Central Heating / Hot water system not functional on day of purchasing property

Lucy100

Dear All,

Hope you can offer some advice. Bought a property in Scotland. Sold as having a fully functioning (although old) central heating and hot water system. Was confirmed that all was working on day of viewing property. Survey said system was old but nothing to say it wasnt functioning.
On day of getting the keys, solicitor advised checking the system and it wasnt workign and so reported to seller's solicitors within 2 hours of getting keys.

Have now had tradesmen in to look at it and they say that quite a few parts of the system are broken and there have been "botch jobs" at temporarily repairing them by bypassing the electrics and also removing valves in the system etc. This has pretty much left the system unsafe and unusable in its current state. They have advised not touching it at all until repaired.

At present, waiting on a quote to give to my solicitor. Now I know in Scotland, the rules are a bit different to rest of the UK. I do have some significant concerns. What happens if the sellers refuse to pay to fix the system to a working condition? What if they want to use their own tradesman (who probably did all the botch electrics and wiring of the boiler in the first place?) How would i be able to check the quality of the repair if they chose to use their own tradesman?

Looking for any advice from people who have been in this position before? Thank you

davidmcn

It's all determined by what it says in your contract - so you need to check what the offer says and whether it had been qualified before you concluded missives. If you don't know then best to be guided by your solicitor. Usually you need to allow the seller an opportunity to put it right before you're entitled to bring in your own contractors.

Lucy100

Thank you for your reply. It certainly appears that the sellers tried to temporarily cover up the faults so that they wouldnt be picked up within the first 7 days as is allowed in Scotland im told to check out these things. If i let their tradesman try and put it right, how will i know it is done to a standard quality rather than more botch jobs?

davidmcn

You need to check whether the missives say anything about the quality - generally the only obligation is that the services are in working order commensurate with age, so you can't necessarily demand that they do more than get it working. If you want any further comfort you'd need to get your own tradesperson in (at your expense).

marksoton

Get your guy in after to check it.,..

Lucy100

Yes im happy for them to just get it working. By quality, i guess i just meant safe. The bypassing of controls to keep the system working isnt safe - so i would be happy with a working safe system - i appreciate any "improvement" areas would be down to me.

googler

This is a typical extract from Scottish Standard Clauses. The version used in your sale may differ, so you need to check with your solicitor what applied to you.

3. CENTRAL HEATING ETC.

(a) The Seller undertakes that any systems or appliances of a working nature (including central heating, water, drainage, electric and gas) forming part of the Property will be in working order commensurate with age as at the Date of Settlement.

(b) The Seller will make good any defect which prevents any system or appliance being in such order provided said defect is intimated in writing within 5 working days of settlement. Failing such intimation, the Purchaser will be deemed to be satisfied as to the position.

(c) The Seller will only be responsible for carrying out any necessary repairs to put any system or appliance into such order and shall have no liability for any element of upgrading (except to the extent such upgrading is required to put any such system or appliance into such order).

(d) The lack of any regular service or maintenance of any system or appliance or the fact that it may no longer comply with current installation regulations shall not, of itself, be deemed to be a defect.

(e) The Purchaser shall be entitled to execute any necessary repairs at the expense of the Seller without reference to the Seller or the Seller’s tradesmen (i) in the event of an emergency; (ii) in the event that the Seller’s tradesmen do not inspect the alleged defects within 5 working days of intimation; or (iii) in the event that any necessary repairs are not carried out within 5 working days of inspection.

(f) The Seller confirms that he has received no notice or intimation from any third party that any system (or any part thereof) is in an unsafe or dangerous condition.

---

Find out EXACTLY what your missives said, either by reference to correspondence that you've had with your solicitor, or by asking them now, and determine exactly where you are with regard to the timescales outlined in your missives.

Lucy100

The missives say exactly what you have quoted above.

So the contractors I have asked to look at the system have said it needs a significant amount of work to get the system going again (approx £1000). However it also needs the burners on the boiler serviced as only one of the 2 burners look like it may be salvageable and this is apparently illegal. The problem is that the burners are now obsolete and so if the burner cannot be fixed, an entire new boiler will be needed.

Therefore any guidance as to how I should approach this would be appreciated. I know i will need to give the sellers a chance to repair it. They were informed within the allocated time that there was a problem with the system. Should I leave it to them to try and repair? Do they just have to get in back to any working condition or can i insist it has to be safe to use and operate? I know nothing can be upgraded and it doesnt have to meet current standards.

I look forward to your advice...

G_M

Why don't people read contracts before (or indeed after) signing?

Always bewilders me!

Sorry OP - not very constructive!

Lucy100

Thank you for your post. I did read the contract which said that the system had to be in working condition on day of moving in. I tested it the day I moved in and it didnt work. I contacted my solicitor who advised getting a trademan to assess the system to back to the sellers with - this is what i have done to date. Im not sure if i could have done anything differently?

TBagpuss

It looks as though you can get the work done if they don't sort it within 5 days. You can also ask your solicitor whether it would be classd as an emergency if the system hs been classed as unsafe.

I'd suggest that you ask you engineer whether the fact that the burners are obselete means that spare parts are dificul to find or whether they mean that it would notbe legal to replace, as that may mke a diference to where the line between repairs and upgrade lies.