Bought a house off a bodger

phill99

I refer you to post #2 above. You will struggle to get anywhere.

ormus

forget the legal side of things, and get on with fixing any problems.

lawyers etc are a waste of space. and money.

surveyors are a joke.

dander

I agree with the other posters - the time to deal with this through lawyers was during the purchase process - that was when you should have been checking things were installed correctly - either by asking for certificates or commissioning someone to specifically check the woodburner. If you didn't do those things - whether through conscious decision, or naivety - then you have accepted the property as it is. All you can do is remember the experience for next time, and don't make the same mistakes next time you buy.

vivatifosi

ormus wrote: »

forget the legal side of things, and get on with fixing any problems.

lawyers etc are a waste of space. and money.

surveyors are a joke.

Sorry ormus, but I don't agree. When I moved into my house there were lots of things that didn't show up on the survey that should have done as my house was also previously owned by Bodge the Builder. I had a second survey done (cost £350) which identified £5k worth of faults with the house that the surveyor should have picked up on. Using Which Legal service (I think its about £12-15 to use) I wrote a letter to my solicitor threatening them with legal action. Having pushed them a bit harder, they paid up through their insurance without going to court.

I received £1500 of the £5000, as the value of the claim is not based on the price of putting things right, merely what should have been the difference in value of the house had those things been known. That money (with the £350 taken off) has been very useful in rectifying those issues which demanded immediate action and I would definitely do it again if I had to.

keystone

Some people expect far too much from their "survey" particularly if its a "house buyers report" (which aren't worth the paper they are written on) rather than a proper building survey.

Cheers

LadyDee

keystone wrote: »

Some people expect far too much from their "survey" particularly if its a "house buyers report" (which aren't worth the paper they are written on) rather than a proper building survey.

Cheers

It entirely depends on the calibre of the Surveyor who carries out surveys/homebuyers reports. I worked for a Chartered Surveyor for many years and I can assure you that if there was anything adverse to find he found it - his clients never, ever had cause for complaint afterwards and over the years he had countless return clients.

ashleypride

Total_Chunk wrote: »

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.

Maybe the preivous owner installed it, maybe it was a relative, friend, maybe a cowboy installer it.
Either way, you are wasting money using solictors. It was your responsilbity to check the condition of heating/electrical systems or get a professional to do it before sale.
Lots of the things could kill you, but the fact is, it didn't, move on.

andy.m_2

the OP should state which level of survey they commissioned when conveyancing.

ashleypride

andy.m wrote: »

the OP should state which level of survey they commissioned when conveyancing.

Why does it matter? A surveyor cannot check heating or electrical systems throughly, they may take a look, but they will advise in their report to get certificates from the seller, check for the last service date, or to get someone qualified to inspect before buying.

Aless

The seller may have lied on the inquiries he had to answer, ours did. That could be legally actionable but you need legal advice. As I said our seller lied on and we could have sued him but we did think there was any point. It was annoying to sort things out that we should not have had to (and had no way of knowing and neither would our solicitor or surveyor) but these things happen. Wait until you have calmed down and then think whether you want to spend time and money pursuing it further.