Roof guarantee

Tiggy_Wiggy

We bought our house 2 years ago, the previous owners, had had the roof on the conservatory replaced and told us there was a 10 year guarantee.

During heavy rain recently we noticed a couple of leaks. Obviously we thought, as it was still within the guarantee period, we should be covered by the guarantee, so contacted the company.

They have stated that in order for us to claim on the guarantee we need to pay a £350 transfer fee from previous owners to us. And that they (Roof company), should've been contacted prior to the house changing hands.

So a couple of questions, is this something the seller should've told us before sale? Should our solicitors have picked this up? Is this an acceptable amount to pay for transferring a guatantee?Nowhere in the sales document that we have, does it mention this level of fee.

Thanks in advance.

babyblade41

Your solicitor should have requested the guarantee from seller and checked the small print to see if the transfer fee is in the contract .
I take it that it wasn't asked for as the T's & C's would tell you what fees are

need_an_answer

That's quite a standard thing on roof and even windows.

Yes the seller possibly should have paid the fee or at least agreed a partial or no payment with you,however I suspect that they never actually read the guarantee in the first place...

Should your solicitor have picked it up,yes again maybe,but only if they had been sent the documentation to pass on to you.

If the guarantee document was passed over to you on the purchase of the property then you too would/could have read the policy and would have been aware of the conditions.

Whether the amount of £350 is a fair amount to transfer to your name,its in line with other guarantees of similar type that I have seen.

You now need to decide whether the work that needs doing is going to cost less than the transfer amount and any excess,also being mindful of any exclusions in the policy....read it carefully before you decide

Davesnave

need_an_answer wrote: »

You now need to decide whether the work that needs doing is going to cost less than the transfer amount and any excess,also being mindful of any exclusions in the policy....read it carefully before you decide

Yes, it would be folly to pay £350 to have someone squirt a bit of silicone into a crack. That's the level of expertise one can expect from some conservatory companies.

The most important thing to work out is whether these leaks are the result of structural failure. Last summer's drought revealed serious issues with inadequate conservatory foundations;a number of people reporting on 'In my Home' that their conservatory had moved.

davidmcn

Tiggy_Wiggy wrote: »

They have stated that in order for us to claim on the guarantee we need to pay a £350 transfer fee from previous owners to us. And that they (Roof company), should've been contacted prior to the house changing hands.

Rather than just accept the word of the company, is that what the guarantee itself says?

Should our solicitors have picked this up?

Did they know there was meant to be a guarantee?

babyblade41

On the sales particular forms it normally asks if there are any guarantees on anything and if they are available so I presume the vendors said yes as how would OP know it was still under warranty ?

davidmcn

babyblade41 wrote: »

On the sales particular forms it normally asks if there are any guarantees on anything and if they are available so I presume the vendors said yes as how would OP know it was still under warranty ?

It is possible for buyers and sellers to communicate other than via the medium of property information forms... They might for example have been told it at a viewing.

babyblade41

davidmcn wrote: »

It is possible for buyers and sellers to communicate other than via the medium of property information forms... They might for example have been told it at a viewing.

Absolutely but if they had the guarantee would be available wouldn't it ??

need_an_answer

The OP doesn't say how much of the guarantee remains of the 10 year original one, other than they have lived at the property for 2 years...

It may be that there are is only a short lifespan of guarantee left,depending on the severity of the work required it may not even be cost effective to go down the route of guarantee transfer and just opt for a repair by a trusted tradesman..get some quotes before committing back to the guarantee,simply because of the admin cost to transfer ownership.


Its not uncommon for people to know there is guarantee available but not actually read the full terms and conditions of a policy until it is actually needed.

no doubt the seller used the guarantee as a point to talk about when selling the property at a viewing,however I also doubt they had really read the policy and on the other side the OP hasn't actually investigated the guarantee until such time as they needed to make use of it 2 years after buying the property.

No ones fault really just a case of you shouldn't always take things at face value ..and documents are well worth reading at the earliest opportunity

G_M

* get a local tradesman to quote for fixing. As suggested, this might be £20 labour to squirt some sealant, or might be the result of foundations moving......

* when was the installation done? Day before you bought (2 years ago)? Or 7 years before that (so only 1 year guarantee left)?

* was solicitor responsible for not arranging transfer? Depends if he knew of the guarantee and was given/asked for a copy of the terms

* were you responsible? Depends if you knew of the guarantee and were given/asked for a copy of the terms


* should seller have transferred it to you? Yes, if that was what you agreed with him. At his cost or yours? Depends what you agreed.

Tiggy_Wiggy

Thanks all for your comments. Installation of the conservatory roof was April 2013. The guarantee says Conservatory roof guaranteed for 10 years against failure. Supalite roof tiles are guaranteed for 25 years.

I've read the sales document, point 14 states the following. "If the purchaser sells the property the Company will on request transfer the unexpired portion of the guarantee to the new owner, provided that the request has been made prior to sale and the installation has not been neglected or misused. The Company may ask to inspect the property prior to agreeing to the transfer. The Company reserves the right to charge the purchaser a transfer fee, which is currently set at £35. The Company reserves the right to increase this fee annually in line with RPI".