Buying a house (and renting)

How old is the boiler Moggy? Has it been serviced recently?

Dual wrote:How old is the boiler Moggy? Has it been serviced recently?

I’ve been living here for about 9 years and it’s never been serviced by me. I have no idea how old it actually is or when it was last serviced.

Moggy wrote:

Dual wrote:How old is the boiler Moggy? Has it been serviced recently?

I’ve been living here for about 9 years and it’s never been serviced by me. I have no idea how old it actually is or when it was last serviced.

Just bad timing then. You would have had to replace it anyway to sell your flat because any buyer would want to see an up to date gas safe certificate.

Moggy wrote:

Clarkman wrote:My boiler + installation was over 3 grand. Top floor flat with an external flue meant that I had to pay a grand for scaffolding to go up the outside of the building. Was up and down in all of 2 hours

The strawberry floater will probably only last a decade due to London hard water.

That’s my worry, if the flue needs replacing then it is going to be massively expensive due to how the piping is set up. The flue comes out of the top of the boiler, curves out at a right angle, before going up into the ceiling. Where it comes out on the roof is nowhere near the boiler, so it’d be a massive pain and involve loads of work to replace.

With all my housing problems, I think it might be easier and cheaper to just get repossessed and go and live on the street.

It honestly never ends. Once the boiler was in we needed to find another couple hundred quid to re-tile/decorate the patched up area. And now, whilst the boiler works absolutely fine, the pressure drops to 0 pretty regularly so I have to manually top it up.

Can't wait for summer when I can leave the bastard thing off

EDIT: though beware of any dodgy person who will fit a boiler without servicing the flue. I think they're legally obliged and faulty flues are responsible for most cases of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Clarkman wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Clarkman wrote:My boiler + installation was over 3 grand. Top floor flat with an external flue meant that I had to pay a grand for scaffolding to go up the outside of the building. Was up and down in all of 2 hours

The strawberry floater will probably only last a decade due to London hard water.

That’s my worry, if the flue needs replacing then it is going to be massively expensive due to how the piping is set up. The flue comes out of the top of the boiler, curves out at a right angle, before going up into the ceiling. Where it comes out on the roof is nowhere near the boiler, so it’d be a massive pain and involve loads of work to replace.

With all my housing problems, I think it might be easier and cheaper to just get repossessed and go and live on the street.

It honestly never ends. Once the boiler was in we needed to find another couple hundred quid to re-tile/decorate the patched up area. And now, whilst the boiler works absolutely fine, the pressure drops to 0 pretty regularly so I have to manually top it up.

Can't wait for summer when I can leave the bastard thing off

EDIT: though beware of any dodgy person who will fit a boiler without servicing the flue. I think they're legally obliged and faulty flues are responsible for most cases of carbon monoxide poisoning.

I assumed I am having to manually top up the pressure because the boiler is old and knackered. I am not going to be impressed if I have to keep doing it after spending £1000s.

Carbon monoxide might explain why I am always so bastard tired. If it is leaking carbon monoxide then I might start sleeping in the bathroom, that would solve a lot of my problems…..

Cheers for the advice. That Boxt website did ask questions about the flue when I was getting a quote and so I hope that means they would look at it. I can only imagine how much it will cost if they have to replace the flue though, it’d be a nightmare job.

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:How much is the flue dripping? Could it just be condensation? Also what is the pressure gauge showing - if the boiler pressure is not right then that might explain excess water?

£1800 seems like a lot for a boiler, we had to put a new one in our old place just before we moved and it was about half of that for the boiler itself. Why the strawberry float couldn't it have just held out for a few weeks longer so it was the new owners problem!? Adult life does indeed suck!

The pressure on the boiler has been strawberry floated for a couple of years. It slowly drops in pressure and I then have to top it up every couple of weeks.

The drips are small but regular. I have put a cloth underneath to catch them, but I am thinking I need to get it actually fixed rather than keep ignoring it.

