Seller won't let me check Aircon

[Dingdong99]

We're buying a house that has air con which is pretty old as I can see it on the particulars from the previous owners

The seller said that it works fine but hasn't had it serviced for a while and cannot send any kind of service report. Perhaps they've never had it serviced

I've asked to send my engineer over to service it but they won't allow it. So I've asked that they organise a service and send me the paperwork. I think they will say no to this as well

They've been cagey about some other things as well but this does worry me

Is this a reasonable request? I feel we have been more accommodating with our buyers as we're also selling our house

No. Part of the farce of house buying in England is that nothing is legally binding.

In Scotland you are given 5 days to report things not working and I think the former owners are legally obliged to fix them.

Fwiw I'm in the process of buying a £700k house and we aren't sending round engineers to check everything. We've turned the taps on and had a good look around.

As a pp said just assume it doesn’t work and reduce your offer by the amount it will cost to replace. The fact they won’t answer questions about it via the solicitor tells you everything you need to know!

Our house is on the market and I’m not going to allow engineers to look at various things however I know everything works, have service reports and would provide them.

Well that sounds simple so I’d be very suspicious why they haven’t sorted it.

When I was a FTB we got the keys and the seller told us they’d drained the central heating for the summer (originally viewed in Jan and the house was appropriately warm).

Luckily we didn’t try and fill it immediately because about a week later I discovered a hole rusted through the bedroom radiator which had been patched with white paper and sellotape.

I would be irritated about having people coming in to do boiler checks and central heating checks, but not irritated enough to say no. Since your surveyor noted an issue with the heating, it seems totally fair to me that you'd want to establish whether that heating actually works - equally the air conditioning.

It would feel very suspect to me that they keep refusing to prove these systems work. I'm on the side of say they either prove the systems work, or you reduce your offer based on an assumption that they don't work. You can't be expected to just go on the strength of them saying they work.

In my opinion you should have satisfied yourself before you made an offer.

They will have spent money now, most probably, on whatever they are buying next (at least solicitors fees for surveys and so on). You shouldn't be altering your offer now, and putting them in an unfair position.

You offered on the property as it is. I assume you had opportunities to view it and ask about things that were important to you before you offered.

It cannot be pristine if you have already admitted things such as the aircon are old.

The only way you will get a guarantee of everything being pristine and in full guaranteed working order is to buy new.

Expensive does not mean everything inside it is up to brand new working standards.

I think you are pushing too hard. The boiler has been serviced, the vendors have told you the aircon is old. You can have as many engineers in as you want, but the day after they leave, or anytime up until you complete anything can break.

Is it a gas boiler? Shouldn't that be serviced annually?

My heating in my previous place was electric and they didn't do services or reports as standard, only fixed it when not working.

So what I said to the buyer was that they were absolutely welcome to test the heating or send any qualified engineer themselves, with me present, but they would have to take that cost on.

In the end, they just came round to switch the heating and water on and made sure it was all okay. With regards to air-conditioning, I can imagine it's the same as electric heating - that there's no reason that they would've had it serviced?

But I do think they need to prove to you that it works i.e. let you switch it on.

For context, one request I did turn down, they wanted an electrical safety certificate as a whole, like if I had been a landlord.

I pointed out that the electrics were 20 years old and any upgrades recommended were not going to change my price. Unsurprisingly, then they said not to worry. They were really just fishing for someone to say "needs redoing" and then they'd offer a lower price.

I wouldn’t be letting you send round ‘engineers ‘ to look at / check things - what happens if your workmen break something . If you think they are dishonest which is what it sounds like either reduce your offer or pullout .

I wouldn't care if you wanted to send someone out at your own cost to check boiler etc.

Half of a surveyors report is covering their arse, telling you to get a qualified person to check!

My first house, surveyor noticed potential damp. We said we wanted to get a professional out to check. Vendors started kicking off and saying they'd relist, we were delaying etc etc. Naive ftbs that we were, we agreed to exchange. BIG mistake!!! Moved in during summer and all the issues became really noticeable by winter.

I would never proceed with a house purchase now without checking anything I was unsure about. Buyer beware - and yes I am now!!

Agree, it would be even more inconvenient for them, it anything!

I would operate under the assumption that the air con and central heating both need repairs.

It's not unreasonable to expect the boiler to be working and the air con, which I'm assuming has been factored in to the price of the house

Well that's very suspicious imo. They aren't worried about the inconvenience of having more people over. They just don't want it done until you are in a place where you can't pull out or lower your offer. As others have said I'd either pull out or lower offer to take into account that you assume none of these things are working (if you are happy to have them fixed).

Low boiler pressure could mean a water leak somewhere so not necessarily a minor issue or just something you would top up to resolve.
It's suspicious to me that they wouldn't allow you to do your own checks, I would insist on it.
If they won't budge then I'd assume something is wrong, they are also probably unlikely to negotiate on price by the sounds of it and only you can know if you're happy with that.
An after exchange inspection is completely pointless as you know.

I think they are sick of all your anxieties & your checks do sound a bit extreme tbh.

Bit harsh!!! Would you be alright forking out for a brand new air con system and boiler as soon as you moved in then?

You don't own the place so no they don't have to let you, buy or not

Damn I typed a long message and lost it! I didn’t mean to come across as harsh as it may have sounded.

Short version: no I would be disappointed if they were both broken. But I wouldn’t be checking them before moving in. Because there are so many things in a house that potentially could be broken, you have to take a lot on trust.

It sounds to me like OP is getting a bit too fixated on all the things that could potentially be faulty ( but probably aren’t) & losing sight of the bigger picture which is that this is the house they want to buy. Most sellers would find it intrusive if their buyers started demanding more & more checks on things the seller knows to be functioning. For example, we have air conditioning in one room and I know it works but I don’t get it serviced every year & don’t have a certificate to prove it works 🤷🏼‍♀️

Fair enough. But if you are already on a tight budget these things are quite important.

You tend to post as someone who has owned property for many years and can quite easily afford repairs, and perhaps forget it’s really hard £££ for homebuyers these days.

I wouldn’t be buying a (Victorian) terrace unless I had to! Well, it’s lovely and on a very quiet street, but what I actually wanted was a big detached house in the countryside. We just didn’t have the money for reno. We would be stuck in this bloody rental for another 3 years to be able to afford that.

I think OPs owners probably think OP is about to knock a massive amount off their offer. Onward purchases are still expensive so most folk are boxed in to tight financial corners.

Houses weren't as expensive then. I think it's reasonable to want servicing certificates or some kind of proof, these sellers sound like they are hiding something.

I’d be concerned about a zero pressure boiler. It’s meant to be a sealed system - surely it shouldn’t drop that much. Mine only gets topped up when it’s serviced and that’s only because the engineer fiddling with it vents some of the water.

It’s mainly a different attitude to risk. I haven’t always been someone who has owned property for many years, I was a FTB once. And I didn’t get checks done on everything then either.

If I buy a property I don’t expect to be able to minimise all risk even down to the air conditioning working effectively (when a house without any air conditioning at all would presumably cost the same anyway as I doubt it adds value).

Not saying my approach is necessarily the best either but I was trying to suggest to OP how her sellers may be feeling. A bit too bluntly, apparently.