Denied existence of guarantee

distraction

Hello forum.

Got a tricky one, i found some live woodworms (furniture beetle) and called a provider who can treat such problems. There aren't many 'large' well-known brand contractors who do this sort of work, only a handful of big names.

Anyway, the surveyor who called, I think has been to my property before (for the previous owners). He found the historical evidence right away, was keen for me to use off the shelf products and even asked if i'd been charged for the survey (sounding slightly concerned). Also commenting that the joists looked 'dark' and might have already been treated.

I have strong intuition, and i'm absolutely convinced this company has likely carried out treatment within the last 2 years.

You may be thinking what are the chances, but there is only one surveyor covering a very large area, including mine.

However, since the visit I decided to email asking if a guarantee exists, and any such record of any treatment has been completly denied. They claimed to have looked but cannot find any record of ever treating the property, even though I know roughly when it would have been treated.

I believe this is for legal reasons, and I'm wondering what my options might be (data protection, GDPR, other legal routes court order etc). Or if anyone has any good ideas - asking the previous owners is not an option.

TELLIT01

Just because there is evidence of previous treatment, it's a huge jump to come to the conclusion that the surveyor who came to your house is somehow involved. Previous owners may have purchased treatment and done it themselves. They may have had a company recommended to them independantly.
Intuition has no weight in court. If as the company has already stated they have no record of any work on the property what would you expect to get from GDPR or any other source?
If there is nothing from the previous occupants to indicate if/when treatment was applied or by whom I don't think you will get anywhere.

sevenhills

distraction wrote: »

I have strong intuition, and i'm absolutely convinced this company has likely carried out treatment within the last 2 years.

Are you hoping that the previous owners possible treatment and warranty will be transferred to you?
I don't think that is how it works, they paid for the treatment, not you.

distraction

Well I’m under the impression the guarantees absolutely are transferable.

Equally, are they really going to sell treatment for something they have already treated?

I’m not pretending this isn’t a tricky situation but I don’t think it’s that black or white.

I’m just trying to get a grip on the best way forward, maybe they’d verbally agree to tell me what work had already been done without formally confirming it has any guarantee or something.....

fwor

distraction wrote: »

I’m not pretending this isn’t a tricky situation but I don’t think it’s that black or white.

It's not really a tricky situation. As you were not the original customer you have no contract and no statutory rights. If you have no evidence of a guarantee, and you have no proof that any original guarantee would have been transferable then you have no guarantee - full stop.

To that extent it is not tricky at all - you don't have any rights at all to call on against the company. You have no rights under GDPR or data protection, because the data you refer to (about the previous owner and alleged previous customer) is not data about you.

shaun_from_Africa

distraction wrote: »

Well I’m under the impression the guarantees absolutely are transferable.

Some guarantees are transferable and some are not as it all depends on the T&C's written into the original contract.
Even if transferable, there may be conditions about this, things such as the person who the original guarantee is made out to must complete a form to request the transfer or that it must be done within a certain time of the property being sold.

Is there any way that you can get a message to the previous owner of the property and ask if they have any details of the work & guarantee?

LadyDee

You could ask your solicitor if they raised the question of any guarantees for work with the vendors' solicitors? If they did and the answer is no, there's little you can do.