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Bought house- drive faulty - do I have any rights?

Arabanna
Arabanna Posts: 11 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
In September I purchased a house.
The previous owner did the driveway 4 years ago.
The driveway blocks have now started to spread and some blocks are lifting. A local builder has told me that it is because there was not enough hard core put down to begin with and that it will all need lifting and re-laying at a cost of maybe £10,000!
The previous owner says that he had no guarantee.
The company website says that they guarantee their drives for 5 years.

Do I have any rights to get the company to re-lay the drive as I am not the one who purchased the drive from them in the first place and I have no paper evidence?

I have asked the previous owner to search for the bank statement to identify the exact date and evidence of payment to the company. I have not approached the company yet.
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Comments

  • walwyn1978
    walwyn1978 Posts: 837 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    My guess is that between him not having a guarantee, and the passage of time, and the fact that you're not the person the company did the work for, you may be unsuccessful. Sorry. Worth checking on the company website in the small print whether the guarantee is transferable....
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,412 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    It sounds like you have no contract with the drive laying company - so you have no basis for making any claim against them.

    The person you bought the house from would have had a contract with the drive laying company - so they might be able to make a claim. But I'd be very surprised if they went to that trouble, as there is nothing in it for them.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    edited 12 March 2018 at 6:05PM
    Even if the previous owner did have a guarantee, that's not necessarily transferable to you. The time to check for any guarantees (or the condition of the driveway) was when you bought.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Arabanna wrote: »
    In September I purchased a house.
    The previous owner did the driveway 4 years ago.
    ...
    The previous owner says that he had no guarantee.

    There's your answer, right there.
    You have no direct contract.
    The previous owner had no warranty, transferable or not.
    The company website says that they guarantee their drives for 5 years.
    But that may not have applied four years ago. The previous owner may have negotiated a lower price in return for no warranty.
    Do I have any rights to get the company to re-lay the drive as I am not the one who purchased the drive from them in the first place and I have no paper evidence?
    ...and have been told there is no warranty.

    I think you know the answer, don't you? It's not "yes".

    All you can do is approach them and ask very nicely. But any positive result is a bonus. Even just a discount on their labour.
  • Cheeky_Monkey
    Cheeky_Monkey Posts: 2,072 Forumite
    £10,000 :eek:

    That must be an extremely large driveway considering you already have all the blocks.
  • maisie_cat
    maisie_cat Posts: 2,067 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Academoney Grad First Post
    I have never seen a block driveway that has not dropped in places and separated after a few years. I'm sure it is possible to pull out sections and lay them again but £10k is a joke or as cheeky says, a very large drive
  • Richard_Webster
    Richard_Webster Posts: 7,646 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    What did your surveyor say about the state of the drive?
    RICHARD WEBSTER

    As a retired conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful assuming any properties concerned are in England/Wales but I accept no liability for it.
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    maisie_cat wrote: »
    I have never seen a block driveway that has not dropped in places and separated after a few years. I'm sure it is possible to pull out sections and lay them again but £10k is a joke or as cheeky says, a very large drive

    Well, I/we moved in to a house with a double block driveway in 2001, and we've had no significant movement in ours, so some installers can get them right.....
  • seashore22
    seashore22 Posts: 1,443 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    googler wrote: »
    Well, I/we moved in to a house with a double block driveway in 2001, and we've had no significant movement in ours, so some installers can get them right.....

    I can say the same. The previous owner had the driveway done (no idea when that was) and we've been here 10 years. It is still perfectly solid with no movement.
  • parking_question_chap
    parking_question_chap Posts: 2,694 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    £10,000.....

    Do you live at Heathrow airport?

    :think:
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