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?

It is usual to have to provide certs dated within the last 12 months. We had to when we sold last year.

However we have just had new neighbours move in next door into a house that was empty due to the death of the previous owner in a care home.

They have had no certs whatsoever, they moved in to discover the downstairs electrics were not working but I think the house was priced accordingly.

If it's something like a thatched property the insurance will want the electrics inspected regularly so I would expect the vendor to be able to supply a certificate and would be very wary if they can't. But not for a standard construction house.

When we sold our last house we had the same issue. It's pretty standard to have a gas boiler serviced every year so that was not an issue- we just provided the certificate. We were very keen to avoid losing the buyer so did ring around electricians to see if we could get some similar service/check for the electrics. One quoted me £££ for a full electrical inspection but the others all told me this seems to be a standard point raised by some surveyors basically because what they do doesn't cover checking the electrics. One of them told me there had been articles in the industry press on the issue. Their advice was to tell the solicitors that this does not appear to be a standard check like a boiler service and could they specify what checks they wish to have carried out and by whom. We did this and heard nothing more but the sale went through

We have not long been through a similar situation, and ended up with a buyer from Hell, so demanding and picky, and if we refused something they asked for, they either responded by trying to reduce their offer further, or added further requests to their list, including a key to the place to come and go as they pleased as soon as they had paid the Estate agent the standard holding deposit, which we quite rightly refused to agree to!

Not only did they want the Gas and all the appliances serviced, A full Electrical survey and Pass certificates produced, they also wanted a full Drains and Sewer camera inspection and pass certificate, the Garden and Lawns professionally tided and mowed ( It was Wintertime, so could not be done) the Outside Painted and wood preservative applied to the fences and sheds, and every instruction manual handed over going back to when the place was built, even though they were planning to implement vast changes to the place anyway, and had employed a builder to give them estimates of costs, which they then tried to deduct from the asking price!

In the end we told them that we were withdrawing the place from the Market as we had decided to develop it ourselves. It worked, they gave up most of their ridiculous demands and decided to instruct their solicitor to exchange contracts ASAP, which they did.

They really were the buyers from hell!

We had a similar clause inserted by the other side when selling my late mother's house.

Our lawyer just said - nope, they don't get that when it's an executor sale.

And replied accordingly.

Because it is a probate house there may be info missing.
I wouldn't expect the electrics to have been tested in a normal situation.

You may wish to look at the cost of a service for the boiler or they may request an indemnity policy costing anything from £70 to £150? to yourself to cover any issues. Both are actions many buyers request.
It may speed up the sale and be cheaper in the long run.

It's usual to ask about a boiler service but not to get one done specifically for sale. If you haven't had it serviced recently the buyer can either accept that or try to convince you to do it before sale (and you can haggle over who pays). They can't make you do it. It's not usual to ask for an electrical certificate in my experience. For a project I wouldn't expect either.

Just say no. Total chancers.

yes, pretty standard for the boiler.
not for electrical

@korawick12345

Just say no. Total chancers.

This is a complete overreaction.

It’s perfectly normal these days for a solicitor to ask for these certs. It’s a routine part of conveyancing checks. It will have come from the solicitor not the buyer. You can either get the checks done or advise that they aren’t done as it’s a probate sale. The buyer may or may not then request that you get them done before they proceed with the purchase. You don’t have to. They probably won’t expect them if it’s been marketed as needing modernisation and/or prices accordingly.

Have to disagree, have never been asked for my electrics and boiler to be serviced by any solicitor. Have had buyers who have asked for Gas safety certs as they are used to renting.

If it's so common can you explain exactly what having the electrics serviced would consist of?

I’d expect the seller to provide proof of service by a certified engineer that’s less than 12 months old and have provided it myself. I’d be worried if seller refused as I’d assume they hadn’t maintained it

I am shocked at how many people don't get their boiler serviced regularly.... shockingly bad home maintenance. Reading some of these replies makes me think mist definitely insisted upon seeing their service history. If a car was for sale with no service history would you pay as much as you would for the same car with a service history? No.

I would expect it one for a total project but any sort of move in ready or maybe just cosmetic job place I would 100% expect a boiler service to have been done. And if they hadn't I would begin to wonder what other regular essential maintenance had been missed.

I also don't think it being an executor sale would make a blind bit of difference. I am still handing over a hell of a lot of money. In fact I purchased an executor sale and asked for the boiler service. Yes as a seller you csn refuse but equally as a buyer I csn insist and reconsider my offer just the same as a seller can.

Well, a lovely man at British Gas Homecare was able to email me the outcome of the last service which was in 2019. The following year we were in lockdown so the service was postponed but my mother died before that could happen and the contract ended with her death.

I can also show they had an annual service contract in place.

Hopefully this will satisfy the solicitors.

I will also state that I am not aware of an equivalent routine electrical "service" so can't help them on that score.

I think it is time things were completely overhauled to make the whole process more standard and transparent with regard to what needs to be provided as 'standard' and what is discretionary for the buyer to arrange - and within what timescale.

@GertiMJN it's also not what you need at a stressful time. I just told my agent that we would put it on the market again if they started messing us around. The house was clean, safe and well maintained, the electrics were done 20 years ago not 29!

Exactly rosesarered321. Sorry you have been through it too.
As the buyers are obviously keen to get the stamp duty holiday, I'm sure they won't want to mess around unnecessarily.

You don't need to, no. The last house we sold, we didn't provide a single piece of paperwork for anything. IIRC the buyer did ask about the boiler & we just said it's working fine, & they are welcome to have it inspected/serviced if they wished.

Selling my property and had to supply gas and electric certificates as well as the boiler service.
I’ve now asked the people I’m buying from to provide the same as I just don’t want to pay twice.
I know it’s now law, but I think it soon will be.

Sorry meant to add, the estate agent said that this was very common.

We have just sold and the buyer requested we did both, we didn’t have the boiler serviced, so we’re more than happy to have them done. I think it cost about £150 for both.

@ConcreteUnderpants

Selling my property and had to supply gas and electric certificates as well as the boiler service. I’ve now asked the people I’m buying from to provide the same as I just don’t want to pay twice. I know it’s now law, but I think it soon will be.

What is this electric certificate you are talking about? Are you talking about the one that has just become compulsory for rental properties or a electrical installation cert for any work you have had done?

You don't have to pay for either. I've just sold and I refused, but I did obviously allow access to the buyers trades people.

@korawick12345 the one to say all electrics are ok. Think it is only legally needed in rental properties.

I know legally you don’t have to provide them, but it seems to be more and more common for buyers to request them before purchasing. In my eyes, if it helped the sale go through quicker and with less hassle, it was £200 well spent.

Really don’t see why it isn’t a mandatory part of the selling process. At least then, everyone would know where they stood.