Estate agent mis informed prior to offer

ben.jones8388

my girlfriend and I have just completed on a house.The process was very smooth, however we have a problem.

The boiler is old, when looking around the house we noticed this, and asked the estate agent when it was fitted and what was its service record. I have a written email from them stating that the they did not know when the boiler was fitted, however it had been serviced regularly by a local engineer.

We moved in on sat, on sunday the boiler broke down. It turned out to be an electrical fault that was easily fixed, however we called out the firm that had supposedly serviced the boiler. The engineer turned up and to my suprise said yes he had serviced the boiler in may of this year, however it had not been touched for 10 years previous to this!

If we had known this it would have affected our offer, and we we would have used it as a bargaining tool. I am no expert bus surely although the boiler is working now, as it clearly hasnt been looked after it is likely to break down soon wo will need replacing earlier than anticipated. They have said we should have checked the record in the conveyancing, however as I had already asked that specific question and it was answered, I did not feel the need to follow it up.

I was wondering if anyone knew where we stood here? are the estate agents liable for the cost of (or at least part of) a new boiler? we have been quoted between £2-3k.

any help/opinions welcome.

TrickyDicky101

Caveat emptor applies. Is it a modern condensing boiler? These have higher maintenance requirements than the older type.

ben.jones8388

no is an old style boiler with a hot water tank. I thought that might be the case but was wondering if as I had it in writing that I was mis informed and this contributed toward the offer made I might be entitled to some compensation.

DRP

ben.jones8388 wrote: »

no is an old style boiler with a hot water tank. I thought that might be the case but was wondering if as I had it in writing that I was mis informed and this contributed toward the offer made I might be entitled to some compensation.

did you ask any questions about the boiler via your solicitor?

you could possibly have some leverage of the seller that way, but i really doubt you could claim against anything the EA informally has told you .

vectistim

So the agent passed on the hearsay that it was 'serviced regularly' (to be a bit flippant regularly could mean once every 10 years)

By looking at the boiler it would have been fairly clear that it was several years old so if this had really been an issue you could have made further enquiries at the time.

Most boilers don't get serviced annually and only get attention when something goes wrong.

System

So it was serviced in May and was working correctly? It doesn't matter that it wasn't serviced the year before.

Only the current service has any relevance.

googler

Did you buy in Scotland, or E&W?

go_cat

Did you have it checked by a gas engineer as part of your surveying ?

johnnyredgate

If the boiler keeps going into the new year I understand that there will be a new boiler repair government grant/loan scheme for older inefficient boilers. I think it will work on the basis that you get a loan for the full amount of a replacement new energy efficient condensing boiler which you pay back through the saving in your gas bill of having an efficient boiler, so in effect you are not paying any extra on your bill, and once the loan is paid of you will be saving significantly on your bill by having a more efficient boiler. It is likely that your boiler would need to be working to qualify. I made enquiries about the boiler replacement scheme about a month ago, and was told about the new scheme.

Fire_Fox

Did you ask for a copy of the service history/ certificates within the conveyancing? Did your surveyor not recommend having the boiler checked? Estate agents are generally unqualified, they are not the owners and not the oracle - if you trust everything they say you'd have no need for a solicitor.

jthomas72

Ben,

i have worked in estate agency for many years and without getting the book out from my understanding you don't really have a claim against the agency, even though you have an e-mail from the agent. You could try and speak to their head office regarding this to see if you can get anything but i doubt you will get anywhere with this.

Also £2,000 - £3,000 for a boiler change is very expensive! I know plumbers and get boilers changed for an ok boiler for £1,200. I certainly would not pay more than £1,500 for a boiler change, you can get a boiler with a 7 year waranty for around £800 online, whats the rest of the quote going towards? Don't forget if they are changing from and old system with tanks to a new combi system they are taking the scrap away and getting money back on that from the scrap man.