The boiler serviced, which we agreed to. The electrics checked, we said she would have to cover that. An asbestos survey (Go read the HSE website for that) we said she would have to cover that. A damp survey, which we paid for. Then she wanted 10k knocking off the agreed price, so we put the property back on the market. Had a viewing straight away, accepted an offer much higher than the first and it looks like they are not getting a survey carried out.
Buying has been a bit easier, boiler less than 10 years old, service record over the last three years. Electrics we are waiting to get a safety survey done, but as the property has a fuse board and not a consumer unit we've had some difficulties with electricians saying they cant do it. We're fairly happy as we've budgeted for a new consumer unit and some rewiring as part of the refurb works.
Ask for the boiler to be serviced, the solicitors should have asked them if the heating is in good working order, if its not been serviced for 10 years you could argue it is not. Electrics and anything else I think would have to be sorted out at your own cost.
£240 for an electrical safety check, seems very expensive on top of £800 for the building survey. Worth doing? I am not too concerned about electrics tbh ...
£80 for a boiler service, relatively inexpensive. Engineer said old boilers tend to be better/more reliable (if less efficient) and his own boiler is 30+ years old, so that makes me a little less concerned.
Building surveyor will apparently do a visual check of both including rads etc which will be helpful.
£80 for a boiler service, relatively inexpensive. Engineer said old boilers tend to be better/more reliable (if less efficient) and his own boiler is 30+ years old, so that makes me a little less concerned.
Building surveyor will apparently do a visual check of both including rads etc which will be helpful.
Edited by Bussolini on Wednesday 11th December 14:25
To be honest with electrics the consumer unit will tell you "most" of what you need to know. If it's 100 years old and made of wood and bakerlite with nails where fuse wire should be you are likely to need a rewire. If it has RCBOs and is plastic or metal it's fairly modern and the inevitable bodges that will be there somewhere are unlikely to kill you and it should have a certificate for the installation and testing. You'll want to change things anyway and old wiring does not necessarily mean bad/death or that a full rewire is required. The concern is when a vendor tells you they replaced the board themselves with a Wickes special and added some sockets in the bathroom for their hairdryer but they'd never admit that on the sellers questionnaire thing anyway.
My house was completely rewired two years before I bought it and whilst there wasn't anything wrong with it I've moved so much about and there's so many things I'd have done differently that I may has well have just rewired it myself anyway!
The boiler in my house came with a full service book thing. It blew up 3 months after we bought the house and ate itself severely enough that it was replaced. It was a combi though and I assume yours is a horrible back boiler? I'd think more about the actual house and where it is than a load of stuff that'll probably get changed anyway.
My house was completely rewired two years before I bought it and whilst there wasn't anything wrong with it I've moved so much about and there's so many things I'd have done differently that I may has well have just rewired it myself anyway!
The boiler in my house came with a full service book thing. It blew up 3 months after we bought the house and ate itself severely enough that it was replaced. It was a combi though and I assume yours is a horrible back boiler? I'd think more about the actual house and where it is than a load of stuff that'll probably get changed anyway.
Edited by StoatInACoat on Wednesday 11th December 14:38
Bussolini said:
Thing is, how much is a new system?
All depends on how much you want to spend. I did a complete overhaul for £20k:- system boiler with 250l Megaflow, new bathroom, every single rediator was flushed, checked or replaced. Some of the pipework could be pulled apart with bare hands. I could have spent £5k less or 5k more but with an old house you have to expect the worst. However the nature of leaks means that any mistake upstairs will cause damage below so better to start with the upstairs first. First thing I did were the windows (where needed), a spare room with electric shower so I could still live there whilst works were done, bathroom and heating, then decorating and electrics in the rest of upstairs rooms.Edited by fido on Wednesday 11th December 15:35
fido said:
All depends on how much you want to spend. I did a complete overhaul for £20k:- system boiler with 250l Megaflow, new bathroom, every single rediator was flushed, checked or replaced. Some of the pipework could be pulled apart with bare hands. I could have spent £5k less or 5k more but with an old house you have to expect the worst. However the nature of leaks means that any mistake upstairs will cause damage below so better to start with the upstairs first. First thing I did were the windows (where needed), a spare room with electric shower so I could still live there whilst works were done, bathroom and heating, then decorating and electrics in the rest of upstairs rooms.
Hmm. The house is currently perfectly liveable (provided the central heating continues to work...) but ultimately every room needs decorating. I am not convinced I really want to plough 40k-60k+ into it any time soon ...Edited by fido on Wednesday 11th December 15:35
I think you're worrying too much but that's understandable as a first time buyer.
A house that age will always have things that will need doing but if the electrics and central heating system currently work ok then just get the boiler serviced, maybe flush out radiators and leave it until you can afford to replace whatever needs doing.
