Boiler 15 years old - reduce offer?

[Bunnyfuller]

When we first viewed the house we’re buying, the estate agent said the boiler was 10 years old. We’ve just got the PIF and it’s actually almost 15 !

We offered asking price, but wondering if we could ask for a reduction as a contribution towards the new boiler that we will need to install, fairly soon if not immediately.

We don’t qualify for the GReener homes boiler grant, so just wondering

You can ask; as a seller I would (and recently have) declined: if it’s in good working order and has been serviced recently (if it hasn’t then I think it’s absolutely fair to ask the seller to have it serviced as a condition of your order) then it isn’t in immediate need of replacement and doing so would be your preference.

You can ask but I would have said no. Not worth antagonising the vendor over a couple of k.

You can ask but as pp has said if it's been serviced yearly and in working order be prepared to get told no chance.
We are in process of selling our house and the boiler isn't new but has been serviced yearly maintained and works perfectly well if our buyer approached us for money off we would say no as well.

no wouldn't change value of house for such a minor item

If it’s still working perfectly, on what grounds could you ask for a reduction? Our boiler’s 20 years old and just sailed through its last service.

Fab, thanks all.

Appreciate the advice and will follow it (is this a MN first?!).

I wouldn’t and I would say no if asked.
When we moved, we left a nearly 30 year old boiler that worked perfectly. Our gas man said it would see us out if looked after/maintained.

Probably 😉

Our boiler is 15 years & I wouldn’t reduce the price of our house. Our buyer got it very reasonably priced for the area. We were realistic that the house needs general cosmetic updating at this point & potentially things like a new boiler in the future. It’s been regularly serviced, one was done a couple months ago & the engineer said it was in really good order. He said a new one would be more efficient but otherwise all good.

If we were staying, I wouldn’t be looking to replace it for a few years unless it packed in. It works well, our heating & water are hot & our energy bills reasonable.

Yes you can ask. No I wouldn't reduce for a 15 year old boiler if I was selling either. Boilers are VERY robust.

Ever trust Estate Agents! I wouldn’t reduce if asked and in all honesty it would make me wonder if my buyers were going to try to niggle over all kinds of things which wouldn’t make me feel confident about the sale.

My house (and boiler) are nearly 20 years old, it's been serviced every year and is fine. A house we rent out had a nearly 30 year old boiler, again serviced yearly and looked after and didn't need replacing until this year. It was done for about £1200.

Are you genuinely thinking of asking them to reduce the price by £1-2k at this stage?

Of course you can’t

It just occurred because we were stung in the place we’re in now - the vendors neglected to mention they’d been told the boiler needed replacing ASAP. It went bang 6 months after we moved, and as an oil fired boiler cost us 5k.

Ouch.

Nope.

Your solicitors can request to see if it's been serviced recently or if it's serviced yearly as a peace of mind but as others have said you stand a high chance of being told no and annoying your vendors by quibbling over £2k for a boiler and run risk of sale.
I could understand for major things like roof needing repair or some structural issues but I certainly wouldn't ask for money off for cosmetic issues sadly everyone buying a house runs the risk of something happening after the sales completed like boiler going
Pipe bursting etc houses constantly cost money to maintain.

I’ve accepted the view of the hive mind 🙂 I’m actually pleased to hear it’s considerably cheaper than replacing an oil fired boiler.

I don’t see a boiler as ‘cosmetic’ though. Unless heating and warm water are ‘cosmetic’!