Dodgy Boiler and Gas Safe Certificate

hamsterhoop

Hello!

This is probably the wrong place for it, but hey ho!

I recently bought a property that came with a valid and current gas-safe certificate. Shortly after moving in we had some problems and a transco engineer shut the boiler down and told us to have it serviced. We did: The boiler was in such a state that it was pretty much lethal. The engineers who provided the service said that it was unlikely that it had actually been serviced in quite some time.

Do I have any legal recourse against the agent who sold the property? The same agency was responsible for renting out the property prior to our sale and we have a string of landlord certificates that state the unit was safe.

Any advice appreciated!

ess0two

Buyer beware,probably should have had an independant check before buying.

chappers

No the gas safety certificate is only a snapshot at a particular point in time, and to be fair has nothing to do with servicing.
Whether the inspection was carried out correctly is another matter and almost impossible to prove.

Nobbie1967

The gas safe certificate is like an MOT, it only really tells you the situation on the day of the test. Also, you don't have to have the boiler serviced to get a Gas Safe certificate. So you don't have any comeback unless you can prove the Gas Safe certificate was fraudulent. Even then you'd have to pursue the previous owners which is likely to be a drawn out process. Did they state it had been serviced? The best way to avoid problems is to have it inspected as part of the survey process.

hamsterhoop

hmmmmm sounds like im stuffed then, ok thanks

lessonlearned

A gas safety inspection is not to be confused with a full service.

The safety inspection merely checks the flow, carbon monoxide levels that kind of thing and takes about 10 minutes.

A full service should entail stripping down the boiler, cleaning off all soot and debris, and cleaning and either repairing or replacing all worn parts. This would normally take about an hour.

A service contract with an energy supplier is often not worth the paper it's written on because they will only the do the 10 minute job rather than the full monty. Your best bet is to find a good central heating engineer and get them to service the boiler every year.

It will prolong the life of the boiler and ensure that it is running efficiently thus keeping your bills down. Same with gas fires.