£1800 for a boiler is a lot? I guess I will shop around then and see if I can get it cheaper.

Dunno if you have tired it or not but we have British Gas Homecare who are awesome for repairs and things and you dont pay parts and labour.

Might be worth signing up for that and seeing they can sort it, if they can get the bits they will be able to repair the existing without needing a new one.

Our old boiler was 27 when we finally has it replaced as it was strawberry floating innefficient butbthey kept it chugging the whole time.

Errkal wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:How much is the flue dripping? Could it just be condensation? Also what is the pressure gauge showing - if the boiler pressure is not right then that might explain excess water?

£1800 seems like a lot for a boiler, we had to put a new one in our old place just before we moved and it was about half of that for the boiler itself. Why the strawberry float couldn't it have just held out for a few weeks longer so it was the new owners problem!? Adult life does indeed suck!

The pressure on the boiler has been strawberry floated for a couple of years. It slowly drops in pressure and I then have to top it up every couple of weeks.

The drips are small but regular. I have put a cloth underneath to catch them, but I am thinking I need to get it actually fixed rather than keep ignoring it.

£1800 for a boiler is a lot? I guess I will shop around then and see if I can get it cheaper.

Dunno if you have tired it or not but we have British Gas Homecare who are awesome for repairs and things and you dont pay parts and labour.

Might be worth signing up for that and seeing they can sort it, if they can get the bits they will be able to repair the existing without needing a new one.

Our old boiler was 27 when we finally has it replaced as it was strawberry floating innefficient butbthey kept it chugging the whole time.

You can only get it if your boiler working properly though.

Lex-Man wrote:

Errkal wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:How much is the flue dripping? Could it just be condensation? Also what is the pressure gauge showing - if the boiler pressure is not right then that might explain excess water?

£1800 seems like a lot for a boiler, we had to put a new one in our old place just before we moved and it was about half of that for the boiler itself. Why the strawberry float couldn't it have just held out for a few weeks longer so it was the new owners problem!? Adult life does indeed suck!

The pressure on the boiler has been strawberry floated for a couple of years. It slowly drops in pressure and I then have to top it up every couple of weeks.

The drips are small but regular. I have put a cloth underneath to catch them, but I am thinking I need to get it actually fixed rather than keep ignoring it.

£1800 for a boiler is a lot? I guess I will shop around then and see if I can get it cheaper.

Dunno if you have tired it or not but we have British Gas Homecare who are awesome for repairs and things and you dont pay parts and labour.

Might be worth signing up for that and seeing they can sort it, if they can get the bits they will be able to repair the existing without needing a new one.

Our old boiler was 27 when we finally has it replaced as it was strawberry floating innefficient butbthey kept it chugging the whole time.

You can only get it if your boiler working properly though.

How would they know? If I signed up and then called them out a few weeks later?

Moggy wrote:

Lex-Man wrote:

Errkal wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:How much is the flue dripping? Could it just be condensation? Also what is the pressure gauge showing - if the boiler pressure is not right then that might explain excess water?

£1800 seems like a lot for a boiler, we had to put a new one in our old place just before we moved and it was about half of that for the boiler itself. Why the strawberry float couldn't it have just held out for a few weeks longer so it was the new owners problem!? Adult life does indeed suck!

The pressure on the boiler has been strawberry floated for a couple of years. It slowly drops in pressure and I then have to top it up every couple of weeks.

The drips are small but regular. I have put a cloth underneath to catch them, but I am thinking I need to get it actually fixed rather than keep ignoring it.

£1800 for a boiler is a lot? I guess I will shop around then and see if I can get it cheaper.

Dunno if you have tired it or not but we have British Gas Homecare who are awesome for repairs and things and you dont pay parts and labour.

Might be worth signing up for that and seeing they can sort it, if they can get the bits they will be able to repair the existing without needing a new one.

Our old boiler was 27 when we finally has it replaced as it was strawberry floating innefficient butbthey kept it chugging the whole time.

