Your new house came with warranties — here's how to claim them

You close on a house. You get the keys, a folder full of paperwork, and a distinct feeling that you’ve forgotten something. You probably have — and one of the most expensive things to forget is the warranties you just inherited.

What actually transfers when you buy a home

When the previous owner installed a new HVAC system, water heater, furnace, roof, or major appliance, the manufacturer almost certainly issued a warranty with it. Many of these warranties transfer to a new owner when the house is sold — sometimes automatically, sometimes only if you fill out a form within a specific window (often 30 to 90 days after closing).

The most common transferrable warranties on a new-to-you home:

HVAC (furnace, AC, heat pump) — often 5 to 10 years on parts, sometimes lifetime on heat exchanger
Water heater — typically 6 to 12 years
Roof — 20 to 50 years, sometimes with a one-time transfer allowed
Windows — often 20 years or lifetime, limited transfer
Major appliances — varies, usually 1 to 10 years
Solar panels — 20 to 25 years on production, separately on inverters

Why nobody tells you this: your real estate agent is focused on closing. The seller is focused on leaving. The inspector flags problems, not paperwork. The warranty-transfer window is your problem, and by the time you realize, it may have closed.

Step 1: Find the paperwork

Two places to look, in this order:

The folder the seller left. Sellers often leave manuals and receipts in a kitchen drawer or on a basement shelf. If they didn’t, ask your agent to ask — usually they’ll say yes.
The disclosure documents from your closing. These often list ages and brands of major systems. You want make, model, serial number, and install date for each item.

If all else fails: open the basement/garage/attic and find the HVAC unit, water heater, etc. Take photos of the data plate on each one. You’ll need the model and serial number to look up warranty status online.

Step 2: Check each warranty’s transfer rules

Every manufacturer handles this differently. Some auto-transfer (the warranty runs with the product regardless of owner). Others require a formal transfer request in writing, often with a fee ($30 to $100), often within a fixed window after closing.

Go to the manufacturer’s website and search “[brand] warranty transfer.” You’re looking for:

Is the warranty transferrable at all? Some are original-owner only.
What’s the window? Common: 30, 60, or 90 days from date of purchase (the new owner’s purchase, i.e. closing).
Is there a fee?
What do they need? Usually: model, serial, install date, your closing date, proof of purchase.

Do this in the first two weeks after closing. Don’t assume you’ll have time later. You won’t.

Step 3: Register everything in your name

For items that auto-transfer, just register the product under your name and address. This matters because when something breaks, the manufacturer will look up the serial number — and if it’s still registered to the previous owner, you’ll spend thirty minutes on the phone proving you own the house.

A real example

When we bought our first home, the HVAC was three years old — a 10-year parts warranty from Carrier, with a 90-day transfer window. We missed it. Four years later the blower motor went. $680 part, plus labor. Under warranty: $0 for the part.

That one miss covered roughly ten thousand times the cost of filling out the transfer form.

The short list for closing week

Ask the seller for every manual, receipt, and warranty card they have.
Write down make, model, serial, and install date for: HVAC, water heater, roof (if recent), windows (if recent), major appliances, solar.
For each: Google “[brand] warranty transfer” and do whatever they say within the window.
Register everything under your name.
Put the warranty expiration dates in a calendar or note you’ll actually see in five years.

None of this is glamorous. All of it can save you four figures when something inevitably breaks. Welcome to homeownership.