House sale - no boiler cert, options?

<sebb>

I actually cant believe I'm having to defend myself here! The vendor himself put the boiler in 3 years ago when there were regulations in place to say what needed to be done and didnt comply! All I'm saying is, he didnt do it right, so I'd want the comfort that it was safe. I dont want indenmity insurance for anything! I want the certificates in place to say its right. As far as I'm concerned, indemnity insurance isnt worth the paper its written on. If I can get a certificate saying it's safe then fine! If you cant get a retrospective certificate, then a statement from a Gas Safe engineer would do. In fact I'd rather have that the indemnity insurance any day. As you said "Buyer beware" so why is it so strange that a buyer would expect you to prove that things are done properly. IMO a retrospective certificate is the ideal solution, but if its not possible then a qualified statement that its safe from a registered professional would have to do.

puddy

yes, i know, he should have followed the legislation, all im saying is that the day before the legislation came in, the boiler was ok to be installed by the competent person, the day the legislation comes in, the boiler is suddenly irresponsibly installed and the op's house is a danger!!

i just think sometimes this goes too far

neilb1777

Really interesting comments so far.
Have to agree if I was buying the house I wouldn't be happy with just indemnity insurance.
I have read somewhere the only way to get a retrospective cert is through building control and costs megabucks, but don't know much megabucks is!!

<sebb>

neilb1777 wrote: »

Really interesting comments so far.
Have to agree if I was buying the house I wouldn't be happy with just indemnity insurance.
I have read somewhere the only way to get a retrospective cert is through building control and costs megabucks, but don't know much megabucks is!!

I'm sure it cant be that expensive And if it was, then you are just leaving your buyer open to the same expense when they go to sell the property! Another reason why I wouldnt just take the insurance.

puddy

i dont see the point of indemnity insurance for anything, either something works or it doesnt

get a cert saying that its in working order, been checked, energy rating or whatever, that should be enough

tbs624

neilb1777 wrote: »

Many thanks for everybodies input so far. Just to add, it was installed by a competant person and is serviced each year by a gas safe guy, so I am confident it's safe. ...

So if this guy was "competent" and working on gas boilers why had he not renewed his CORGI reg ( as it then was)?
Maybe he was a bit like this one.........

"Illegal gas fitter fined for putting Reading residents at risk

Date: 8 February 2010Release No: COISE/0802An unregistered gas fitter from Reading has been fined a total of £3,500 after pleading guilty to four health and safety offences at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court today (Monday 8 February 2010).
Ian Duncan Robinson, of Grosvenor Road, Caversham was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after he failed to ensure that gas fitting work was conducted by a registered installer.
Mr Robinson was removed from the official gas register on 18 April 2007"
Source: HSE

From another HSE case:

"The law clearly states that anyone carrying out gas work must be appropriately qualified and accredited. HSE will not hesitate to take action against anyone found to be carrying out this work illegally and endangering lives."

Oh, and another one:

"HSE will not hesitate in prosecuting individuals who carry out gas work without proper accreditation, break the law and endanger lives in this way."

Anyone who uses non-registered gas fitters is a fool.

Canucklehead

jenner wrote: »

personally this is a lot of fuss about nothing, in the old days when people didnt always use registered people, what was different?

the op is being accused of virtually murdering his family by not getting a gas safe fitter, but before gas safe existed and pre corgi he would have had it fitted by a competent person (just like he did) and nothing would be wrong with it, now its suggested his house is about to blow up

Hi

It doesn't have to blow up.
Before registration I have seen and taken out a boiler fitted directly over a bath . You had to dodge round it to get in and out. Mains 230 volts to it.
Also a programmer fitted at the end of a bath at another property.
As usual the few spoil it for the rest of us.
Open flued appliances are banished from bedrooms and bathrooms. They will work perfectly well when serviced and maintained until some tightwad 'saves' money on servicing and someone has a nice relaxing bath and doesn't wake up or goes to bed and doesn't wake up. CO poisoning.

GSR

silvercar

A current gas certificate will tell you that the appliance is safe and working - far more usefull than an indemnity policy.

missile

I would suggest you sign up for British Gas boiler cover.

They send a man to inspect the system, or at least they did when I signed up a few years ago. He promptly condemned my boiler as it was unsafe :eek:
- even although I did have a corgi certificate :mad:

Catblue

Also, from a practical viewpoint, if you are buying a house and you find out that the boiler was fitted by an unregistered mate (and the buyer will find out), then how much confidence do you have in any other works that the vendor has undertaken? Not a great deal would be my guess.

You would immediately suspect that the the wiring, DPC, garage conversion, conservatory etc is well dodgy.

If the buyers don't walk away at this first sign of the vendor's dodginess, then a lot of people would use this knowledge as an opportunity to reduce the price of the offer. Cos of course the buyers will need that certificate when they come to sell the house otherwise this will hinder their own sale.