Law Society Property Information Form

ReX

Hi,

My partner and I recently bought a fully refurbished house and we are in the process of moving.

As expected we found some issues, like new appliances not installed properly and minor (hidden) damages.

The main issue is the combi-boiler not switching on. It was installed during the renovation (in 2015), tested (there is a printed test result) but I suppose never used since then. The vendor/developer didn't send the registration letter, the warranty expired in 12 months instead of 24.

In the "Law Society Property Information Form" he declared that the heating system was in good working order (section 12.3 - "Central heating") even if under "Guarantees" (section 5) he states that no warranty is provided.

Can we pretend he repairs the boiler or the Form has no legal value?

Thanks!

Cakeguts

Pretending on law forms is called lying. You have to answer the questions truthfully.

Kyresa

The problem is, to the best of "his" knowledge, it was in good working order. I always advise that you should get heating/electrics/water etc checked out "yourself" prior to exchange. At exchange you take the property as is and you are responsible for checking out all the information given prior to that I'm afraid.

AdrianC

ReX wrote: »

The main issue is the combi-boiler not switching on. It was installed during the renovation (in 2015), tested (there is a printed test result) but I suppose never used since then. The vendor/developer didn't send the registration letter, the warranty expired in 12 months instead of 24.

In the "Law Society Property Information Form" he declared that the heating system was in good working order (section 12.3 - "Central heating") even if under "Guarantees" (section 5) he states that no warranty is provided.

Can we pretend he repairs the boiler or the Form has no legal value?

The form does have legal value. He's stated that there's no warranty and - to the best of his knowledge - it works. His knowledge was clearly faulty. He wasn't living there, I presume, so that's not necessarily a great surprise.

What did your own pre-purchase tests show?

TBH, after sitting unused for two years, it's certainly due a service anyway. So just get a local engineer to service it, and sort whatever the (probably minor) problem is...

ReX

Thanks all for the replies.

We had other issues during the purchase process, so we hadn't a chance to test the heating system. It was supposed to be new and we were given a gas certificate dated 2016 where the boiler was marked as functional.

Sounds like "the best of his knowledge" could be a caveat for the vendor to not sort any problem post sale. I don't really get what is the point of of this form, since anyone can object that "he didn't know that".

Biasi help-line gave me two local contacts, I suppose I'll try with them first!

Kyresa

ReX wrote: »

Thanks all for the replies.

We had other issues during the purchase process, so we hadn't a chance to test the heating system. It was supposed to be new and we were given a gas certificate dated 2016 where the boiler was marked as functional.

Sounds like "the best of his knowledge" could be a caveat for the vendor to not sort any problem post sale. I don't really get what is the point of of this form, since anyone can object that "he didn't know that".

Biasi help-line gave me two local contacts, I suppose I'll try with them first!

And that's the problem. If you wanted recourse to the seller you would have to sue. Unfortunately "well we didn't have time to test it" wouldn't hold up in court It's your responsibility to get it checked. It would cost you more to sue than it would to just have someone look at the boiler to be honest

ReX

Kyresa wrote: »

And that's the problem. If you wanted recourse to the seller you would have to sue. Unfortunately "well we didn't have time to test it" wouldn't hold up in court It's your responsibility to get it checked. It would cost you more to sue than it would to just have someone look at the boiler to be honest

Yep, I think you are right. Let's say that we had already accounted some surprises, so we can live with it :-).