What would you do?

[Sweeno123]

I've exchanged on my flat and am due to complete next week. The dishwasher is included in the sale (it's integrated into the kitchen) and it has just broken! I have had a repair person round and he says a part is needed which will cost £250 and this is on top of the £120 call out fee. Am I obliged to fix the machine? What would you do? I'm sure I don't need to add that money is tight but I'm also conscious of doing the right thing by my buyer.

That's good to hear. So I assume it's only things on the TA-6 that buyers can sue over, not the Fittings.

I live in fear that something will go wrong and I'll get sued, even though the buyers have had every kind of survey done. Apparently it can happen even years later (mostly up to 6 years, or 3 years after they discover something new). I suppose they'd have to prove that I knew about whatever it was though.

I would probably be too wracked with guilt to do anything other than tell the EA about it now, and let them decide what to do about it.

Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll say they're going to completely redesign and not to worry about it.

How is it that parts for a 6 yo d/w are now obsolete though? Do you trust this plumber?

(said whilst waving at flying pig)

I think I would do this too. It simply isn't worth buying a new integrated one as the buyers might be intending to take out the existing kitchen anyway. Leaving them the cash means if they don't want to replace the kitchen immediately they can still buy a replacement, even if it's not a top end model. So they won't lose out either way.

Our vendors charged us £100 for the dishwasher and I think we all did well out of it. It was fairly old but still worked OK for many years. Second hand dishwashers aren't that valuable for resell but to replace them is ouch!

I think you think you should replace it OP even if you’d rather not spend the money! I had this with a few things on my place and did replace/fix, my seller however obviously had no such qualms so I’m sort of suffering the reverse of karma on this one!

I still think I did the right thing though and sleep better for it!

Honestly? I’d say nothing and leave it as it is. I’d like to think I would do something different, but that is what I would actually do.

However, if I moved into a place where I was expecting there to be a working appliance and it was broken - I would just suck it up and replace it. No way would I bother pursuing it through EA or solicitor. I’ve had worse (unexpected) things left in places I’ve bought!

Why are people saying not to talk to the EA about it? This is literally the kind of low-tech, people-wrangling issue that EAs are just about qualified for. To my mind you're legally obliged to leave an integrated dishwasher in situ and need to replace it with a bog-standard one since it can't be fixed. But why wouldn't you ask the EA to first check with them whether they're planning to redo the kitchen asap and don't need you to after all? If that ends up being the outcome, you should let the solicitors know before completion in case there needs to be an addendum to the F&F form (a written exchange of emails agreeing it is probably enough though).

If it’s sold with the dishwasher then you need to replace it.

just get a cheaper one and I don’t know how something that’s only 6 years old is now no longer available to repair.

We moved house twice to find a broken dishwasher in each.

I was pissed off but just bought a new one both times.

You should get it fixed but you can probably get away with just leaving it, it never occurred to me to try to claim back costs from our vendors either time.

On the other hand, our fridge freezer broke 4 days before we were due to move and we replaced it before we moved.