Do we have a chance.....

Milliewilly

Although frustrating its probably better to put it down to experience. For such a small sum you will easily rack this up in solicitors fees.

In an ideal fair world you will win and get the money, realistically it will drag on for months possibly years, you will only get 75% of your costs back as its a civil matter if you win and then the seller could offer to pay £10 per week which the courts could find acceptable. You would then have to go for a charging order presuming they own their new house and you can find them to get any lump sum.

You will also be faced with 'Caveat Emptor' which means buyer beware. The 2.5 years passed will not go in your favour either - the sellers could legitimately argue they thought it was a combi boiler - they may have been told that when it was fitted by a rogue plumber but never realised as they didn't have radiators? I know it seems staggering but some people do not know literally anything about boilers or plumbing - why should they?

I would use it as an opportunity to get the lastest efficient boiler & rads installed and make your money back that way.

I know the fixtrues and fittings form is supposed to be legally binding but 'Caveat Emptor' seems to be a nice way of getting round it unless you can prove the sellers actions were a deliberate means to get you to buy the house at a price you wouldn't otherwise have paid, or not gone through with the sale at all which is nigh on impossible.

The first thing that will happen is you will get referred back to your survey by the vendor's solicitors, be told to get stuffed and 'caveat emptor' will be quoted somewhere on the letter - did the surveyor comment on the boiler?

bigstevex

The boiler is hidden away under a cupboard, you would have to remove part of the kitchen to get it out lol! Also they said it was serviced only 3-4 months prior to us viewing it! Hence u would assume the 'inspector' would remind them its only a water heater when they asked for a service on a combi boiler!

Its just so annoying that they told us a few lies we have since found out after moving in! They even took blinds out the house they were meant to have left, although we were changing them anyway the only reason we weren't bothered!

bigstevex

Fire_Fox wrote: »

What was the system called on your survey report?

There's no details about it at all in the survey, just that the house doesn't have central heating!

bigstevex

poppysarah wrote: »

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

Lol were just gonna get CH through the whole house, the boiler is rubbish anyway only provides 6ltr/min so slooowww,

Hopejack

I can't believe they told you they'd had it serviced!!! Clearly, trying to pull the wool over your eyes! As you say, I'm sure the 'boiler man' would have noticed it wasn't a boiler :mad::rolleyes:

I think I would try sending them a letter and see where it gets you - I suppose 2.5 yrs is a long time to have 'sat on it' but as you say, you have your reasons.

Keep us informed won't you....

lincroft1710

Just a few thoughts.

What is the difference in value between a 3 yr old water heater and a 3 yr old combi boiler? Because it will look as if you have had the use of the water heater (slow but working and has not been recently serviced) but now want to install CH and expect the previous owner to pay the cost of a brand new boiler.

If the price you paid for the house reflected the fact it did not have CH then you are not going to have much comeback.

No doubt there will be some plumbers who advise against using a 3 yr old boiler for a brand new CH system.

carefullycautious

I dont get this thread.You say that you were told that there was no central heating in the house. Sooo what did you think when you were told there was a combi boiler. If someone told me there was a combi and no central heating alarm bells would have rung. Or am I missing something here?

EagerLearner

I'd put it down to first time buyer experience, but I suppose equally well could be worth a chat with solicitor. If you can find original docs, if they recommend you proceed, and if it won't cost loads, might be worth a letter to the vendors. They will get a shock though, 2 and a half years later and you must expect them to not bee to happy! Good luck though - we're just about to buy a place with no GCH so I can empathise.

_bankrupted

You have absolutely no chance of any sort of legal action. As said above you knew the house did not have central heating. So what did you think a combi boiler was?

The exact model and specification of the boiler was not specified and it is actually the boiler that you viewed when buying. So put it down to experience.

I think it's fair to say that people understand the term combi bolier means that the water is heated on demand there is no storage via a hot water tank. This is exactly what you have!! It's just that most peope expect a centarl heating system to be attached and you know one wasn't!!

bigstevex

Been a long time but an update, I spoke to our solicitor who we bought the house through and he gave me some of his time, for free might I add, to come up with a letter and said we have a good chance considering I have a document from him stating combi boiler and various other bits of evidence, we're onto the second letter after they refused to pay obviously. Their initial response wasn't very 'defensive'. They say they didn't know what it was themselves even though they had it fitted (if you don't know what something is you don't make it up do you??)! Thanks for the varying support I guess! We have good reason for it being 2.5-3 years which has been stated in the second letter.

Also for those of you who don't know, a combi boiler is not just hot water....

Definition of a combi boiler
Combination or combi boilers, combine the central heating (CH) with the domestic hot water (DHW) in one box. They are not merely infinitely continuous water heaters having the ability to heat a hydronic heating system in a large house. When DHW is run off, the combi stops pumping water to the hydronic circuit and diverts all the boilers power to instantly heating DHW. Some combis have small internal water storage vessels combining the energy of the stored water and the gas or oil burner to give faster DHW at the taps or increase the DHW flowrate.