Radiator leaked and flooded house - liability?

One_Five_Four

Hello Folks,

A friend of mine had a (brand new) upstairs radiator supplied and fitted by a local plumber about three years ago. He guaranteed everything (parts and labour) for a year, and the radiator had a 10 year manufacturer's guarantee.

After 16 months, while my mate was away for a couple of days, the radiator developed a hole about 6mm diameter which flooded the house, running overnight until a neighbour who was keeping an eye on the place for him called in and found the disaster in progress. It did an awful lot of damage and they were out of the house for weeks afterwards.

It seems the radiator had a manufacturing fault. The plumber had added some stuff to the system ('Sentinel'?) when he fitted it that apparently prevents rusting.

My mate doesn't blame the plumber, but after 18 months of wrangling, the plumber has been sent a demand "under the Consumer Rights Act" by a "recoveries agency" for over £14,000.

Please can anyone advise if the plumber is actually liable for this, or should it be whoever he bought the radiator from, or the maker of it?

We assume it's not the plumber, of whom my mate speaks very highly (and still uses incidentally) but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks very much.

lincroft1710

If the radiator was fitted 3 years ago, then CRA wouldn't apply as it was not on the statute books, it was still the Sale of Goods Act

One_Five_Four

Thanks, it was fitted in early November 2014 so that's very interesting.

Diamandis

Did his insurance not cover this?

unholyangel

Firstly, as its more than 6 months from purchase the onus would be on your friend to prove that the goods didn't conform to contract (or that it was not installed with reasonable skill & care).

Once they had done that, then the party in breach would be liable for reasonable losses incurred due to that breach but as with all damages, they would be assessed on the basis of what was required to put them into the same position had the breach not happened and would be subject to the rules of mitigation - that you should take reasonable steps to minimise your losses where necessary and not take unreasonable steps to increase your losses. A loss must also be foreseeable in order for it to be recoverable whether that is losses arising from the natural course of things or losses arising from special circumstances the trader was aware of at the time of entering the contract.

One thing to note though is the value being claimed. Is this the value for like for like replacements or brand new replacements? I ask for a few reasons but mainly due to the financial limit on small claims and that costs are only fixed in small claims (meaning you could potentially be liable for legal costs).

One_Five_Four

Thanks for this. My mate has no problem with the plumber's workmanship. He told me the chap has worked for him on other jobs since this incident and he's been completely happy with him. He's confident there's no way he'd have fitted a radiator that he knew was likely to leak like this one did.

The plumber has received a breakdown of the costs (accommodation, damage to the house and contents, etc) which amount to just over £14000.

I don't think the loss could have been foreseeable as with a ten year guarantee, you wouldn't expect the radiator to fail so catastrophically in 16 months.

Chatting with my mate, he thinks this 'recoveries agency' are on a fishing expedition trying to frighten the plumber into paying for something that isn't his fault.

Would fact they've muddled up the appropriate legislation seem to back this up?

unholyangel

One_Five_Four wrote: »

Thanks for this. My mate has no problem with the plumber's workmanship. He told me the chap has worked for him on other jobs since this incident and he's been completely happy with him. He's confident there's no way he'd have fitted a radiator that he knew was likely to leak like this one did.

The plumber has received a breakdown of the costs (accommodation, damage to the house and contents, etc) which amount to just over £14000.

I don't think the loss could have been foreseeable as with a ten year guarantee, you wouldn't expect the radiator to fail so catastrophically in 16 months.

Chatting with my mate, he thinks this 'recoveries agency' are on a fishing expedition trying to frighten the plumber into paying for something that isn't his fault.

Would fact they've muddled up the appropriate legislation seem to back this up?

Who is this recovery agent you keep mentioning and who's instruction are they acting on if not your friends?

Where a product causes property damage or injury you can chase anyone in the supply chain - manufacturer, importer, retailer etc. But chase them on that basis and you are limited to product liability rules. Chase the party you had a contract with and you can also rely on your consumer rights & contractual rights rather than just product liability. He might feel that the plumber technically isn't at fault but if he supplied the goods then he certainly has liability for them.

The wrong legislation being quoted isn't a huge deal per say. CRA basically consolidated several pieces of legislation into one and many of the rights/obligations are very similar if not the exact same. But if the plumber supplied the goods and the contract was before 1st Oct 2015 then the relevant legislation would be the Supply of Goods & Services Act rather than the Consumer Rights Act or Sale of Goods Act.

One_Five_Four

Sorry if this all seems a bit vague. My mate is a bit of a dinosaur who doesn't use a computer, hence I'm posting stuff for him (after lengthy phone calls). I keep trying to get him on-line...!

I assume the recovery agent is a firm appointed by his home insurers to pursue the claim.

Can I ask, for how long after the installation of the radiator does the plumber have liability? Surely it can't be indefinite.

One_Five_Four

Sorry, re his insurance. I''ll have to get back to you on that (I assume he has some).

boo_star

One_Five_Four wrote: »

Sorry, re his insurance. I''ll have to get back to you on that (I assume he has some).

If it’s his insurance company doing it then all the plumber needs to do is direct them to his insurance company.

KeithP

A 6mm hole suddenly appeared?

I don't believe that.

The radiator was leaking long before the holiday and it is rather surprising that the householder didn't notice it many weeks earlier. He should've taken steps then to mitigate any loss.