Bought a house off a bodger

Total_Chunk

In December we bought a small house. We knew that the guy we bought the house from had done some work to the house but nothing came up on the survey as odd.

Not only did he leave a load of rubbish in the loft and garden, the house was filthy too.

Today I discovered that the woodburner in our living room wasn't properly installed and although it worked, it was actually really dangerous. Not only that, by the looks of things our council doesn't allow homes to emit smoke and the woodburner wasn't registered with the council when installed so we may have to replace it anyway.

I've not dared check the boiler but when the gas company offered me boiler care I jumped at the chance! Just waiting for it to break down or kill us now. Bodgers will fiddle with anything.

I've got to a stage where I am really angry, he's bodged practically everything here and I lost my job two weeks ago so it's not even like we're in a position to put this all right.

I'm waiting for my solicitor to call back but was wondering if anyone had any advice in the mean time other than 'don't use the wood burner'!

Thanks for reading

phill99

I'm sure you are aware of the phrase 'caveat emptor', which simply means 'buyer beware'.

Its up to you as the purchaser to satisfy yourself confirming the satae of the house you are buying.

I would be very surprised if there is anything that you or your solicitor can do now.

McKneff

Agree with phill99, the only person making money out of this is the extra work you have given your solicitor.
You'll haveto find the money for that.

baldelectrician

It is usually buyer beware, but in Scotland certain things require to be ok for 1 week. If certain things (for example the heating) break down the seller ususally has to put things right

dander

Should have thought that once you've got the actual installation of the woodburner corrected, then it's just a case of using smokeless fuel in it, rather than having to get rid of it.

WestonDave

Some woodburners will only burn wood - there are some specific models of stove which are licensed for smokeless zones and anything else is basically not permitted as I understand it.

tattycath

Welcome to my world OP- i moved in with my now husband a few years ago. he had purchased the property a few years earlier and hadn't really got round to doing much of anything to it. Our house used to belong to 'bodgit and scarper' I am sure. It would appear that they liked DIY but were carp at it-oh and to say they liked woodchip is an understatement. sorry-didn't mean to muscle in on your thread.
As others have said, you could have the woodburner converted so it's not a total waste.
Just try to rectify things in bitesize chunks as and when you can afford it (that's what we're doing)-good luck

Mojisola

Total_Chunk wrote: »

Today I discovered that the woodburner in our living room wasn't properly installed and although it worked, it was actually really dangerous. Not only that, by the looks of things our council doesn't allow homes to emit smoke and the woodburner wasn't registered with the council when installed so we may have to replace it anyway.

I've not dared check the boiler but when the gas company offered me boiler care I jumped at the chance! Just waiting for it to break down or kill us now. Bodgers will fiddle with anything.

I hope you've got a carbon monoxide alarm!

LadyDee

If you had a survey carried out by a Chartered Surveyor you might have some comeback against his insurance if he missed any structural problems - not sure about 'services' though, I believe they only make a cursory inspection and recommend things like boilers etc. are inspected by appropriate professionals.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I have a feeling that if the vendor knew or should reasonably have known something was faulty they have a duty to disclose it, but this might only apply if you specifically asked about it. In any event, didn't this person supply an Energy Performance Certificate? I thought vendors still had to supply this even though HIPS has been abolished?

avantra

It will probably cost you less to sort out these things than having a lawyer on the case.

Total_Chunk

I've got an energy performance certificate which lists the woodburner but doesn't give a rating for it. Because we were first time buyers we had no idea what to look for in the solicitor's report and didn't know that the device should have been installed by an approved HETAS installer. Talk about learning the hard way!

The way I see it, the seller has potentially unlawfully fitted the heater in an unsafe manner that could have killed us. I need to know for my own sanity if there is anything we can do about it even if we don't take it further.