Sale of House, Hot Tub Broken

[lost in espace]

We are due to complete early next month and the hot tub has just developed a fault with the heater.

If I don't fix this, as it is so close to the house sale, will I be liable for the cost of getting this fixed?

I currently have the heater disconnected but the hot tub turned on.

[monthou]

I'd let the buyers know and negotiate from there. The solution lies somewhere between 'I'll pay whatever it takes to fix it', 'I'll knock £x off the price' and 'It's broken, take it or leave it.'
Whether you could get away with selling a house with an undeclared shonky tub, I guess depends on the buyers.

[Griffith4ever]

The above really. Did you include it as part of the included stuff? I assume so.

Can't imagine a buyer would pull out of a purchase over a hot tub repair cost.

[Wilmslowboy]

Have you exchanged contracts - if yes then might be the case the hot tub was listed on the fixtures and fittings, therefore a fair expectation it should be working.

If you have not exchanged yet, do you really want to lose a buyer in such a challenging housing mkt.

[normalbloke]

They’ll thank you for it being broken, when they realise the running costs!

[dudleybloke]

Talk with the buyer about it and see what they say.
How much is a new heater?

[GR86]

Did they test it or did you specifically tell the buyer it was working?

When I bought a house a few things weren't working, it's just sold a seen it's not a new build.

If you tell them you will have to fix it or give them some cash.

[Pica-Pica]

normalbloke said:

They’ll thank you for it being broken, when they realise the running costs!

This - and they may ask you to remove and dispose.

[QBee]

Treat your buyers the way you would expect/hope to be treated if you were buying.
You are a decent bloke - be decent.

[V8 Bob]

As part of the contract process you will have to fill in a disclosure form which will require you to acknowledge any issues with the property, neighbour disputes etc etc.
Failure to disclose something can lead you into expensive litigation.
Not worth failing to disclose the hot tub issue.

[lost in espace]

Thanks all, it is a £300 part from the manufacturer gulp. Easy to fit though, and I found a brand new part on ebay for £77 delivered luckily.

My wife wants to use it for the few weeks we are here until the sale. My brother in law did the electric check on the house for the sale, found all the stuff the electrician who worked for me a decade ago missed. The last thing he checked was the hot tub, he said he had tested the tub and the lights came on so it was working when empty. However when I filled it up and turned it on there was a flash and a bang!

Thanks for all your help.

[ScotHill]

Based on the history described in the last post, I would not be setting one fking foot in that hot tub again without a professional electrical checkup.

[normalbloke]

ScotHill said:

Based on the history described in the last post, I would not be setting one fking foot in that hot tub again without a professional electrical checkup.

Where’s your sense of adventure man…. I’d be more worried about the DNA soup..

[ScotHill]

normalbloke said:

Where’s your sense of adventure man…. I’d be more worried about the DNA soup..

Jizz I can wash off; electrical burns are forever.

[FredericRobinson]

Surely you ask the purchasers? There must be a very high proportion who’ll be planning on ripping the thing out as soon as they move in.

[Draxindustries1]

normalbloke said:

They’ll thank you for it being broken, when they realise the running costs!

^
This
We have one in our pool house and initially everyone wanted to use it but they're novelty value and yes they cost a small fortune to run.

[fido]

My sellers left me with a range cooker that has a blown thermal fuse and probably elements that don't work. Am I annoyed? - a bit. Am i surprised - not at all. Realistically unless they went round testing all appliances and hot tub then there's not much they can do.

[Marc p]

Isn’t it just seen as an appliance? So therefore not expected to be included in the sale.

If I was buying a house and it had a hot tub in the back garden, I would not expect it to be staying. TBH, I’d more likely be annoyed if it was still there

[donkmeister]

Is it a built in hot-tub (i.e. removing it would leave a big hole next to the swimming pool and pipes flapping about), a not built in but substantial one (e.g the ones that every holiday let owner in the country bought at Costco and sometimes use decking to make it look like a built in one) or is it one of those glorified paddling pools?

TBH unless it's the first type, in the buyer's shoes I'd only expect it to be there on moving day if we'd agreed on it staying. I worked with a guy who demolished a shed on moving day as his buyer started talking about disposal costs for a structure he assumed was going!!!

[85Carrera]

I probably wouldn’t be interested in a house with a hot tub as it would probably mean it was a bit council, but if I was to buy such a house, I’d make it a condition of a sale that the nasty, unhygienic piece of tat was removed as a condition of completion.