Boiler issue

sgitw

I have complete a purchase of flat only to find out the boiler when its on it gives out large noise. Got my solicitor to file against it within the given time period.
Had a few guys came round, and without inspection they discovered pressure drop to 0(when it should be 1.5), and the noise is said to be to do with the fan.

The boiler looks like it was 10~15 years old, and I was told even if I fixed the fan and the leak there is no guarntee there wont be other issues.

Went to the seller, what I got was that I need some form of certificate to show it is not working or fault before I can be effectively go back to the seller for anything.

Does anyone know what rights I should have in this case? I could get a guy to come round to do safely inspection, but what can I do after?

Thanks

hazyjo

Zilch - can't prove anything was wrong with it before you bought. Should have had it inspected (or at least asked questions) before completing if you had concerns.

Surprised your solicitor has got involved, tbh...

It's a case of 'buyer beware' when buying property.

Jx

WellKnownSid

...except in Scotland where sensible rules apply.

If it is Scotland, I would say it's up to your Solicitor to tell you what's needed from the tradesmen, not the vendor. When we completed on our property, I turned the water on to find it pouring out of several places because the vendors had allowed it to freeze and pipes had burst.

Got all repair costs paid for, minus the cost of the solicitors' letter which ended up being about 50% of the cost of the work. Ahem... :mad:

Guest101

WellKnownSid wrote: »

...except in Scotland where sensible rules apply.

If it is Scotland, I would say it's up to your Solicitor to tell you what's needed from the tradesmen, not the vendor. When we completed on our property, I turned the water on to find it pouring out of several places because the vendors had allowed it to freeze and pipes had burst.

Got all repair costs paid for, minus the cost of the solicitors' letter which ended up being about 50% of the cost of the work. Ahem... :mad:

not sure why thats sensible, if the buyer didnt check, its their own fault.

G_M

England... nothing you can do. You should have checkedit.

Scotland... I believe you have X(2?) weeks to show evidence of problems.

WellKnownSid

Guest101 wrote: »

not sure why thats sensible, if the buyer didnt check, its their own fault.

There is a duty of care to ensure things are maintained and handed over working. In my experience, things like heating and electrical systems are often mentioned specifically in the missives as needing to be in full working order and repair commensurate with age.

Bearing in mind the survey could be weeks before the date of entry, and in our case some harsh winter weather happened in between - the vendors were liable for their carelessness.

I think in most cases it's 7 days, which I think is a more sensible and responsible approach.

AlexMac

Assuming that you're in England, I'd just swallow it and get on with a fix-

But beware wasting too much cash on repairs to a 10-15 year old boiler. Or at least try to find an honest 'gas safe' fitter who will tell you if a repair is likely to be viable;

the problem being that even if they fix one thing today for a typical £100-£300 (assuming the parts are still available which a decent fitter can tell online in seconds), there's no guarantee a second componemt won't fail next week.

I speak from experience of replacing 3 boilers in 3 properties in the past few years and having recently moved again, I've bought currently got the same problem (old-style, 15 year old, wall-mounted, cast-iron boiler with really noisy fan, which cut out altogether 2 weeks ago and for which not all parts are available). I've decided to replace it before winter but the independent fitter who inspected and quoted a reasonable £2,000 to replace fiddled with it and got it goind again during the course of his (free) quotation check - so I'll deffo go with them when it dies, which, from the sound of it will be soon.

An alternative would be the current British Gas 'Repair and Cover' deal; they fix it for £99, then insure/maintain for about £23 a month for a year. So while that gives you security for 12 months for £375, it might only defer the need to replace it (for £2k for something which will last 7+ years; you do the maths!) We tried this 1st, but, the Britgas engineer who visited us prior to the independent engineer's visit said his boss wouldn't take on such an old boiler and refunded our £99! At least it helped us decide. This exactly replicated the saga in anither flat 2 years ago- after six British Gas visits we got our £99 back and replaced the boiler for £2k. I felt bad about that but while BritGas engineers are great, their salesman's price to replace was 30% dearer.

So on balance, I'd stop messing about and swallow the £2k costs for a new one!

Guest101

WellKnownSid wrote: »

There is a duty of care to ensure things are maintained and handed over working. In my experience, things like heating and electrical systems are often mentioned specifically in the missives as needing to be in full working order and repair commensurate with age.

Bearing in mind the survey could be weeks before the date of entry, and in our case some harsh winter weather happened in between - the vendors were liable for their carelessness.

I think in most cases it's 7 days, which I think is a more sensible and responsible approach.

If they have stated it to be in working order, and it wasnt when contracts exchanged i agree with you, but if that is not the case then i'm not so sure.

MarkBargain

That old boiler would have cost you a fortune in gas bills anyway, invest in a modern combi and forget the old one. I am getting a Baxi installed with a 7 year guarantee for £2K, including taking out my old water tank system. It could save me up to 40% on gas.

WellKnownSid

Guest101 wrote: »

If they have stated it to be in working order, and it wasnt when contracts exchanged i agree with you, but if that is not the case then i'm not so sure.

In Scotland, contracts aren't exchanged - the missives are 'concluded' early on with clauses to protect the purchaser (such as defective title), which locks the vendor into the sale and prevents gazumping.

Things have to be in working order on the date of entry.

LisaLou1982

OP what country have you purchased a property in?