Timber Guarantee

youth_leader

Hello, I moved into my new purchase in mid March.  I've only just got around to contacting the company who gave the 25 year Certificate of Guarantee for timber works dated 2016, unfortunately the company liquidated in 2018.  The seller didn't leave the survey report, so I don't know what work was actually done, and my surveyor said he thought I might have woodworm in the loft.    I've also realised she didn't leave me a damp guarantee which was ticked on the form.  

Is it worth pursuing,  or should I just put it down to experience? 

AdrianC

Was the warranty independently insurance-backed, or just by the no-longer-extant treatment firm?

Ask your solicitor to chase the damp warranty, but expect that to be similarly valuable.

youth_leader

Thanks Adrian, there isn't an insurance company mentioned unfortunately. 
I've double checked the folder the vendor left me and there isn't a damp warranty at all, I did ask for sight of them during the conveyancing and my solicitor said I'd get them at completion.
I won't be selling again until I need care, so will wait a while!

AdrianC

youth_leader said:

Thanks Adrian, there isn't an insurance company mentioned unfortunately.

Then it will be the typical self-issued warranty.

Think of it as "I'll see you right, mate..." from somebody who died three years ago.

ss2020jd

youth_leader said:

Thanks Adrian, there isn't an insurance company mentioned unfortunately. 
I've double checked the folder the vendor left me and there isn't a damp warranty at all, I did ask for sight of them during the conveyancing and my solicitor said I'd get them at completion.
I won't be selling again until I need care, so will wait a while!

Yes I would have though your solicitor would have requested them - or at least copies - before completion.
I managed to track down a copy of mine and it says that as the seller, on disposal of the property, I have to send the guarantee back to the company with a fee and the new owners names so they can transfer to them but after the sale.

Doozergirl

I bet you don't have woodworm. 

It's probably from when the wood was new.   The larvae eat their way out of fresh, juicy wood.  When it's old and dry, there's nothing interesting to eat.  

If it's damp, then there's a possibility, but there's no genuine reason for spraying timbers.  

youth_leader

Thank you very much for your comments.  I've got a company coming to look at the 'cavity ties' in the bay window, and apparently they do wood too, I'm going to ask them to look at it as I would like the loft boarded.  I've bought a pole and a boat hook I need to attach to it so I can pull the loft ladder down, I've been a bit scared of doing it.  I had to laugh when people asked if my period house loft was boarded, with a trillion things to do it never even got onto the list!

youth_leader

I don't often have good luck, but I have had some today! My surveyor offered to put me in touch with the cavity tie company and has just made the appointment asking them to look at the timbers as well -  apparently they did the woodworm treatment here in 2012 and it is still under their guarantee.  Surveyor thinks the guarantee might have been lost during the 2012 sale, hence the new company coming in.  One less bill to pay!

youth_leader

Since writing I've now discovered I have wet/dry rot and woodworm in the front bedroom, and the weyroc in the other two bedrooms is black with mould. 

I've had a surveyor round from the company that recently gave me the 2012 woodworm guarantee for the loft,  and have been quoted £5K plus VAT for ripping out the floorboards in this front bedroom and the weyroc in the other  bedroom.  Apparently it will cost more to have the other bedroom investigated.  Half of the back bedroom floor is concrete, it was extended when they built the extension, there are at least six airbricks in the external wall.  The surveyor believed water is getting under the bungalow somehow, I did look under the floor when it was raining but couldn't see any pools forming in the limited view I had.

With this huge unexpected bill I decided to contact my seller by text to ask her what she had done in 2016, and who did it.  I only knew she'd had the floors ripped out because of the neighbour opposite.  She was kind enough to reply, and is adamant she left me both the guarantee as well as the surveys for both the floors and the attic woodworm treatment.  I didn't receive the surveys, when I got here I only had the one sheet guarantee. As the company no longer exists it doesn't matter, but it was useful that she has told me it was recommended she replace all flooring in both bedrooms, the hall, and the bathroom.  Onwards and upwards!