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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Not really AIBU but for those with a mortgage

60 replies

rootietootie · 29/12/2011 14:45

If you own/mortgage your own home which you are living in, can I ask if you have your boiler properly serviced every year? We don't and have now found out that we are not covered by our homeserve insurance (that we have had for years, and pay every bloody month, guess which dd im cancelling!). FFS, now will have to get an engineer out and god knows how much that'll cost.

OP posts:
HappyCamel · 29/12/2011 15:48

I have it serviced every couple of years or so. Every autumn DH takes the front off, hoovers it out and checks the connections and the flame colour and tightens the bolts.

Forget the insurance and put the equivalent aside in a savings account if you don't have a decent amount of savings. Then you can pay for repairs if you need them and keep the money if you don't. Insurance of this type is a money making game for insurers. You need car, house, life, pet and travel insurance. Everything else should be covered by saving every month.

Original poster
rootietootie · 29/12/2011 19:14

I apologise for this being in aibu, can I reword it to AIBU to be pissed off when my home emergency policy book reads "You must maintain your primary heating system annually" then not go on to specify that you need certificates. My BIL gives our boiler a maintenance roughly on a yearly basis but we have never had any certificates off him because we it was on an informal basis. Still bloody maintained though! Homeserve sucks.

OP posts:
Seona1973 · 29/12/2011 19:23

we use the scottish gas boiler cover and they service it every year as part of the cover.

gamerwidow · 29/12/2011 19:47

We have British gas homecare insurance and as part of the plan they come and service it every year.

Lynli · 29/12/2011 20:03

British gas homecare including service, on three properties, I am definitely in profit.

Why the question "if you have a mortgage?"?.

Everyone should have their boiler serviced every year, faulty boilers are not good.

stressheaderic · 29/12/2011 20:08

Lived here 6 years, never bothered. Is a back boiler, set in chimney breast, 30 odd years old, works fine, loads of heat and hot water.

HerRoyalNotness · 29/12/2011 20:09

If your BIL has been servicing it, and is registered, can't you ask him for backdated certificates?

ginmakesitallok · 29/12/2011 20:12

Yes we ger ours serviced every year, along with our gas fire as part of British gas agreement - been worth every penny, had to have them out twice last year to fix the bloody thing. I'm Confused about the whole mortgage/owning own home thing - surely owning your own home means that you have MORE of an interest in maintaining it??

2gorgeousboys · 29/12/2011 20:15

Ours has been serviced every year for the last 3 years since we has British Gas cover. We have definately had our money's worth.

Original poster
rootietootie · 29/12/2011 20:33

I only asked re owning home because i think by law all landlords have to have boiler serviced every year. Not law obviously for home owners. Dont know if bil could backdate, hes not self employed and think his boss would be Angry if he knew bil was doing homers (not that he got paid in cash anyhows).

OP posts:
SantasCave · 29/12/2011 20:39

stressheaderic are you not worried about carbon monoxide??? You really should get every gas appliance services on a regular basis.

FabbyChic · 29/12/2011 20:42

YOu do know if you sell your house it has to come with a Gas Safety Cert don't you? If you have kids why have you never got it done properly? What if it was leaking carbon monoxide.

whackamole · 29/12/2011 20:44

No I haven't had it serviced but I keep meaning to. Ours is only 4 years old as well.

BoysBoysBoysAndMe · 29/12/2011 20:45

MreHoolie corgi doesn't exist any more. You need to check it won't affect your boiler cover getting it serviced by someone else.

slowburner · 29/12/2011 20:48

We had it serviced each year when we owned our own home but didn't have insurance in case it went wrong. We then moved to rental, landlord services it, two weeks after it was serviced the circuit board went, it was so so cold, when we had snow on the ground! It cost over £500 to fix, god I was pleased I wasn't picking up that bill.

Original poster
rootietootie · 29/12/2011 20:51

Fabbychic, BIl is more than qualified to do it, so it is all safe, we are not bothered on that account, just dont have the paperwork as it was a homer. We bought a groupon coupon for a full service which I still have and has another 8 months to run. We were saving that for when we put the house on the market.

OP posts:
BellaVita · 29/12/2011 21:09

Of course we have it serviced every year. We pay for HomeCare.

stuffedauberginexmasdinner · 30/12/2011 10:07

I didn't know boilers need servicing. Mind you I don't even service my car!

SalmeMurrikAgain · 30/12/2011 11:05

Another British Gas Homecare user here. We rented privately for some years before buying a house, so continuing with an annual service just seemed automatic really - I think most people we know do the same. We have the boiler cover with annual service, plus some cover for plumbing and electrical repairs. It's expensive but that means we're not scared to call them out for minor niggles (they might be minor but we can't fix them!) and get our money's worth.

Six years ago I contemplated cancelling and saving up the premiums in an emergency fund/paying for own annual service instead. Didn't get round to it, and very shortly afterwards the hot water tank in our attic sprang a leak and had to be replaced, which was covered by my policy. I don't know how much that would have cost, but I'm guessing more than a year's premiums!

mrsrupertpenryjones · 30/12/2011 11:29

we get our boiler and gas fire serviced every year - it costs £75!

Iodine · 30/12/2011 11:32

Just a word of caution to all of you who don't get it serviced because it's a new boiler. My parents had a new gas fire and boiler fitted when they moved to a new house. We were children. Because they are sensible and have it serviced every year, the first annual service discovered a carbon monoxide leak. We could have died in our sleep without any warning signs.

Gonzo33 · 30/12/2011 13:05

Mine was serviced every year when I lived in the house (it is let now, and still serviced and Gas Safety Checked every year).

I also had a carbon monoxide detector on the wall by the boiler.

When we buy our next home I will have the boiler serviced every year and I will have another carbon monoxide detector.

A lot of people are saying to save the premium money every month, but some policies pay out far more than you would pay. To put this in perspective at one point I didn't have a policy in place to cover the boiler etc, and I had to get a new one in. It cost me over £1600. This was in a mid terrace 2 bed property. Most plans are around the £20 per month mark, which means that you would be saving for nearly 7 years before you could buy that boiler.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 30/12/2011 13:14

We get ours done every year by a local engineer, it is an old one but very good and we want to keep it going as long as possible. Plus there is the safety aspect. We have a carbon monoxide monitor near it as well.

OrmIrian · 30/12/2011 13:16

Our boiler cover includes an annual maintenance check and service.

Ouch for you though.

Groovee · 30/12/2011 13:31

Yes we do but dh is a gas engineer and is a bit fanatical about it not ending up sooted up etc.