When you’re buying or selling a property, there’s a lot of paperwork. In all those documents, should you really be paying attention to the boiler? What should you be looking for?
Let’s have a look.
Which documents do you need?
When you’re selling a property, you need evidence of when the boiler was installed and that it has been serviced regularly.
The paperwork you need is a boiler installation certificate, which is also called a Building Regulation Completion Certificate. This certifies that the boiler was installed safely in the first place.
Your Gas Safety Certificate will provide evidence that the boiler has been serviced.
Are boiler documents important?
Yes, the boiler documents are very important, to confirm that your appliance is safe.
They will also give you information about how old the boiler is, and whether there are any longstanding issues with it.
Most buyers will insist on seeing the boiler documents as part of the sale.
However, if you can’t locate them, all is not lost. You can order a replacement certificate from the Gas Safe Register’s website for a small fee (which is £6 at the moment).
The cost of old boilers
As the buyer, you’ll want information about the age of the boiler. Boilers which are over 15 years old are probably coming to the end of their life. They’ll be more inefficient than newer models, which will push up the prices of your energy bills.
You’ll also have to bear in mind the cost of a new boiler, if the current boiler is on its last legs. When you’re buying a property with an older boiler, you should budget for a replacement in the next 2-3 years.
Mitigating the risk
If the sellers can’t locate the documents that give you sufficient peace of mind, you could ask them to have the boiler tested by a Gas Safe engineer. That way, the seller bears the cost of this, and you have some assurance that the appliance is safe, although we always recommend to our buyer clients to have their own independent checks carried out, for peace of mind, as anything the seller provides, whilst helpful, is always in good faith and cannot always be legally relied on.
You may also have heard people taking about indemnity insurance for lack of paperwork. This is all well and good but the policy covers enforcement by the Council only, not the condition of the installation or whether or not it is safe to use, so always get it inspected by a duly qualified gas safe engineer before you commit to an exchange.
Key takeaways
Conveyancers will always ask to see documents which prove that the boiler was installed safely, and that it has been serviced regularly.
But if you can’t locate these documents, you have some options. You can get replacement documents, and you can carry out a service before the sale completes (or the buyers could, and are also recommended to, get the boiler inspected themselves prior to exchange).
Buyers will also be interested in the age and condition of the boiler, so that they can budget for a replacement boiler in the future. But once the price is agreed, it’s unlikely that the sellers will agree to reduce the price simply because the boiler is old. You should take that into consideration when you’re making your offer on the house.