A recent article published in The Sun certainly gave us food forthought. It said research had been carried out which found a quarter ofhomeowners who had bought a property over the past decade had done so basedpurely on the home’s appearance – only to soon afterwards discover issues withits structure, plumbing or electrics.
The newspaper cited a study by OnePoll that discovered 16% ofrespondents claimed the colour of a property’s front door could deter themcompletely when looking for a new home. Meanwhile, 18% admitted they wouldn’tbuy a given property if the living room couldn’t accommodate a sufficientlylarge TV.
Signs that homebuyers don’t always prioritise well
Most alarmingly for our Wandsworth, Harrow and Bermondsey plumbers here at PGSPlumbers, only about a fifth of those purchasing their most recent hometook into account the condition and service history of the boiler.
It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that almost one in fourrespondents encountered problems with their boiler during their first 12 monthsin their new home, with 17% having to unexpectedly pay for a new boiler.
Other findings of the survey of 2,000 homeowners included that atenth of participants realised none of their furnishings were suitable whenthey moved in, while the same proportion of homebuyers discovered that thebuilt-in appliances didn’t work.
Thankfully, however, the research also showed signs of changingattitudes towards some of the things that truly matter when deciding on a newhome.
Four in 10 respondents, for example, admitted that they shouldhave better scrutinised their current property’s energy efficiency beforecommitting to a purchase. However, homeowners are now nearly three times aslikely to consider a home’s energy efficiency as “very important” compared to10 years ago, and just 3% now say it still isn’t important to them.
Sustainability is certainly much more of a watchword amonghomebuyers than it once was, the OnePoll figures revealing that they were nowtwice as likely to regard a property’s sustainability as “very important” thanwas the case a decade earlier. Overall, 86% of the study participants agreedthat houses should be as energy-efficient as possible.
We can help you to better energy efficiency and reliability – andless stress!
Whatever way any given problems with your home’s boiler, heatingsystem or plumbing may have arisen, or even if you don’t have any currentobvious issues in your property, we can provide installation, servicing andrepair services to give you peace of mind.
Our Tooting, Islington and Bermondsey plumbers here at PGSPlumbers provide wide-ranging heating, gas and plumbing services acrossLondon and South East England, while operating a highly competitive andtransparent pricing model. When you give our team a call, on 0203370 0066, we’ll give you free advice and quotes in relation to any of ourareas of specialism.
