would you offer less for a flat if the boiler was old?

[museumum]

Trying to work out if it's worth installing a new boiler when we're hoping to move next summer.

Would you notice and/or offer less if a flat or house you were visiting had an old (19yr old) combi boiler vs. a brand new one?

Central heating works fine btw. but some of the parts for the boiler are obsolete. Also, currently no room thermostat but we could buy one of them for less than a tenth of the price of a new boiler.

Thanks!

assuming it is gas, a new boiler will be under £3k. Room stats don't cost £300, but that is lost in the noise anyway.

yes, of course I would notice, but it depends on all the other factors affecting the flat price. Demand, your position, etc etc etc.

It would depend on a lot of things

Firstly, whether the flat is being sold as liveable or needing work.

Then look at how it's price compares with similar properties, how quickly properties are shifting in the area and how much you really want that flat. No point diddling yourself out of a £200K flat for the sake of the price of a boiler.

Depends how badly you want the house.

I wouldn't offer less specifically because the boiler is old. I'd offer what I was willing to pay for the house as a whole. Taking into consideration my budget, and if I needed to pay out straight away for big jobs (electrics, roof, windows etc) or if I could save and budget and do them as and when.

This house had a really, really old boiler. But tbh, you can get a new one fitted for 2-3k, so on a few hundred k is makes no difference really, I wouldn't have risked losing the house offering 2k less than I could afford. Especially if the boiler worked fine- I'd get the house, then save (which is what we did).

Hmm... sounds like maybe not worth our time/money in doing it pre-sale then?

We've had a quote of £3300 for the whole job of providing and installing a new boiler and thermostat (currently there's no room thermostat at all, just knobs on the individual radiators).

A smart thermostat would be £200. And might give the (correct) impression that the flat is perfectly liveable despite the old boiler rather than a 'needs modernisation'.

Boiler selling guy was all 'oh i've heard of people offering £5k less because of an old boiler' but obviously he is a salesman... I was just trying to get an idea from ordinary people.

For what it's worth, i personally wouldn't know a boiler's age to look at it and as long as there's gch I would consider that box on my list ticked.

Do bear in mind that if there's a time of year when buyers will particularly notice the boiler then it's starting now, and will continue over the winter.

Do you mean just cause they'll have heating on their mind?
The current one works absolutely fine and flat is double glazed so is warm. Just not particularly efficient (ie. it's off the bottom of the energy rating scale!)

Exactly - especially if they had problems with their current boiler at home, for example. But if the flat is warm then that's half the battle won for you!

If your flat is selling in the £500k range, it's small change and not worth quibbling about.

If your flat is selling in the £100k range, it might be worth thinking about.

If your flat has other things that might need doing up, the buyers will be do-er-uppers and so won't be put off.

If your flat is otherwise "move straight in, nothing to change at all", then that kind of buyer might not want a place that would need a new boiler soon.

Personally an old boiler would definitely make me think need to replace the boiler and factor that into my cost/hassle calculations, but I do care about boilers.

Surely the property is priced accordingly.

We had a new boiler a few years ago and we have had to have it repaired at least 10 times. So I wouldn't replace a boiler that is old but works perfectly well, and I wouldn't necessarily be attracted by house with a new one.

Thank you. All useful.

I think the flat will be selling as "move in" condition but not "brand new refurbed kitchen / bathroom" - people will probably be thinking they might want a new kitchen in a few years but not straight away. It's a period property with mostly original features but brand new windows.
It will probably be marketed at first time buyers towards the upper part of the first-timers market (200k ish). For dh and I it was a second step but our first as a couple, we both had small 1 person flats each before. This is a sort of couples flat. (We now have baby ds so want to move on soon, it's not big enough for a family).