Do we have a chance.....

bigstevex

We bought our house about 2 and half years ago and when viewing it we noticed it didn't have central heating but the sellers told us it had a combi boiler and we just needed to add the radiators. Anyway recently we've been looking at central heating so i looked into the exact spec of the boiler to see how many rads etc we could attach to it and found its merely a worcester water heater. We have a document off the sellers though stating what the house will come with i.e. fixtures and fittings, and he has hand written that it has a combi boiler, do we have any hope of getting anything back from this if we went back to our solicitor who dealt with the sale?

Just to note this increases the install cost from ~£2000 for rads etc upto £3500+ for a full system

kinglewis

I think people often get the term water heater mixed up and think it is a combi because it looks like one!!

Sounds like a long shot but good luck!

bigstevex

The thing is though they said it was nearly new (that was verbally though) so surely they new what it was

I'm just after some advice before i pay solicitors fees lol

Hopejack

It can't harm to have a quick convo with your solicitor - shouldn't cost you anything in principle either. If they think it is worth fighting that is where the costs may come in but it may just take one letter or so to sort.

If it were me, I'd contact solicitor and see what they say - if they think it likely you can do something then great. Tbh though if the only way to do anything is through the courts then I think you will find yourself well out of pocket just with fees! It's annoying to think that someone can get away with this - they were living in the property for goodness sake - they should have known.

We have a similar-ish issue. We are renting a house (so at least not bought it!) and when we were shown around (by owner's father who was v elderly), he told us it had a combi boiler - great we thought! Turns out not only is it not a combi but it's at least 20 years old and we don't even have a main thermostat - the rads have TVRs on them but they are rubbish - don't seem to regulate temp at all! Needless to say, it's costing us an absolute fortune to heat the house and we are not happy - we asked the heating engineer who serviced it about it and he said reason we are paying so much is it's old and knackered! We did approach the LL to say it was costing us a fortune to heat etc and they just weren't interested - and tbh we are paying fairly high rent. In future, I'd always make doubly sure about the heating system and ask for a comparable on what they are paying a month etc for heating/rates etc - they may think me barmy but I don't care! I really don't want to get stung again. Hope you get it sorted somehow.

pawpurrs

I very much doubt its going to be worth paying soliceter costs, to be honest, although you are in the right, you could shell out a load of cash, and never get anything back, personally I wouldnt bother, but its up to you. You could allways put a moneyclaim online in, thats pretty negliable and see where that gets you. It prob was an innocent mistake.

poppysarah

2.5 yrs without central heating! Wow.

Shop around for quotes.

Hopejack

I'm sorry but I don't think it is an innocent mistake. Any seller must realise that what they list is legally binding. The law doesn't seem to protect the buyer enough for things they are 'told or not told' when buying property imo :mad:

Surely they must have known! You know if you have a combi boiler or water heater in your house if you live there!!:rolleyes:

pawpurrs

Well you and I might know the difference, but some people really dont.

bigstevex

poppysarah wrote: »

2.5 yrs without central heating! Wow.

Shop around for quotes.

Downstairs is all open plan into dining room with good gas fire, kitchens warm when your cooking and the upstairs has a baxi gas heater on the landing, only bonus is that its well insulated! We even have air con for summer as its waaay to hot lol!

To be honest we could still gladly live without CH but its just the convenience and the fact we don't want to do much to the house and then decide we want it as it is no doubt going to make a royal mess having it fitted.


Back to the main issue though, I still have the sellers phone number/address etc, do you think i should send them a letter?

Fire_Fox

What was the system called on your survey report?

poppysarah

Can you get some wood burners installed instead in the rooms that don't have heates?