You can only get it if your boiler working properly though.

How would they know? If I signed up and then called them out a few weeks later?

I think they check the boiler as part of the sign up process.

EDIT: my girlfriend signed up recently and they made her pay to have it repaired before they would cover it although it almost immediately broke again so she got all that work done for free.

Lex-Man wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Lex-Man wrote:

Errkal wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Jenuall wrote:How much is the flue dripping? Could it just be condensation? Also what is the pressure gauge showing - if the boiler pressure is not right then that might explain excess water?

£1800 seems like a lot for a boiler, we had to put a new one in our old place just before we moved and it was about half of that for the boiler itself. Why the strawberry float couldn't it have just held out for a few weeks longer so it was the new owners problem!? Adult life does indeed suck!

The pressure on the boiler has been strawberry floated for a couple of years. It slowly drops in pressure and I then have to top it up every couple of weeks.

The drips are small but regular. I have put a cloth underneath to catch them, but I am thinking I need to get it actually fixed rather than keep ignoring it.

£1800 for a boiler is a lot? I guess I will shop around then and see if I can get it cheaper.

Dunno if you have tired it or not but we have British Gas Homecare who are awesome for repairs and things and you dont pay parts and labour.

Might be worth signing up for that and seeing they can sort it, if they can get the bits they will be able to repair the existing without needing a new one.

Our old boiler was 27 when we finally has it replaced as it was strawberry floating innefficient butbthey kept it chugging the whole time.

You can only get it if your boiler working properly though.

How would they know? If I signed up and then called them out a few weeks later?

I think they check the boiler as part of the sign up process.

EDIT: my girlfriend signed up recently and they made her pay to have it repaired before they would cover it although it almost immediately broke again so she got all that work done for free.

I guess it might still be a cheaper way of getting the problem fixed, rather than buying an entire new boiler.

Although with my luck at the moment, I will end up paying for a strawberry float load of repairs, homecare and then still have to buy another strawberry floating boiler.

Homecare is pretty good, think it's about £15 per month and then a £60 excess fee but used it a few times so think it's worth it. Seemed to remember they did a pretty thorough check of it at the start and then a yearly service since. Definitely worth giving it a go. Maybe you can hide the current issue?

He's not going to be able to hide an issue with a 10+ year old boiler with no service history from a gas engineer.

Accuse the engineer of breaking it when he does the service.

I’m a sneaky conniving bastard, but I doubt I can fool an engineer.

I guess trying a service/repair could be cheaper than a replacement and so I might try that route.

Cheers guys.

Albear wrote:Homecare is pretty good, think it's about £15 per month and then a £60 excess fee but used it a few times so think it's worth it. Seemed to remember they did a pretty thorough check of it at the start and then a yearly service since. Definitely worth giving it a go. Maybe you can hide the current issue?

I lay slightly more a month to have no excess. Didnt want a situation where I have an issue but dont have the cash available for the excess.

I received a reply from the Property Ombudsman.

They can’t comment on an issue like this as it needs a legal interpretation, the landlords breaking an agreement isn’t in their remit. They suggest going to court or mediation. Court could cost me £10k or more, mediation isn’t legally binding. Great strawberry floating choice I have there.

strawberry floating useless bastard of a solicitor who advised me to take this route. £180 to give me terrible advice. The “debt” has gone from £2.7k (their offer that broke the full and final settlement agreement) to £6.8k on their latest invoice (the full “debt”) plus £1.1k interest.

I’m at my wits strawberry floating end now. There appears to be nothing I can do other than bending over and letting them strawberry float me.

burn the place down

Kezzer wrote:burn the place down

It’s getting close to the stage where I’ll be looking for a hitman.

Sadly paying is probably the better option going to court will cost more than they want in the first place. I'd ring and see if they'd agree to drop the whole thing for the initial price, even though it sucks.

But they've already agreed to drop it in the past, no negotiations can now be taken in good faith so it isn't worth pursuing something that will likely bite you in the ass.