Buyers coming around with builder 'to check utilities '

[Yellowmelon1988xx]

Currently selling our house, nearly at the end of the process ( we hope )

Just had the EA asking if they can come around eith buyers and s builder/ trades man as they been advised by their solicitor to do so

Is this normal practice? When we last told our house it was during lockdowm so this didn't happen

All the searches etc have come back

Slightly worried now

OP I have had this happen twice.

Once when I was selling a probate property for a relative - I said no (I actually couldn't get across on the day to let them in and the EA was busy so couldn't take them). This was a few days before completion. They completed anyway and no problems.

Second time was my own house and they pulled out after basically saying there was too much work to be done installing a new heating system (?!) It's a Victorian property which they clearly knew from the first two viewings but used it as an excuse to pull out. And yes they'd paid all fees and surveys up to that point.

@PomPomSugar

Thank you for your reply, I'm definitely not refusing access, was more confused about the 'builder checking utilities '

We've been to the house we are buying just to measure etc, which I'm perfectly happy with buyers doing, just more concerned by the wording from our EA with regards to them coming around

I've moved a few times and always had the request to have boiler serviced and electrics tested within 12 months of completion date. Every new house I always vow to be organised and get both checked annually then totally forget. Have never heard of bringing a builder round to "check the utilities" before!

I'd query what 'builder checking utilities' actually - it all sounds very vague. If they are worried about the electrics, for example, it needs to be a qualified person not a random builder.

I'd do a boiler service. The survey should have been done by them though.

They should have made these type of enquiries earlier.
We sold recently and had some oddly timed additional enquiries the week before exchange (including about the boiler). From what our solicitor said, it appeared to be the buyer's solicitor generating unnecessary work - but she was not an FTB so it all fizzled out and the sale completed. So you may be okay.

I used to be a conveyancer. There’s no legal obligation to have the electrics tested or the boiler serviced before the buyers complete. Just say everything is in good working order as far as you are aware and you are not willing to get the electrics tested or boiler serviced prior to completion unless the buyer wants to arrange and pay for it themselves.

@Marinel thank you for replying, even our EA , my solicitor and the buyers have questions why it's taken so long to raise enquiries! Everyone seems to be confused why they've taken so long

We did this when buying our current house. We had builder and electrician come round prior to completion. It wasn’t to knock off the price but it was in order to decide exactly how much to borrow as we were adding the renovation costs to our mortgage and we wanted to make sure we borrowed enough to cover everything.

If they are planning on new kitchen or new bathrooms then the builder will need to check the utilities to check what is possible and price the job accordingly. Check the utilities could just mean location of water pipes, capacity and position of boiler and tank, position and capacity of existing electric board etc

We did this when we bought our flat. The survey raised a few red flags regarding the electrics, and we then asked for the sellers to provide a EHIC (electrics certificate) to prove the electrics were safe. They weren't. They paid for an electrician to do the checks, and gave us a small discount on the price in order to fix the issues. There were a shocking (pun intended) amount. Sockets incorrectly wired, random wires cut, dishwasher installed unsafely, no "earth" wires for a couple of lights etc.

If you do that you're paying for info they can then use to lower the price.

The electrical testing costs about £100.
A gas check/service costs between 50-90 depending on the company.

This is completely legal and something we did before buying our house.
It also meant we discovered a gas leak the vendors weren't aware of.
If you don't allow it it would make me suspect you have something to hide.

Get your boiler serviced - you should be doing that annually, and you've said it's overdue. Even if you lost these particular buyers you'd need it for the next one, and if you are living in a house with a gas boiler, it should be serviced.

Electrical check - up to them, but they pay for it. They are investing a huge amount of money and it's only fair that they reassure themselves that there are no hidden nasties. Think of it as an extension to the survey.

It's more likely that they want to renovate, and they just want to start planning with a builder.

Or you just say no to everything, and run the risk that they get cold feet/think you are hiding something/get scared off.....and go elsewhere.

I agree they are totally reasonable to ask this - our buyers asked for an electrical check.. we got one done just to placate them and found out the house had no earth - so needed to get this done.
It kept our sale on track so was money well spent

Last time I sold we were asked to provide the boiler and electrical certificates. We hadn't had a boiler service so paid for one. We did have electrical checks as we'd previously extended. I'd just sort it.

A builder doesn't do gas and electrical tests. What have they asked for and why do they want a builder involved. No one needs to be there for gas and electrics apart from safety chevk engineers whuch you can arrange. There's no legal obligation to get the electrics checked but a good idea, maybe they are planning renovations and need to know the electrics will be sufficient but that's not your concern. I'd ask for a detailed list if what they are asking.

It's really hard to know if it is a deliberate delaying tactic, or completely innocent. We were led by our solicitor who relayed brief answers (including no they don't have that paperwork) and things creaked onwards to exchange.

When we were buying our current house we did send our roofer round, because it was obvious it needed a new roof and we wanted his opinion on how urgent/how much, but it was not a last minute thing.

We sold our house recently and we had to pay for a boiler check as ours last one was over a year old (oil). We had to have our electrics checked and a consumer unit upgrade (£600) plus we had to have attic treated for woodworm at £250. There was no woodworm but they were insistant we get the get it done.

What "completely innocent" motivation could they have ?

I mean if they aren't going to act on the results, why have the reports done ?

@GasPanic They're FTBs, they have no experience of property transactions and could be acting in good faith, they may want reassurance and still intend to go ahead. As I mentioned, our buyers had a few odd last minute queries but once satisfied the sale completed at the agreed price. Maybe the OP's buyers are getting cold feet, maybe want to reduce the price, maybe they are just clueless.

It’s probably her Dad, who wants to ‘give it thé once over’.

Get your boiler serviced for your own benefit, now is a good time before everyone turns them ion in September and find they’re not working!

My DD is a ftb of a Victorian property, she has paid for a level 3 survey and the surveyor suggested boiler and electrical checks, the seller gave her the last boiler service certificate and she is paying for electrical checks.

There were suggestions of a leaky roof so a roofer is going to advise on that.

It is a huge and scary investment and she doesn’t want to pull out or drive down the price but needs to know,not go in blindfolded.

It's up to them to make their own enquiries before purchase to make sure they're happy to proceed and there's nothing likely to crop up they weren't expecting or would stop them doing something with the property in the future.

Obviously you can refuse, but as a buyer (even if the process hadn't been straight forward partly due to my own actions) I'd feel a bit restless about not having something checked that I wanted.If they want proof boiler has been serviced, quite reasonable as it's a safety thing for carbon monoxide and to clear out any wastes, check pressure and operating ok, get your engineer out in next 48 hours to service. If they want an electrical check, I'd say it's normal to that they get that done themselves - even fairly new electrics can have problems .

I think I'd agree, but say you want it done straight away with a view to exchange by this time next week.

I can’t believe your buyers got you to pay for a new consumer unit! We had an electrical survey done on our house while buying and then got a new unit after we moved in.

Buyers pay for electrical reports, not sellers.
It's reasonable for them to want to know where the utilities come in, though. We had to move ours because they came in a stupid place, cost quite a lot, and would have cost even more had the gas main people not decided the place/way it came in was so unsafe they'd do it for free- otherwise it would have cost us over 1K to move it where it needed to go.