houre buying problem

[EllyD]

I visited the house I am buying to measure up a few things (with the vendor`s permission) and discovered the newly laid laminate floor was in a terrible state - lifting and buckling. Also although the family have lived there for several years they have never had the boiler serviced or any of the gas appliances Corgi checked. Can I insist on work being done on those things before I complete? - and documented evidence of this?

[bednobs]

how far along ae you? Did you have a survey done? (i would have thought a survey would have brought up these problems)
When someone puts their house up for sale they are inviting you to make them and offer, they are not garunteeing to sell it to you, nor to do any works first.. You can certainly ask them to do remedial work, but to be honest they will probably tell you where to go!

[WendyS]

I assume you have not exchanged contracts yet? If you have, you will be committed to go ahead regardless.
If you haven't had a survey done, I would not proceed any further until you have as it sounds as if there could be lots of other issues which could crawl out of the woodwork and cost you a lot of money.
Yes, you can insist on these things being done. Whether they will conform or not may depend on how desperate they are to sell, or whether they think another buyer will come along quickly if you decide to pull out. If they won't have them done, offer a lower price but please don't go ahead without a proper survey. You could be asking for trouble, especially if it's an older property.

[EllyD]

The survey was done just after the floor was laid in the dry hot weather and I think the warm very damp weather we have had since might have been responsible for the laminate lifting -ie, not enough room left for any expansion. I am about a fortnight away from completion and the vendor is very anxious to move as quickly as poss. The floor prob would never have come to light had I not visited when I did. Clearly it is a poor laying job. also, when the weather was so good in the summer, the boiler would not have been on for heating, - it only showed up on the questionaire the vendor returmed. I don`t want to be going in to boiler trouble . Actually I can`t imagine anyone not having an annual check on their gas for safety if nothing else.

[airyfairy]

Hi

Unless they are charging you extra for the floor, you have no right to demand anything or ask them to fix it.

We found this out when we were buying our last house and we had an issue with flooring. In the end the vendor lifted the wooden floor, and we had no redress cos he wasnt charging us extra for it in the first place.

[almcd007]

The boiler issue should have been brought up before you made your offer when I buy property I always ask when it was fitted, serviced and any repairs to it. A service shouldn't cost you much, but if you suspect a problem - and just because it hasn't been serviced for three years, doesn't necessarily mean there is definitely a problem, many boilers work fine for years, then you should have it done on the day of completion by a corgi reg'd gas fitter. If the seller says that the heating system is working fine and on the day of completion it isn't you may have some redress through your solicitors.

A good idea is to contact them - ask them if it's possible to pop round sometimes to check the heating and ask them to put it on and keep it on half an hour before you are due to go - Check all the radiators are working - top to bottom - room to room and also listen to the boiler and make sure it's turning on and off - it's not a ast iron way of finding out whether all's well but a start !

[Hammer]

Generally speaking, only items that are nailed, screwed or bolted down are included in the price, unless you have specifically agreed otherwise. Floor coverings are not permanent fixtures, and they are within their rights to remove them completely before you complete the purchase. So they are not obliged to do anything about the problem.

Presumably, the central heating was described as 'untested' (they usually are). So it's your responsibilty to make sure you are happy with it before you exchange contracts. There is no legal requirement to have these things tested in your own home, so again they don't have to do anything.

Welcome to the wondeful world of home ownership!!