House with worthless 10 year warranty-possible fraud?!

casparg44

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

Plumbing is not covered by the NHBC guarantee. As you are the second owner, the plumbing etc is a fixture, and unless this was part of your survey, you will have little redress. Sorry not what you want to hear.

http://www.nhbc.co.uk/Warrantiesandcover/Homeowners/WhatdoesBuildmarkcover/

It wasnt a NHBC warranty its was an Aviva professional indemnity policy and dosent state what it does and does not cover -anyway thats all irrelevant and there is no policy in place as it expired in 2011 and the architect doesnt exisit as the builder used a fraudulent certificate to get a 1 year policy!

casparg44

hollydays wrote: »

Simples-tell the builder to
Pay up to put the problem
Right.

and if he doesn't threaten him with what? He has committed fraud has he not? Creating and supplying false documents to obtain insurance? how do you report such a fraud?

Alice_Walker

casparg44 wrote: »

The policy doesn't state what it covers

I've never seen any kind of insurance policy that doesn't state what is covered. Have you mislaid some of the documentation.

hollydays wrote: »

Simples-tell the builder to
Pay up to put the problem
Right.

Not simple - the house was built six years ago and was sold to another party before the OP. There could be a claim against the builder because he provided fraudulent documents in order to get the warranty, but as this would not be covered under warranty anyway that would be far from straightforward.

hollydays

Go ahead and bancrupt him by all means.
Personally, I'd get MY money first.
He can hardly deny it ,can he.I'm
Talking face to face negotiation first

Alice_Walker

casparg44 wrote: »

It wasnt a NHBC warranty its was an Aviva professional indemnity policy and dosent state what it does and does not cover -anyway thats all irrelevant and there is no policy in place as it expired in 2011 and the architect doesnt exisit as the builder used a fraudulent certificate to get a 1 year policy!

You've not told us that the warranty was only for one year, that makes no sense. What exactly is the policy called?

There's a whole lot of information missing from this story, like how you've not noticed the toilet filling with boiling hot water for three years.

casparg44

That's the only documentation the solicitor got. I believe the solicitor has been highly negligent. Its irrelevant whats covered or not the point is the solicitor didn't ensure there was a valid 10 year warranty- period.

The second point is that the builder committed fraud and probably does it on a regular basis, meaning other people like us will be in a bad situation. If their roof collapsed then what would they do?

How do you report him?

casparg44

Alice_Walker wrote: »

You've not told us that the warranty was only for one year, that makes no sense. What exactly is the policy called?

There's a whole lot of information missing from this story, like how you've not noticed the toilet filling with boiling hot water for three years.

The water in the toilet has been there since we bought the house but as the toilet is off the utility room we never used it. It wasn't until we had the hot water issue that we knew about the boiler being plumed in wrong and then the plumber noticed the hot water in the toilet.

This is the response from Aviva:

Thank you for your email. I am afraid that the reference in the attachment to liability for 10 years from the date of the certificate is in relation to liability owed by Julian Barnett Architects to yourself.

The Architect is required to purchase Professional Indemnity insurance for a period of 10 years to ensure that he has adequate funds to cover any potential Claims made against him however this is renewed every year, much like motor insurance, and they are able to change insurers at any time.

In any event the Professional Indemnity policy is in the name of the architect (The Policyholder) and therefore only the architect will be able to make a Claim against his policy. This means you will need to inform Julian Barnett Architects of your Claim and he will in turn notify his current insurers and deal with your Claim accordingly.

Alice_Walker

casparg44 wrote: »

That's the only documentation the solicitor got. I believe the solicitor has been highly negligent. Its irrelevant whats covered or not the point is the solicitor didn't ensure there was a valid 10 year warranty- period.

The second point is that the builder committed fraud and probably does it on a regular basis, meaning other people like us will be in a bad situation. If their roof collapsed then what would they do?

How do you report him?

You're not giving us the information we need to help you. I'll ask once more:

What did the property information form say about the boiler?

How have you not noticed the hot water in the toilet?

What is the insurance policy called?

The other thing that doesn't make sense, if you have a mortgage the lender would have required sight of a policy and they would not have accepted one that had expired. I also can't believe that Aviva would issue a one year policy. Plus why did you even contact the insurer if you knew it had expired five years ago?

Alice_Walker

casparg44 wrote: »

The water in the toilet has been there since we bought the house but as the toilet is off the utility room we never used it. It wasn't until we had the hot water issue that we knew about the boiler being plumed in wrong and then the plumber noticed the hot water in the toilet.

This is the response from Aviva:

Thank you for your email. I am afraid that the reference in the attachment to liability for 10 years from the date of the certificate is in relation to liability owed by Julian Barnett Architects to yourself.

The Architect is required to purchase Professional Indemnity insurance for a period of 10 years to ensure that he has adequate funds to cover any potential Claims made against him however this is renewed every year, much like motor insurance, and they are able to change insurers at any time.

In any event the Professional Indemnity policy is in the name of the architect (The Policyholder) and therefore only the architect will be able to make a Claim against his policy. This means you will need to inform Julian Barnett Architects of your Claim and he will in turn notify his current insurers and deal with your Claim accordingly.

Well that makes more sense, you're looking at the architect's insurance, that's not your warranty.

Alice_Walker

On the basis of the information we now have, this all comes down to what information you have in writing from the seller or the solicitor.

There is no law that states you must have a ten year warranty. Some lenders need it, some will accept an architect's certificate. The latter provides far less cover.

I am sympathetic, but I think you're on to a lost cause.