Moved into new house, boiler broken on first day

LucieDix

So, me and my partner got the keys to our new house on Friday 11th December. We arrived at the property on Saturday 12th December in the morning, to find water pouring through the kitchen ceiling...what a coincidence right?

It turns out the boiler has completely broken & this now means we will need a whole new boiler & flue which will cost us £2000.

Now, 2 months ago, we specifically asked if the boiler had been serviced as we were concerned about the age of it, we were reassured it had had a "service" & was all fine.

When this all happened, we called out an independent plumber, who took one look & told us that this issue has been ongoing and the boiler must have been leaking for months before we moved in. He also said that it had not had an in depth service, and the cover hadn't been taken off the boiler in a very long time.

The other suspicious thing...where the water had come through the kitchen ceiling, pinholes had magically appeared, which we did not see the last time we viewed the property.

Any ideas where we stand legally & whether we'd have any chance of getting any kind of compensation?? Being first time buyers, a new boiler isn't what we want to be forking out for!

HappyMJ

LucieDix wrote: »

So, me and my partner got the keys to our new house on Friday 11th December. We arrived at the property on Saturday 12th December in the morning, to find water pouring through the kitchen ceiling...what a coincidence right?

It turns out the boiler has completely broken & this now means we will need a whole new boiler & flue which will cost us £2000.

Now, 2 months ago, we specifically asked if the boiler had been serviced as we were concerned about the age of it, we were reassured it had had a "service" & was all fine.

When this all happened, we called out an independent plumber, who took one look & told us that this issue has been ongoing and the boiler must have been leaking for months before we moved in. He also said that it had not had an in depth service, and the cover hadn't been taken off the boiler in a very long time.

The other suspicious thing...where the water had come through the kitchen ceiling, pinholes had magically appeared, which we did not see the last time we viewed the property.

Any ideas where we stand legally & whether we'd have any chance of getting any kind of compensation?? Being first time buyers, a new boiler isn't what we want to be forking out for!

Did they tell you when the last service was? You asked whether it had been serviced your post doesn't say when that was. It could have been serviced more than 5 years ago and the answer to your question being yes would have been accurate. They only have to answer your question they don't need to go into details.

If you were concerned about the age of it you must have been aware it was nearly at the end of it's useful life anyway and due for replacement some time soon and would have made an offer on the property having taken the age of the boiler into account.

Legally knowing what you've said here you don't really have any comeback. You knew the boiler was old, it looked like it needed a service and it now doesn't work. When buying a property from someone there is no implied warranty with anything that the house has. If it breaks down it's unfortunately buyer beware.

G_M

England or Scotland? The law is different.

What exactly was written by the sellers in connection with the boiler/service/condition? Where was this writen?

Did you have the boiler inspected yourself?

Did you have a survey done? Was the boiler mentioned?

Were you given/did you see any service report/documents?

Marvel1

LucieDix wrote: »

Now, 2 months ago, we specifically asked if the boiler had been serviced

Answer: Yes (a year ago), for example.

LucieDix

G_M wrote: »

England or Scotland? The law is different.

What exactly was written by the sellers in connection with the boiler/service/condition? Where was this writen?

Did you have the boiler inspected yourself?

Did you have a survey done? Was the boiler mentioned?

Were you given/did you see any service report/documents?

Hi, thanks for your reply.


The house is in England. We did have a survey done on the house and the boiler was not mentioned.

The service carried out on the boiler was at the end of August so only a matter of months before we moved in. I have been given a copy of the service certificate by my solicitor. Our plumber has seen the service certificate and said this is not comprehensive at all, whoever carried it out has just stuck an emissions tester into the cupboard and not a lot more.


Stupidly, we did not get the boiler checked out prior to moving in, we spoke to the seller who told us he had never had any issues with it, and also spoke to the estate agents who told us it had been serviced and was all okay. In hindsight, we shouldn't have been so trusting and should have had it checked....

LucieDix

cjdavies wrote: »

Answer: Yes (a year ago), for example.

Hi there, thanks for the response. The boiler was serviced in August 2015, so only a few months before we moved in.

LucieDix

HappyMJ wrote: »

Did they tell you when the last service was? You asked whether it had been serviced your post doesn't say when that was. It could have been serviced more than 5 years ago and the answer to your question being yes would have been accurate. They only have to answer your question they don't need to go into details.

If you were concerned about the age of it you must have been aware it was nearly at the end of it's useful life anyway and due for replacement some time soon and would have made an offer on the property having taken the age of the boiler into account.

Legally knowing what you've said here you don't really have any comeback. You knew the boiler was old, it looked like it needed a service and it now doesn't work. When buying a property from someone there is no implied warranty with anything that the house has. If it breaks down it's unfortunately buyer beware.

Hi, thank you for your response. The boiler was "serviced" in August 2015. I now realise this can't have been a comprehensive service, it looks like they only checked for emissions, meaning they wouldn't have picked up on an on-going leak.


When I mention the age of the boiler, to be fair it's only 12 years old...so I would have expected a few more years at least, (and maybe just to need some new parts) not for it to pack in on the very first day we moved in. I completely understand these thing are "buyer beware", but it's now apparent that the issue had been there for months before we moved in, yet the survey and the boiler service failed to pick up on it, plus the seller told us he had never had any issues...yet drilled pinholes in the ceiling..hmm...

pmlindyloo

Your solicitor needs to write to the vendors explaining the situation and stating what happened and asking for the vendor to re inburse you for the cost of the new boiler and flue.

You also need to ask your independent plumber to write a report about the boiler stating that it must have been leaking previously etc etc. The solicitor can then enclose this report.

There is no guarantee that the vendor will pay up but there is a chance that they may contribute towards, say, half of the cost.

Worth a punt.

Your insurance should cover the cost of the damage.

martindow

LucieDix wrote: »

Our plumber has seen the service certificate and said this is not comprehensive at all, whoever carried it out has just stuck an emissions tester into the cupboard and not a lot more.

I'm not sure this is so unusual. If it is operating with flue gases as they should be, it is probably best to leave well alone. Opening up an old boiler is possibly going to create new faults.

LucieDix

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Your solicitor needs to write to the vendors explaining the situation and stating what happened and asking for the vendor to re inburse you for the cost of the new boiler and flue.

You also need to ask your independent plumber to write a report about the boiler stating that it must have been leaking previously etc etc. The solicitor can then enclose this report.

There is no guarantee that the vendor will pay up but there is a chance that they may contribute towards, say, half of the cost.

Worth a punt.

Your insurance should cover the cost of the damage.

Hi there,

Thank you for this, our solicitor is being totally useless and unhelpful now they have all our money. However, we are in the process of writing our own letter, and the plumber has been amazing. He has taken photos and agreed to write his own report of his findings, so we will definitely enclose this information when we send the letter off.

I am at the point where I would be more than happy to go 50/50 and split the £2000 cost. Watch this space! We can only try

kinger101

I think you're not going to get anywhere with getting a contribution toward the boiler. If you wanted to know it worked, you should have commissioned you own inspection. A boiler service or inspection is like an MOT. It doesn't guarantee the boiler will work several months later. Unless the vendor gave a categorical assurance the boiler was working, you don't really have much comeback.

I'd be more concerned about any damage from a leak. In England at least, they are supposed to hand over the property in the same condition as exchange.