Boiler in new flat covered by sale of goods act?

bcapron

My wife and I moved into a new flat about 3 1/2 years ago.

Our Ideal ICOS HE24 system boiler has broken down due to the heat exchanger leaking water onto the circuit board which then blew. Plumber has been round and it would cost 600 pounds plus labour for new parts, which is almost the same as it would cost for a new boiler.

For the first 2 years everything in our new flat was covered by the NHBC warranty, however, we are now outside that.

I do not think that 3 1/2 years is a reasonable lifetime for a boiler and therefore I would normally expect either a free repair or replacement from the retailer under the sale of goods act.

However, am I still covered by the sale of goods act if the boiler came as part of a new build, and who do I claim from - presumably the developer?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

scullster

I don't see why not - assuming you bought from the developer, that is who your contract is with.

I'd [STRIKE]threaten them [/STRIKE] write to them on that basis, consumerdirect can provide exemplars for you.

You could try the boiler manufacturer - they could rectify it at little cost and should be embarrassed that this has happened after 3.5y.

On the potential downside though, is it a combi boiler - if so, has the system pressure been maintained appropriately? Has the boiler been regularly serviced?

bcapron

Thanks. It's not a combi boiler, its a system boiler - sealed system.

Unfortunately we haven't had it serviced before, I'm not sure how this affected our rights. We're new home owners and weren't informed that we had to have it serviced regularly.

This doesn't feel like fair wear and tear though.

The main reason I'm asking is because I know that the purchase of property is not subject to the sale of goods act, so are the appliances within the property also not subject to it?

scullster

If it were to go to court, the opposition would look for any evidence to suggest that that hadn't been used or maintained properly as the onus is on you to prove fault. Under the circumstances, bearing in mind how relatively new it is, it would be a nice to have and certainly not to be mentioned when making your case!

Two and a half years is a no brainer in my opinion - in my experience, C/H boilers last 10 - 20 years, I know of instances where boilers have gone beyond the 20y!

Re: SOGA - don't see why not. Bricks and mortar I can understand, they are regulated but built in appliances such as hobs, ovens etc would be covered I'm sure, no reason why not a boiler.

pinkshoes

bcapron wrote: »

Unfortunately we haven't had it serviced before, I'm not sure how this affected our rights.

If you haven't bothered servicing your boiler for 3.5 years, then it's perhaps not suprising that it's developed a problem!

I don't think either the builder or manufacturer will look too kindly on a 3.5 year old boiler that has never been serviced. Ours broke down after 2 years, but as we were up to date with servicing, the manufacturer fixed it free of charge.

You can TRY the SOGA with them, but your lack of servicing (a basic requirement) might be your downfall here.