can estate agent be found responsible

G_M

What exactly did the HEATAS engineer's report say when you had it inspected before the purchase?

Oh! You decided not to get it inspected? Then the risk was yours.

Just as if you decided not to have an electrical inspection done. Or a survey. Or a Title search.

all these checks of course are optional: you can pay out some money upfront, and verify everything is in order, or you can save yourself the money and take a chance - keep your fingers crossed that all will be well.

murphster

If the survey had shown it up I would have negotiated the price of fixing it from the purchase price and certainly not used it until it was put right.

I can't believe a survey points out the fact there are some trees in the garden that are 12 meters from the house but does not comment on a potentially life threatening badly installed fire / stove. To me this is similar if not worse than my parents, who have a loft conversion from over 25 years ago not being allowed to sell their house until the work had been certified

I am worried that the insurance will look at it, and because it doesn't meet regulations I am not covered. It wasn't my first thought to sue anyone. I am waiting for the loss adjuster, he was supposed to come on Friday but his car broke down (the fire was on Monday) and now can't come until Tuesday. I'm getting frustrated, my house is a mess, so I decided to start getting some quotes and find out what exactly will need doing

The first engineer came yesterday (Saturday), he has condemned it, can't believe it has been installed so badly (for a number of reasons). It was him who asked about all the installation certificates, as he pointed out, the sellers had to show certificates for the windows and boiler installation, but they have ignored the fire.

I accept that I have been stupid, something that I fear is going to cost me a lot of money.

csgohan4

This will have to be chalked off as a learning point for future buyers


Surveyors are not qualified HETAS engineers, nor gas safe nor electrical engineers. They are there for the structural aspects of the property.


you have to apply due diligence when buying a house and assume nothing.


I'm afraid you have no one but yourself to blame.

fed_up_and_stressed

murphster wrote: »

If the survey had shown it up I would have negotiated the price of fixing it from the purchase price and certainly not used it until it was put right.

I can't believe a survey points out the fact there are some trees in the garden that are 12 meters from the house but does not comment on a potentially life threatening badly installed fire / stove. To me this is similar if not worse than my parents, who have a loft conversion from over 25 years ago not being allowed to sell their house until the work had been certified

I am worried that the insurance will look at it, and because it doesn't meet regulations I am not covered. It wasn't my first thought to sue anyone. I am waiting for the loss adjuster, he was supposed to come on Friday but his car broke down (the fire was on Monday) and now can't come until Tuesday. I'm getting frustrated, my house is a mess, so I decided to start getting some quotes and find out what exactly will need doing

The first engineer came yesterday (Saturday), he has condemned it, can't believe it has been installed so badly (for a number of reasons). It was him who asked about all the installation certificates, as he pointed out, the sellers had to show certificates for the windows and boiler installation, but they have ignored the fire.

I accept that I have been stupid, something that I fear is going to cost me a lot of money.

You just don't seem to get it do you ? The surveyor is NOT a HEATAS engineer he would never be able to say whether it was installed correctly or not because he's not an engineer neither would the estate agent. The most the survey would ever say is recommend you get it checked by a qualified engineer.

Missus_Hyde

Sorry to read about your house fire, Murphster; it must have been awful for you and your family.

Unfortunately railway sleepers (although they may look the part) don't make very good mantelpieces as they tend to be impregnated with an oily substance, which can be quite flammable.

I do hope that your insurance will cover it and that you will be able to get everything sorted satisfactorily.

Davesnave

The requirement to meet certain installation standards and obtain HETAS or BCO approval was not always there in relation to wood burning stoves. You can probably Google when it was introduced. I think it may have been around the year 2000.

That being the case, are you sure that any paperwork could have existed in relation to this fire? From what you've said, it sounds as if the previous owner, being only an infrequent user, was not the one who spent out on the installation.

There are thousands of stoves in use which don't meet the regulations applicable today, just as there are millions of electrical consumer units in a similar position, especially as the regs for those changed 3 months ago. There is no requirement for retrospective compliance, and can you imagine the administrative chaos there would be if there was?

Just as a surveyor doesn't inspect the electrics, but may recommend inspection, so he/she may recommend checking that a stove is fit for purpose and safe, but there is no requirement to do this. There are, of course, additional inspections one can add to a basic survey: e.g. drains, timber and damp, boiler systems. Few people commission them all.

Finally, when buying anything potentially dangerous, it is up to the end user to use it responsibly. It is highly unlikely that there was no prior indication that the wooden mantle was becoming too hot. Common sense, rather than paper regulations, sometimes needs to be applied.

Davesnave

Oh, for goodness sake, it's HETAS, not HEATAS!

fed_up_and_stressed

Davesnave wrote: »

Oh, for goodness sake, it's HETAS, not HEATAS!

I think considering the OP wants to sue an estate agent an the surveyor for not knowing the log burner was faulty, rather than blaming himself for not bothering to get an engineer with the correct skills to check it.

i think an extra a between friends is trivial. I mean most people still refer to gas safe engineers as corgi registered. A quick google search would got links to the right people to look it over, if the OP had bothered. Obviously that was far too much effort, unlike the doomed court cases against the surveyor and estate agent he now wishes to undertake

Davesnave

fed_up_and_stressed wrote: »

i think an extra a between friends is trivial.

Gee, yes, I suppose it is...neighbor.

Have to admit, the OP wrote the funniest thread title of the week though!

Clutterfree

It was probably installed before the regulations came into force.

We recently replaced our multi fuel stove.
We thought it would just be a case of out with the old one in with the new.
Not the case.
Due to the regulations, if we installed the burner we originally wanted we'd have had to increase the hearth by about 8 inches.
We decided on a slimline version instead so the hearth could remain the same.
We also had to have the oak beam above the burner cloaked in fireproof board so that it didn't catch fire.
It had never caught fire in all the years before but we had no choice.

I should imagine your previous owners had no idea it wasn't safe to current regulations so were not hiding anything.

I do find it strange that there are all these regulations for multi fuel stoves but none for an open fire.