Leaking radiator in a new flat

SonnyH

Hi,


I purchased a brand new flat from a developer about two and half years ago. We've had a number of problems with it, the biggest being that when installing the shared heating system the contractor messed something up which meant we had lots of corrosion issues in the complex, including burst pipes and radiators. The developer refused to replace all the radiators (in all flats) at the time, only changing those that showed up as issues.


The warranty period has now passed, and I have a radiator that has the same problem (leaking from a rust hole in the bottom of the radiator). I contacted the developer, who have told me they will not cover the cost.


I am now looking at taking this to the small claims court but have no experience. Is it worth it, and can I make the claim under the Consumer Rights Act 2015? Regardless of the known issue above, I'd expect a new radiator in a new flat to last a lot longer than two and half years.


Any thoughts/advice/experience much appreciated!



Thanks.

Mr.Generous

Unless its a very unusual radiator just change it, have you looked at the price of a new rad? Always top up the system with inhibitor, we pay about £5 per ltr from a local trade place, toolstation do it quite cheap and also have rads on clearance prices.

What £ value would you say its worth taking legal action over? £25 £50? £100 £250? other?

SonnyH

Many thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, it's a shared heating system (on a heat exchange unit) so I can't add anything into the system as far as I'm aware.


Plumber has quoted £375 to supply, fit and make good so not an insubstantial cost and worth taking legal action over, but only with a good chance of a favourable outcome. I've never used the small claims court before, and am not even sure the Consumer Rights Act 2015 covers such an issue?

George_Michael

SonnyH wrote: »

Plumber has quoted £375 to supply, fit and make good so not an insubstantial cost and worth taking legal action over,

Before considering legal action, you need to see if the plumber would be willing to write you out a report stating why they think that the rad has started leaking. Provided that they say reason is due to poor manufacture or an installation problem then you should have a reasonable chance of winning in court.
Without this evidence, all the developer has to do is to state that there was nothing wrong with the radiator so you must have damaged it and caused the leak.

wesleyad

Houses aren't covered under CRA, so that's you main problem. I don't know if anyone has set a precedent for applying the CRA to the parts inside a new home (dont think so)? If so:

After 6 months it's up to you to show the fault is inherent. Given the same fault was acknowledged by the developer multiple times then that should be easy enough.

Before legal action I'd send a letter giving them another chance to pay else you have been advised to take to court. Often they will cave before that happens.

SonnyH

Houses aren't covered under CRA, so that's you main problem. I don't know if anyone has set a precedent for applying the CRA to the parts inside a new home (dont think so)?

I think that's where a case may fall down. My understanding is that houses ARE covered under the CRA (at least, in regards to fairness terms in contracts). But, applying to parts within a new home - perhaps not (although, one could argue that an inherent problem with a part in a new car would count as a breach so why should this be any different to a part in a new house)?

JJ_Egan

LBA and see what they say .
Next action under CR but you may need a report stating manufacturing fault etc .
Get nowhere Small Claims next .
But for me i would look to swap out the rad first .

bris

£375 to change a radiator is excessive, you need other quotes.


A radiator will take around an hour to change so unless it's some kind of fancy designer radiator, which I doubt with developers, then then the plumber is playing you for a fool.