Plumbing & Electric issues - covered up and lied to by sellers

User197098

Last year we purchased our first home. We had sent out someone to carry out the Home Buyer's report and there was nothing major noted. We also spoke with the previous owners as we knew them through a family friend. They told us when they purchased the house around 10 years ago they had it re-wired and had gutted out the place and the only things original were the door frames. This was lies. There were also heating & plumbing issues. On the handover day, after the seller's handed over the keys they sent me a text message to say they've handed them over. Once I collected the keys and went to the property I received another text saying how they noticed a small leak in the attic when they were moving out but it's probably just a simple fix and if we get a plumber to fix it they'll cover the cost. (https://imgur.com/gallery/qTYUISn)

This was no simple fix. They had the overflow pipe covered and piped into the main gutter to hide the water from constantly shooting out the over flow pipe when the heating was on (which is what would happen to let you know there is a problem somewhere). We had to have all of our radiators power flushed, the plumber was here from 9am -7pm that day and used 2-3 bottles of the stuff when he said normally you use a small bit and it will clear the system. He said it's the worst house he's ever come across and he was only able to clear 3/7 radiators so we had to get new ones. That mess with the pipes in the attic had to be corrected, we also needed a new boiler. To this day our heating is still not perfect and our hot water is non-existent. 

When I text the previous owner on the weekend we got the keys asking if there was anything wrong with the heating (as nothing was heating up when we turned it on) she said no there's nothing wrong and she found it was a very easy house to heat. After numerous plumbers visited the house and told me just how bad it was, we got onto our solicitor (this was probably a week after we got the keys) and we were to keep him updated with costs involved. He sent the sellers a letter but they've ignored it and she has since text me saying how dare I send her a solicitors letter and that she will pay up and she never said she wouldn't pay up. Yet here we are many months later and she's just ignoring my texts and hasn't paid a penny. So far we've spent thousands on the heating alone and now another issue is our electrics. I got an electrician out to upgrade our fuse box as it was a really old one in the house. He said the electrics in the house are a mess and it's the worst house he's also come across. He said the house will have to be rewired but if we're every planning on moving out of this house not to bother as it will be so much hassle. But the way I see it we'll be here for at least 5 years anyway and you don't want to have to worry about whether the house is going to go up in flames or not. 

So basically, the plumbing in the house is a mess, the house will need to be repiped and it will need rewired too. What I'm wondering is would anyone have any idea on how much it would cost to get all new piped in a 3 bed semi-detached and to have the house rewired and replastered? Would this be something we could claim under our house insurance to have done? We can't afford to do any of this work and had we have known these problems existed we wouldn't have bought the house. The house has already had about 4 leaks in it, 2 incidents where a fire could've been caused from the bad electrics. So I'm thinking would the house insurance be able to cover this work before something serious occurs, or would they just cover you AFTER the house were to flood or go on fire?

RedFraggle

Caveat Emptor I'm afraid. 
House insurance doesn't cover maintenance.

User197098

RedFraggle said:

Caveat Emptor I'm afraid. 
House insurance doesn't cover maintenance.

So by us not being able to afford to get everything done we would have to wait until something serious does happen to be able to claim from the insurance? For example last night we almost had a fire due to the electrics, thankfully we didn't and we had the distributor come out to disconnect the supply until an electrician was able to "fix" it. 

Disjoint

I don't think you really understand the purpose of insurance or how it works. If you buy a POS house that's completely broken down, it's not for them to fix it and pay for it. You can try - I've seen the pay stupidest claims in the past, but good luck and they likely have small prints saying that if you have an unsafe and not up to planning electrical installations it's your problem.

You seem to say you were misled and that the seller lied to you. If you can prove this (emails, text, etc...) Then you have a case. You had someone inspect the house - they missed all those issues you can turn against them. All of this will involve solicitors and a lot of money and you are not even sure you'll do ok.
You are in an awful situation, I only hope for you that you have concrete evidence that the seller told you things have been re-wired and the plumbing is new so you can try and turn against them for damage. If not "caveat emptor".

greatcrested

I'm not sure, but I suspect if you know there is a problem and ignore it, and then "something serious does happen" the insurance will not pay out as the insurer will say you have ignored routine maintenance....

macman

The Home Buyers Report you had done does not cover anything to do with the plumbing or electrics: a surveyor is not qualified to report on them and will only make at best a cursory visual inspection.
If you had merely glanced at the CU then it would have been obvious that the install was not done within the past 10 years. The wiring may well be old, but there is no requirement to update it retrospectively as the regs change.
Unfortunately you bought the property without making proper enquiries and are now paying a penalty for it.
You are doing all this the wrong way. If your solicitor has already sent her a letter or LBA then on no account should you be exchanging texts with her. If your solicitor thinks you have a case for misrepresentation, then follow their proposed course of action, which is presumably an LBA and then an action to follow. 
And no, you can't get your plumbing or wiring upgraded courtesy of your insurers just in case a future incident might occur....

macman

Just to clarify: if the faults were 'covered up' (i.e. not visible), then the vendor has done nothing wrong, it's up to you to pick up any defects during the survey and other inspections. However if the vendor lied, either verbally or on the PIF, then you might have a case. Obviously, if verbal only, proving it may be impossible. Your solicitor should have already advised you on this.

[Deleted User]

What country are you in? Pretty sure you have more protections in scotland than in england for stuff like this.    In England then you are doing well to even get an offer of payment then ignored, most will ignore it completely.

I assume your homebuyers report stated that they couldnt test the electrics or the plumbing as they werent qualified to do it?   Did you follow this up in any way with electricians report or plumbers reports?

User197098

Deleted_User said:

What country are you in? Pretty sure you have more protections in scotland than in england for stuff like this.    In England then you are doing well to even get an offer of payment then ignored, most will ignore it completely.

I assume your homebuyers report stated that they couldnt test the electrics or the plumbing as they werent qualified to do it?   Did you follow this up in any way with electricians report or plumbers reports?

In Northern Ireland. The home buyer's report stated he was unable to check the meter and the consumer unit because the garage was locked, but yet the meter & consumer unit are located under the stairs.....

He just said you should ask an appropriately qualified person to inspect the electrics.

We didn't follow these up because when we met with our solicitor after sending him the home buyer's report he went through it with us and said there's nothing of concern on it.

macman

Neither a solicitor or a surveyor are in any way qualified to comment on the electrical or plumbing systems, whether visible or not. Even had the CU been visible, all he might have said was that it seems 'old'. 'Old' is not in itself a safety issue. You have no comeback whatsoever with the surveyor: it was you who failed to make the proper inspections.
Your only possible case is if the vendors stated 'the house was completely rewired 10 years ago', and you can prove that it was not. 

[Deleted User]

I suspect you will enter in to a very long and frustrating game of 'pass the buck' if you try go after surveyor or solicitor for this

Caveat Emptor applies in NI so you have little comeback on this via the seller.

You could submit a claim to small claims court and see if it scares them in to paying something.  If it gets to court you are unlikely to win though.

I sympathise with you, my electrics blew on the day we bought the house with all the broken wires under concrete floors.  Just had to suck it up and pay for a rewire.