Homebuyer Survey didn't pick up shower pipes leakage

Archishard

Following the Homebuyer survey not revealing any major issue, I purchased a property.
As I moved in I discovered the shower leaks through the ceiling, flooding the kitchen floor. For as much as I know, it could even have rotten wood beams and would be considerable damage.

Do you know what can I do? Since the Homebuyer Report didn't pick up this problem, is there any legal action I can initiate?

I have home insurance but I would like to see what other options are available

user1977

Would the leak have been apparent to the surveyor when they inspected the property? If you can prove that, then yes you have a claim. 

Archishard

user1977 said:

Would the leak have been apparent to the surveyor when they inspected the property? If you can prove that, then yes you have a claim. 

The leak appeared when we used the shower, the water waste came right through the ceiling below. I don't think anyone ever used that shower before ( the shower was refitted new when I viewed the house )

user1977

Archishard said:

user1977 said:

Would the leak have been apparent to the surveyor when they inspected the property? If you can prove that, then yes you have a claim. 

The leak appeared when we used the shower, the water waste came right through the ceiling below. I don't think anyone ever used that shower before ( the shower was refitted new when I viewed the house )

The surveyor doesn't have a shower while they're there, so it doesn't sound like you have a claim against them. And if you got your own home buyer's report I presume you're not in Scotland where you may have had a claim against the vendor. 

Archishard

user1977 said:

Archishard said:

user1977 said:

Would the leak have been apparent to the surveyor when they inspected the property? If you can prove that, then yes you have a claim. 

The leak appeared when we used the shower, the water waste came right through the ceiling below. I don't think anyone ever used that shower before ( the shower was refitted new when I viewed the house )

The surveyor doesn't have a shower while they're there, so it doesn't sound like you have a claim against them. And if you got your own home buyer's report I presume you're not in Scotland where you may have had a claim against the vendor. 

Sorry I didn't explain myself.

The surveyor seen the shower, was finished when he surveyed the house.

user1977

Archishard said:

user1977 said:

Archishard said:

user1977 said:

Would the leak have been apparent to the surveyor when they inspected the property? If you can prove that, then yes you have a claim. 

The leak appeared when we used the shower, the water waste came right through the ceiling below. I don't think anyone ever used that shower before ( the shower was refitted new when I viewed the house )

The surveyor doesn't have a shower while they're there, so it doesn't sound like you have a claim against them. And if you got your own home buyer's report I presume you're not in Scotland where you may have had a claim against the vendor. 

The surveyor seen the shower, was finished when he surveyed the house.

But they couldn't have told you about a leak which wasn't apparent until after you used the shower. If there were, say, old water stains from previous leakage then yes they ought to have reported those. 

lookstraightahead

No, how was the surveyor supposed to tell? When you're deciding what checks to have, you should read the small print first about what they do on the surveys.

you just need to get a plumber in and get it fixed.

daveyjp

Two issues.

The Homebuyers will advise for competent persons to investigate services.  So you need a plumber, electrician and gas engineer if you want everything checking over.

The Homebuyers is done weeks before completion.  What was OK during a survey may not be 8-12 weeks later.

Davesnave

Archishard said:

user1977 said:

Archishard said:

user1977 said:

Would the leak have been apparent to the surveyor when they inspected the property? If you can prove that, then yes you have a claim. 

The leak appeared when we used the shower, the water waste came right through the ceiling below. I don't think anyone ever used that shower before ( the shower was refitted new when I viewed the house )

The surveyor doesn't have a shower while they're there, so it doesn't sound like you have a claim against them. And if you got your own home buyer's report I presume you're not in Scotland where you may have had a claim against the vendor. 

Sorry I didn't explain myself.

The surveyor seen the shower, was finished when he surveyed the house.

I see lots of showers in builders' merchants displays which would probably leak if they were supplied with water and switched on, but of course they're not.

Similarly, the surveyor saw the shower in your house, but being fully dressed he would not have turned it on, so couldn't know of any potential leak. Even if he'd tried it, any leak might not have been visible for an hour or two.

Even a buildings survey wouldn't have revealed this fault. If you look at survey descriptions, you'll see surveyors will not lift carpets and floorboards or move furniture, even with the more thorough surveys. While they might check water pressure at a tap, it's very unlikely every outlet in a house would be tested.

Expecting a shower test from a Homebuyer survey goes beyond what it's designed for, which is a very generalised report on the overall condition of a property.

fiveacre

These kind of leaks are part of the normal maintenance required with home ownership I'm afraid, and it's possible it only happened recently.

Fortunately they are normally fairly straightforward to repair, and if it's a new shower it might be that something just needs tightening or resealing.

[Deleted User]

Surveyors can't really report on anything that isn't visible to them. They can't just go ripping up peoples carpets and floorboards to have a look underneath. So unless there were visible signs that a leak had occurred, then the surveyor wouldn't have picked up on it. 

Just get a plumber in, i'm sure its probably a simple fix.