Seller didnt disclose the boiler had been condemned!

camptownraces

What do you mean by "condemned"?

Was it that a landlord's gas safety certificate could not be issued, which could be down to a number of (relatively) insignificant things which are fixable,

or was it that a gas safe engineer pronounced that the boiler was dangerous and DISCONNECTED the gas.

Obviously your boiler wouldn't work if the gas has been disconnected.

Warning stickers on the boiler may well have been related to a landlord's duty to install carbon monoxide detectors on each floor. Doesn't mean that carbon monoxide will have been discharged.

SG27

quantumlobster wrote: »

Legal beagles will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that omitting to mention on the TA6 that - at the time of exchange - the boiler was condemned (rather than just being old etc) would be actionable. If it went titsup.com after exchange, that's unfortunate but probably tough noogies.

Was it condemned condemned (i.e. warning sticker on it, disconnected)?

One of the questions is: Is the heating system in good working order?

If they ticked yes and it was already broken/condemned or it was condemned before exchange and you were not informed then they lied and you can claim from them.

In reality you would possibly have to take them to court, would it be worth it?

AdrianC

SG27 wrote: »

In reality you would possibly have to take them to court, would it be worth it?

Even if you won, the award would be either the cost of fixing the boiler, or a pro-rata'd element towards the cost of replacement, whichever's lower.

If a boiler has a ~12-15yr expected life, and this is 20yo <random numbers>, then...

SeasideSally

When we bought our flat, the sellers neglected to tell us that the boiler died between us viewing the property and completion. They did, however, point out that it was very old.

When we bought our cottage, the sellers neglected to tell us that the boiler didn't work at all. They'd lived in the house for a year and a half with no heating system. It was so obviously an antique, though, that it wasn't a huge surprise.

In both cases, we wouldn't have been comfortable using a boiler that was as old as the ark anyway. Did we suffer any great loss? I don't think so. We used a few electric heaters until the new heating was installed.

fred246

In 2006 our boiler was covered by Domestic and General. I discovered it leaking and we called them out. The gas safe engineer diagnosed a leaky heat exchanger and it was condemned as 'beyond economic repair'. I had a look and spotted a leak on the nut connecting the pipe to the heat exchanger. I fixed it with a roll of PTFE tape costing 99p. It has worked fine ever since.

Bonniepurple

We were assured that our boiler was working, however we also knew it was older than my husband (then about to turn 40!) and that my in laws identical boiler had been condemned a year earlier. We tried to get it going but it wasn’t having any. We’d already budgeted for a new boiler.

lincroft1710

AdrianC wrote: »

Even if you won, the award would be either the cost of fixing the boiler, or a pro-rata'd element towards the cost of replacement, whichever's lower.

If a boiler has a ~12-15yr expected life, and this is 20yo <random numbers>, then...

This is the reality, you cannot claim for betterment (i.e. new boiler), you can only claim for the cost of fixing the boiler or what would in effect be a nominal contribution to the cost of a replacement. Even if you claimed for the value difference between a working and non working boiler of the age yours was, I think you would be talking peanuts.

PassingOutInTheParade

I'm perplexed by these stickers that have been mentioned earlier in the thread.

If they weren't there, how did you know they were there in the first place?
Or did Schrödinger's cat put them there?

millie

My son took his seller to the small claims court when he discovered his boiler did not work the day he moved in. he had filled the form in stating it was in working order but there was an old blanket in the cupboard underneath to catch the water that was leaking. a Gas engineer we called out said it was beyond repair and had obviously been like this for sometime. He settled out of court in the end for £1000. He took pictures of the blanket in the cupboard so the seller could not really deny it.

System

A good solicitor/conveyancer would have asked for some form of evidence from the buyer that the boiler was gas safe. I have just sold a property and I had to provide the buyer's solicitor with copies of the last serving certificates for the boiler and two gas fires. The services were carried out in April and exchange didn't happen until June. If the buyer was concerned about what they read on the reports then it was up to them to pay for a further inspection before change of contracts.