old woodworm and damp guarantees

sandy2_2

Well, we had a damproofing and woodworm company come and inspect after the buyers surveyor's report left us in shock, but they could find nothing untoward. Spoke to them concerning old guarantees and they said the old firm we used previously was still trading under new name and were honouring guarantees etc. So it wasn't all gloom and doom afterall
Big sigh of relief. BYTW a further building company came and had a look at other work the surveyor said was required eg complete roof replacement because of asbestos tiles, new soffit boards and reported everything was in good order roof was watertight, no leaks etc and hardly any of the work mentioned actually needed doing, much to our and our buyers relief.

Richard_Webster

A few points about Damp & Timber Guarantees:

1. Unless Company does replastering after injecting silicon damp course if called back under the guarantee they will usually blame the plaster which they didn't do - so always get the same people to do both!

2. If it is a company then the company number is important. You can have a company called ZXQ Treatments Ltd company number 56789012 which changes its name to ZXQ Treatments (Something) Ltd or a completely different name such as Gungewater Ltd They then set up another company called ZXQ Treatments Ltd number 59966743 or whatever. Different company, doesn't have to honour previous company's guarantee if it doesn't want to.

3. It may not be a company. People use the term loosely. If the letterhead says ZXQ Treatments (with no Limited) then it is usually someone or a partnership or separate company "trading as" ZXQ Treatments, e.g. A. Smith & B. Jones or Gungewater Ltd (in very small print). How do you find them if they have gone?

4. The guarantees are also no use unless it is clear what they did. They are often fancy scrolly efforts guaranteeing for X years the work described in their report and estimate ZX12345. It is quite common for us when acting on a purchase to ask for the report and the seller has kept the guarantee but not the report!

5. Really all a guarantee does is show that someone did some work a few years ago, which is generally better than no work having been done. If it is with a big national company or is backed by a guarantee from a national company then it may be of some value.

6. Surveyors tend to warn buyers to make sure that there is guarantee for this that and the other. Solicitors are often cynical about the benefit of such guarantees but go through the motions of asking about them because people have such a touching faith in them!

Hope these pointers are some help to folk.

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients