Is it usual for seller to have to get electrical and central heating serviced for buyer?

[GertiMJN]

We are in the process of selling my parents' house (probate sale).

The buyers solicitor has written As the electrics and and heating system have not been tested, please confirm that the seller will arrange for both to be serviced prior to exchange of contracts

I know we have no legal requirement to do this, but is it usual? I'd have expected the buyer to pay for this if they want it, like a homebuyers survey?

We had our boiler serviced as we have children in the house so do it yearly anyway, never had our electrics serviced. Ask your solicitor for advice, but our yearly boiler service costs around £50 so small change in house buying

Yes. You will be expected to produce the certificates for the service of the boiler. I had to - I just moved.

Boiler serviced in the last year - normal.

I presume the boiler has been regularly serviced? Just give them the paperwork from the last service.

Electrical inspections aren’t really worth doing on your own house unless you’re selling because the regs change every 2-3 years. Do you think the electrics are up to scratch? Is there circuit board modern? Would it hold up the sale to refuse to do it?

We paid £140 for the electrical inspection on the house we recently bought. It was worth it because it identified that the whole house needed rewiring. Are you worried that might be the case with your parents’ house and the buyers might reduce their offer on the back of it?

Electrics checked - not standard with house sales (in my experience of selling twice in the last two years) but it’ll probably become part of the legal list of stuff that’s expected in the future, seeing as it’s a part of rental rules.

I had to have my chimney swept and submit a safety certificate. The boiler thing is usual, but I’ve never been asked about the electrics. However they get looked at in a survey, don’t they?

I wouldn’t. I’d provide the certificate of last service of the boiler then say another is on request

Yes. We provided both. Our vendor couldn't provide a recent electrical test so we agreed to proceed without it.

Sorry not on request I meant the seller can pay for it themselves if they want it!

@borntobequiet

I had to have my chimney swept and submit a safety certificate. The boiler thing is usual, but I’ve never been asked about the electrics. However they get looked at in a survey, don’t they?

They don’t get checked to the level of an electrical inspection.

Our inspection identified that some of the light switches had wooden back boxes, which are a fire hazard. The survey doesn’t give you that level of detail.

As a buyer I would 100% expect a boiler service partially to show it works but also that you maintain the placement regardless of children in the house or not boilers should be serviced regularly. Not doing so would be a red flag to me in terms of general maintenance of the house

We've been asked to provide the certificate for the last boiler service as part of the sale transaction. We get it done every year as part of the British Gas Homecare cover, so it's not an issue. I'd be a bit wary of the property if the boiler wasn't getting checked annually, as it's just general maintenance, and would be concerned about what else hadn't been done.

No. Guessing ex-renters? Once you look to buy you do your own checks. Surveyors don't look at electrics or heating so they need to pay for what they want. The only thing you should have is building regs for any heat generating appliance. That isn't the same as a service or gas Safe check.

@Bouledeneige

Yes. You will be expected to produce the certificates for the service of the boiler. I had to - I just moved.

That's not entirely accurate.

There is no obligation whatsoever for sellers to provide recent boiler or electrical test certificates.

It could be argued that it is a sensible thing to do when selling a property, but it is entirely at the discretion of the individual vendor.

As @Mildura says, there is no obligation to provide either.

But fairly usual expectation for seller is to have had a recentish boiler service (I get mine done every year anyway).

Think the boiler being checked is quite standard - boilers can be dangerous things if not regularly serviced and so anyone should be getting a regular check anyway really. Not heard of electrics issue unless there is something odd about the set up in the house?

Thanks for your responses.
The property is being sold as needing upgrading throughout. My parents were elderly and in their last 2 years needed live in car and equipment was installed and removed etc. The house has been empty for last 10 months since my mother's death so it is quite clearly a project. But the survey shows that it is structurally sound.
It is a long time since I've bought/ sold a house. When I did, the onus was on buyer to investigate whatever they wanted checking, so I was surprised by this request from the solicitor.
I appreciate your replies

Oh and there was british gas service contract in place. We will search paperwork again to see if we can find last service done.

the onus was on buyer to investigate whatever they wanted checking, so I was surprised by this request from the solicitor

That's still the case, sounds to me it's the solicitor chancing their arm a little bit, ask the question great if you agree to pay for the reports, but nothing lost if you refuse.

Our buyer wouldn't exchange without us having the boiler serviced.
Caused a lot of ill feeling as they had messed us around for months prior then at the last minute refused to exchange unless we did that!

Frustrating but for the sake of £80 it was worth it. The plumber told us it's become really common for buyers to demand a service now if the boiler hasn't been checked in over a year.

DS recently bought a property which had had a regular annual boiler service.
Within 48 hours of moving in, boiler went on the blink.
Within 6 weeks, boiler had to be replaced.

We sold my mum's house when she died. We had no paperwork for any service or maintenance for electrics or gas, although the gas boiler was working and had been serviced by a gas safe engineer but mum had no receipt and the electrics looked modern and hat been done about 29 years ago.
We just told the truth and refused a request for a reduction as we were selling the house at a fair price.

In your case I don't think I'd bother as it sounds like you're marketing/priced as a doer upper.

We proactively got our boiler and electrics inspected thinking buyer would insist, and so far nobody has even mentioned it! Based on these replies we prob didn't need to bother 😅

rosesarered321 that was our approach so we're surprised at this request farther down the line.
I'm probably just feeling disgruntled because the whole probate process has been going on forever.
My Dad died first, then Mum died before we had probate on his will so it got even more complicated and protracted. We are expecting probate to be granted on Mum's will this month so can proceed with the sale. So wasn't expecting another blip to deal with.