Should we pay for half the boiler?

[BoilerGirl]

We were supposed to exchange on a property this week - our forever home. For context we have small children, toddler and newborn. The house is old and needs some work but is perfectly liveable whilst we save up to renovate.

Before we exchange we hear hours before that the boiler has now broken beyond repair and is not fixable therefore exchange is delayed. We assumed that our seller would replace and go ahead for exchange next week. Seller now saying they expect us to pay half of the cost of replacing the boiler as we are gaining a new boiler now and always knew the old one would need replacing at some point. Obviously this is an unexpected large cost.

YABU - pay your half of the boiler
YANBU - do not pay your half of the boiler, sellers should sort before exchange

Do it the other way round. Get them to pay towards a boiler that you put into the house...personally I'd ask then to pay 1500.
.

When do you move exactly? When our boiler went recently it was a two week wait for a new one. Could you be moving in to a house with no boiler? And have the inconvenience of workmen in for half a day not long after moving? I would factor that in to negotiations

Make sure you get your money protected though if exchange and completion don't go ahead.

I would just pay it to avoid delays and extra costs. But say you need to ok the choice of boiler.

Yes, i would happily pay half to get rhe sale over the line

You’d just do it as an allowance or add it for fixtures and fittings in the sale price in the contract. Its not rocket science.

Obviously it needs to be properly agreed and considered, but principally (which is what we’re talking about here - the principle of the vendor and OP contributing half each) it sounds sensible to me.

I'd ask for a price reduction, held back from your deposit, and pay myself. What are the vendors doing in the meantime without a boiler?

I’d go 50-50 but insist on having some say on what is put in

it sounds like you were going to have to replace it anyway so in the longer term you are saving some money

I'd get them to drop the price by £1.5k for non working boiler, proceed with the sale and then select the boiler of your choice, with plumber ready to go on moving day - including moving any pipes or whatever that you need at the same time.

When selling a house, I replaced a boiler for a gas leak that then turned out to be something else... that was very annoying. In context of house and moving costs though, you pretty much have to shrug off thinking about smaller stuff like this. Yes you lose some money, but it's long-term cost not immediate cost.

Well the legal answer and the reasonable compromise are probably different.

You must be buying in a very cheap area to quibble over this.

It comes down to how much you could lose in time and money over this rather than just paying half for a boiler you are going to be using and if you had exchanged it would be your responsibility

boilers go all the time

You don't want to be moving in for even a day in winter without a boiler.

I recently had one fitted by Boxt. PM me if you want a £100 off code!!

It sounds like you're buying a bit of a reno project. You presumably know the house and boiler is old? You would have to replace it soon anyway. I think they are being really generous offering half tbh. Is this some legal thing? Can you not exchange on a house that needs a new boiler? In terms of house buying and renovating it's not really a large cost.

If you drop the price with a plan to put one in asap remember that asap may not be as quick as you need with a newborn.

I'd insist on having a say in the boiler and paying half os reasonable.

How long until you are meant to move in? They need a working boiler, and it's winter. They'll have to come up with a solution regardless of whether you pay. What will they do if you refuse? It certainly shouldn't cost you more than the price you agreed for the house with a working boiler.
I'd rather negotiate a reduction in the house price to cover the cost and inconvenience of having a new boiler installed than hand over more money for something you have no control over. What's to stop them buying a different boiler, or doing a repair instead? Or even pulling out of the sale once the new boiler is installed? Their problem to solve or they'll lose the sale.

Are they living there now? When is your completion date? How long are they prepared to live without a boiler?

Unnecessarily rude. When moving, an extra potential couple of grand doesn’t mean it’s a cheap area. OP needs to consider a whole raft of other costs and could have stretched herself to the limit with the price.

We had our buyer complaining that a single roof tile needed to be replaced before he would complete and that we should pay, literally a week before completion, no idea why his survey didn’t raise it weeks before. His solicitor advised him not to proceed until repairs were completed. We did it because he’d already caused weeks of delays and we were keen to complete.

I think I’d want the buyer to pay, tbh, but I’d go for the 50% in order to complete to schedule. Unfair, imo, as the buyer should expect everything to be working, but as pp said, they could see the boiler break as soon as they moved in and be liable for the full cost, so could be well worth it. Buyer definitely gets a say therefore in brand/wattage.

Either they get one, or purchase price is dropped a reasonable amount and you arrange for installation day after completion.

A survey doesn’t check if a boiler is working or not. It will just be a visual check with a note that the boiler / electrics / plumbing / damp proofing would benefit from a specific survey from a plumber / electrician / damp proof surveyor etc.
Many houses don’t have immersion heaters now either.

That's sounds ridiculously expensive for a like for like boiler replacement. I had one installed just over a year ago at my old house for £1600, for a mid range Ideal combi boiler with a 5 year guarantee. Even a higher spec Worcester Bosch boiler was still under £2k.

Im very surprised the seller just didnt bodge their existing boiler so that it works and gets them over the line to sell the house.

If I were them I'd have kept quiet and sold the house with it broken.

Either way dont pay a penny, either buy the house or dont.

Depends on so much...

Do I get a choice in the boiler.
Will my details be on the warranty.
Do they have someone ready to do the work asap.
How far am I moving.

If I were moving down the road, so I already have contacts with local plumbers/boiler fitters, if I get no choice, warranty not in my name etc.. then no.

If the opposite of all that or some of that is true, then yeah.

So @BoilerGirl did you read any of the answers? What did you decide to do?

Presumably you had it in mind to replace shortly anyway, if it were obsolete. Agree with pp, if you get the choice of boiler, radiator power flush, guarantees etc and exchange before any payment is made(or final price is adjusted) , then funding half seems reasonable.

If the mortgage lender's surveyor went around and the boiler was not working, without central heating/hot water, some lenders may deem the house as uninhabitable. For all they know the entire central heating system/plumbing may need to be ripped out and replaced. Been in this position before when our boiler packed up right before sale. It's just bad timing for us but a blessing for our buyers. Also having a gas safe cert as a new buyer and a 7 year warranty (which was transferable) helped the exchange go smoothly. At the end of the day, no one is going to buy a house in without working boiler/central heating without them providing a discount that would be more than the price of a boiler. They need to sort.