One 3 bed 1930s house we bought still had the original lead windows and wiring that looked 30+ years old together with a old style fuse box so I became pretty good at rewiring the fuses by torchlight.
It was still working ok 8 years later when we sold it :-)
Enjoy your first house together.
A house that age will always have things that will need doing but if the electrics and central heating system currently work ok then just get the boiler serviced, maybe flush out radiators and leave it until you can afford to replace whatever needs doing.
One 3 bed 1930s house we bought still had the original lead windows and wiring that looked 30+ years old together with a old style fuse box so I became pretty good at rewiring the fuses by torchlight.
It was still working ok 8 years later when we sold it :-)
Enjoy your first house together.
Bussolini said:
fido said:
All depends on how much you want to spend. I did a complete overhaul for £20k:- system boiler with 250l Megaflow, new bathroom, every single rediator was flushed, checked or replaced. Some of the pipework could be pulled apart with bare hands. I could have spent £5k less or 5k more but with an old house you have to expect the worst. However the nature of leaks means that any mistake upstairs will cause damage below so better to start with the upstairs first. First thing I did were the windows (where needed), a spare room with electric shower so I could still live there whilst works were done, bathroom and heating, then decorating and electrics in the rest of upstairs rooms.
Hmm. The house is currently perfectly liveable (provided the central heating continues to work...) but ultimately every room needs decorating. I am not convinced I really want to plough 40k-60k+ into it any time soon ...Edited by fido on Wednesday 11th December 15:35
Yeah think about the positives of the location and house such as being end of terrace. If the house is similar priced to others then maybe move on to one that's had more work done recently or see it as an opportunity.
We got 5k off ours and one of the reasons cited was the early 80's glowworm boiler but the price is off the house so slightly lower deposit and mortgage payments. Whereas I need to spend my capital to replace the system.
FWIW I'm not replacing the boiler unless it breaks. They're pretty reliable as they don't have a lot of moving parts unlike a combi which may last all of 5 years!
We got 5k off ours and one of the reasons cited was the early 80's glowworm boiler but the price is off the house so slightly lower deposit and mortgage payments. Whereas I need to spend my capital to replace the system.
FWIW I'm not replacing the boiler unless it breaks. They're pretty reliable as they don't have a lot of moving parts unlike a combi which may last all of 5 years!
Roo said:
Wanting to spend 40-60k on redecorating has got nothing to do with your sellers, that's your choice.
It's also a hell of a lot.
Both of those houses look perfectly liveable.
Sorry 40 to 60k would be if it needed a new CH system and a rewire plus full redecoration incl new kitchen bathrooms etc etc. Obviously redecorating is nothing to do with the sellers but it does go to the question of price/value vis a vis what your money gets you nearby. Yes it is perfectly liveable just needs a bit of modernisation which we would do over time room by room. Just our budget/timeline for that would take a hit if we needed new ch/rewireIt's also a hell of a lot.
Both of those houses look perfectly liveable.
Re regs for rear extension - understand it was once a conservatory but is now a full extension. Presumably solicitors can advise re building regs
A quick Google suggests it definitely does need to meet building regs...
Lots to think about, as nervous ftb!
Edited by Bussolini on Wednesday 11th December 18:12
Bussolini said:
If it doesn't have one is that walk away territory?
Not necessarily, it just usually relies on the seller playing ball.https://www.labc.co.uk/news/no-building-regulation...
Bussolini said:
- Property has not been rewired or had any electrical installation work carried out since 1 January 2005. No note of when any electrical work was last done. It hasn't been recently inspected.
- Heating system (mains gas central heating) was installed in 1982. It was last serviced in 2009. It is apparently in good working order. There is no copy of the last inspection report.
If it's in high demand and priced right, buy it. If it's not, then haggle. They may not budge. Then you don't get the house you want.
My flat's heating system is a Baxi boiler - launched in 1966. No idea how old it is. Heats my house, heats my water. When I bought the flat the price I offered was right for me, and they accepted.
The electrics can't have been touched for a long time, but they all work.
If they were asking top dollar, I'd have expected a modern heater. But they were not. Lots of people don't do "preventative maintenance" on their houses - they just fix things as they go wrong. In fact, that's probably the norm. Why replace things when they still work? The argument about replacing my boiler is usually quashed by, "it'll take you so long to get your money back on energy savings, and your boiler is so simple it never goes wrong. Leave it".
It's all down to how much you want the house, how it's priced, and what the demand for it is.
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 11th December 18:47
I personally would not get the boiler service. If our experience is anything to go by a perfectly good servicable but old boiler will immediately be condemned as its co emissions are 'too high'. They were probably 'too high' by modern standards the day it was installed. Amazingly the gas 'engineer' after disconnecting the boiler could be available to install a new one two days later.
Get yourself a co monitor and keep a sceptical eye on the boiler instead.
Get yourself a co monitor and keep a sceptical eye on the boiler instead.
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