Company Bankrupt - what about 25 year Guarantee?

Suzyp_2

My mum had roofing insulation installed called Warmroof in 2004. Its basically a spray on foam - it was guaranteed for 25 years. She is in the process of selling her house and the surveyor has pulled up a problem with this and now she finds the original installer has gone bankrupt. Is there any protection for her? :mad:

shaun_from_Africa

It all depends on who the guarantee was backed by.
If it was an "in house" guarantee provided by the installation company then it is effectively now worthless, but it may have been an insurance backed guarantee which is covered by a separate company.
You will have to read the insurance paperwork to see which is the case with your mothers roof.

If you find that the guarantee isn't still valid, the next thing to consider is how the work was paid for.
If it was through some sort of finance (credit card or other finance company), you might find that a claim is possible through them as they could still be liable under Section 75 of the consumer credit act. (I don't know how long the liability for this act is).

Suzyp_2

Thanks for your reply. I think you're right - not much of a leg to stand on. It does make you think more before you get excited about long guarantees! I've since found some alarming threads about the roof instulation she had and I reckon she will lose quite a few thousand from the house price.

pmduk

Unfortunately you've learned the hard way that guarantees are often not worth the paper they're written on.

paddyrg

And, alarmingly, some rogue contractors will offer a 10+ yr guarantee knowing full well they will close the company and start fresh every 5 years

Owain_Moneysaver

And spray on foam is renowned for causing problems with poor ventilation, rot, and making it impossible to repair the roof in future. Any surveyor will flag up spray foam insulation as a potential issue.