RE: Inadequate Heating for New Home

Jung42

I bought a Charles Church 3 bed roomed flat over a year ago. It is a conversion of a listed building.They have placed " Nobo" electric heaters that do not heat the house,in particular the large hallway, landing and kitchen which only have a small slimline heater for the whole area. It was freezing last winter. It is also compounded by the fact they have kept the original windows that have no insulation.
I have been trying since February to get them to change the heating, all they have offered is a plinth heater in the kitchen.
I have contacted " Zurich" who hold the guarantee. They have refused to intervene as Charles Church offered a solution even though it is totally inadequate.
I have just joined so would be very grateful to have any advice from anyone with similar issues.

Many thanks

ILW

Why would the builder be responsible for supplying heaters? I take it you got what you paid for.

Jung42

Thank you for your response, perhaps I did not make it clear that the the heater supplied is too small for the area covered. The whole house is electric, who else would be responsible other than the builder. It is new build/ conversion. It is my first house I have bought and was not cheap.

pararct

Jung42 wrote: »

Thank you for your response, perhaps I did not make it clear that the the heater supplied is too small for the area covered. The whole house is electric, who else would be responsible other than the builder. It is new build/ conversion. It is my first house I have bought and was not cheap.

My house wasn't cheap either but the heating came with the fabric of it.

Caveat Emptor applies.

It has gas central heating. If it was so inefficient so as not to heat parts of the house I am unable to go back to the seller to rectify. I would need to sort it out.

Unless of course your purchase contract has some sort of clause about the ambient temperature that has to be maintained by the heating system in the Winter Months?

Ulfar

I am also confused as to why you would be expecting the builders to rectify this, you viewed the property and bought it as is.

There is a solution but it will cost you. I am assuming you don't have gas to the property.You can put underfloor heating in that uses electricity.

If you do have a gas supply, then get central heating.

Even though the building is listed is it possible to get double glazing put in that matches the look of the current windows.

tbs624

Jung42 wrote: »

I bought a Charles Church 3 bed roomed flat over a year ago. It is a conversion of a listed building.They have placed " Nobo" electric heaters that do not heat the house,in particular the large hallway, landing and kitchen which only have a small slimline heater for the whole area. It was freezing last winter. It is also compounded by the fact they have kept the original windows that have no insulation.
I have been trying since February to get them to change the heating, all they have offered is a plinth heater in the kitchen.
I have contacted " Zurich" who hold the guarantee. They have refused to intervene as Charles Church offered a solution even though it is totally inadequate.
I have just joined so would be very grateful to have any advice from anyone with similar issues.

Many thanks

welcome to MSE:)

When you bought th eproperty did you not notice (a) that the original windows had been retained ( as usual for a listed building) and (b) what type of heating was in place?

I'm not sure under what sort of policy/warranty you are raising this issue?

Unless the heating is actually faulty I would thought it was a case of caveat emptor

Ankatden

So what did the EPC say ?

Doozergirl

I had a listed building. We did everything to it - gutted it and replaced it, spent a fortune on it. We could only replace the windows with single glazing. It was freezing. I had the heating on constant and I was still freezing until people came to visit in which case i'd be stripping for the guests. But as fast as you could pump it in, it was escaping out of the beautiful black and white beamed walls that couldn't be insulated and the stupid new windows!

I have family that live in a listed building. They get business rates on their utilities because they use that much trying to keep it warm!

If you have come from a house with double glazing to one without it is a massive shock to the system. The fact that a building is listed means that you can negate all sorts of building regs (ie insulation) because the integrity of the building's history is much more important. Without a shadow of doubt there is a price of some sort to pay for living in a listed building. And for most who choose one, it's worth it, but you can't go in with your eyes closed and expect a listed 'new' house to be like a genuinely new house.

It's your problem to deal with because it was your responsibility to find the problem before - if it meets building regs... Some kind of secondary glazing might help, also placing that heat reflective stuff behind the heaters to stop the walls sucking it up. And additional heat source like a fire perhaps?

wodgerdodger

Ankatden wrote: »

So what did the EPC say ?

That initially was a thought I had, but wasnt sure if the rules for new build were different to resales. I looked on the relevent authority site which stated that from 2008 all new builds should suppy one to a buyer.
Interestingly I have just gone onto Rightmove and checked out 20 New Build properties in my area and NOT ONE shows an EPC in its sales particulars or refers to one. Against this, nearly every single resale property includes one in its property details .

Anyone bought a New Build recently and automatically received an EPC?????

Loanranger

The property belongs to you now, not Charles Church. Perhaps you lived in rented property previously where the landlord sorted out any problems you encountered?
Frankly, I'm amazed that you can afford to buy a Charles Church 3 bedroomed listed property and not know that the heating is your responsibility.

poppysarah

Accept the heater and when it's not adequate go to zurich..

Can you get shutters inside to help? Thick curtains etc?

Additional heaters can be added if you have plug sockets but make sure they're sensible ones and won't get knocked over and set fire to your house.

It's not impossible to work out the correct levels of radiators for your home - there'll be a calculator somewhere on t'internet. Work out the figures and show what heating you have got - and create a case based on fact.

Last winter was excessively cold imo though.