Dispute with previous owner on boiler

G_M

nbr wrote: »

Yes, I had a visual inspection, but I did not dismantle the boiler itself, which is what was needed to find the real cause of the fault (i.e. rust and limescale)

Which is why buyers pay to have full inspections done by experts:
* surveyor for the building
* solicitor for the legal Title
* Local Authority for the Planning permissions/Building certification/local searches
* Damp firm for errr... damp/woodworm etc
...... and * gas engineer for the boiler

Hammyman

You got a cheap survey, you're now paying the price.

Milliewilly

Why did you not press for a copy of the British Gas service as it existed under the previous owners name as part of the sellers property information pack? It is one of the questions on there?

Yorkie1

As British Gas have already confirmed that a service was done in June, and as the cause of the problem is not evident without dismantling the boiler (which nobody should do if they are not Gas Safe registered) then I really can't see how you're going to prove that they deliberately misled you sufficient to get any recompense in court.

'Caveat emptor' has alredy been quoted. This means 'buyer beware' and I think this has to be written off to experiences as others have said.

kmmr

nbr wrote: »

you should have seen the status of the boiler INSIDE. It is NOT something that happened while I used the boiler (words of my plumbers)

no one is saying you did the damage. Thats a classic renters mindset. You bought a second hand good, so it and all its problems are yours now!

BG services just run through a checklist from what i can see. They dont make the machine like new everytime they visit. the boiler still looks old, it was serviced, it was working when they left. You will just give yourself stress if you pursue this IMHO.

DVardysShadow

As said, you buy as seen. If something is important to you, you make sure it is seen before you exchange contract. In this case, you could have insisted that the sellers provide service documentation. The only reason you could have for taking anything forward is if you were told a lie in documentation passed via your solicitor.

When you come to sell this property, you will see that this position is fair. You will be glad to be out of your old house - with a clear conscience if you have told no porkies - and know that you are free of responsibilities.

Edit: Mrs Shadow and I have had to spend about £600 on repairs to the boiler which came with our house - after just 15 months - and there were signs last winter. We did have a survey and got it demoed too. Frankly, it is bliss not to have responsibility for the previous house - I prefer responsibility for our present house and I couldn't resent the previous owners or hold them responsible. We know what the deal is.

kmmr

now i think about it, i spent 450 on my boiler about 1 week after completing. For something the owners clearly knew about as they had turned off the hot water to hide it.

Never even crossed my mind to go back to them. I knew the risks.

theartfullodger

nbr wrote: »

Hi,





Any advice?

The world is split into two groups...

a) Those who always want to blame someone else & get "them" to pay... and sometimes appear to whinge & whine on and on and on... but are no doubt lovely people really...
b) Those who recognise they can make mistakes, get things wrong but accept this, cough up & move on (Look up "SUMO")
c) Those who can't count...

Cheers!

Artful

PS British Gas?? Lovely adverts, but I'd not touch them with a bargee

nbr

Milliewilly wrote: »

Why did you not press for a copy of the British Gas service as it existed under the previous owners name as part of the sellers property information pack? It is one of the questions on there?

I had pressed for that but they said (only in the property information pack) that they had no paperwork at all regarding the service. Which sounds strange since British Gas is now telling me they can't provide copy of the paperwork to me. If there were no paperwork, BG would have said "no paperwork" instead of coming up with data protection issues...

nbr

Yorkie1 wrote: »

I really can't see how you're going to prove that they deliberately misled you sufficient to get any recompense in court.

if the service paperwork shows that BG had warned them of some problems with the boiler and they have not acted on that