Compensation for a house bought in poor state

user1977

Not much clarity added! When did they exchange contracts? When was completion?

Debbie9009

Not sure if I am reading this correctly, are you saying the previous owners should have looked after/checked up on the house between completion and your friends moving in?

If so words fail me !

elsien

If they knew the boiler was old and inside a wall (what does that actually mean??)  the surveyor probably made some recommendations about what they needed to investigate. Did they do that? Did they put money aside knowing that there was an old boiler in there? It’s entirely possible that it was working at the time the questions were asked and has failed since. 

It’s also normal if there’s a long gap between viewing and exchange to visit again to doublecheck what you’re committing to before you sign on the dotted line. Did they do that?
Did they take out insurance on the property when they exchanged?
Did they get a proper survey or were they just relying on the mortgage surveyors report?

 They really need to say when they exchanged, when they completed and when they moved in for anyone to get any sense of what’s happened here.

gingercordial

albelmel said:

Thanks for your answers.

To clarify my message:

The last time they saw the house was in August, the heating was off. When they did the inspection they said the heating was off because it only turns on from 7pm to 8am they were told the boiler was old but was working. The guy who did the survey didn’t check anything else because the boiler is inside the wall.


Who told them the boiler was working?  The owners?  The estate agent?  Or was it written on the formal property information form? 

Did they ask to see a recent boiler service receipt as proof?  If the surveyor couldn't check (and presumably their report says it wasn't checked, not that it was OK) they could have asked for a separate proper boiler check or service to be carried out.


When my friend saw the report he called the sales agent to make sure the boiler was working and he was told the boiler was indeed working.  What an estate agent says means nothing legally.

To save money, the previous owners turned off the boiler which caused the pipes to burst and the boiler to break leaving a mess for the new owners as they were not warned about this. I do feel the previous owners should keep a house in good state until the new owners move in.

The house wasn’t bought in an auction.

Does this mean they made an offer in August but didn't exchange until recently?  In which case they should have inspected again before exchange, and would have seen the damage.

If they exchanged in August, and only just completed, they were responsible for insuring the property in between and so maybe could claim on that. Their solicitors should have explained the big risk of a long gap.

If they completed back in August and only just moved in, why would the previous owners have any responsibility for anything that happened under new ownership? 

NameUnavailable

Regardless, the answer is no. It is recommended that you visit prior to exchange of contracts to check things out as once you exchange the property is effectively yours (theirs) and has to be insured.

It's possible they may be able to make a claim under the insurance for damage from the burst pipes but that's about it.

Slinky

Are we talking about a back boiler here? I know of them but nothing about them, apart from they haven't been installed new for years.

It sounds as though the purchase was agreed last August but exchange and completion have taken place much more recently. They really should have made the effort to do another inspection before exchange given the length of time involved.

Yes it's a nuisance, but there's always things you find when buying an older house that you end up shelling out money for, even if you have had a full survey. That's home ownership for you.

RAS

Did your friend visit the house again before exchange? As that is pretty much essential.

If the water damage happened before exchange and your friend had seen it, they could have insisted on £5kish off the price.

I know with that with my mum's house, the boiler was working when the new purchaser came round to measure up the evening before exchange. I don't know if it was working at the end of that week, despite being serviced a few months previously.

albelmel

They didn’t see the house prior to exchange, this was obviously a mistake but I didn’t see mine either and was absolutely fine.

The problem is when they saw the house someone was living there but when the sale moved forward they left the house empty. They asked the neighbours and said the house has been empty for a few months.

The knew they needed to change the boiler sooner or later but they didn’t knew it wasn’t working at all which obviously is different as you can’t really live without heating.

Thank you for your replies, I guess they can’t do much about it, just a bad experience.

Section62

albelmel said:

The knew they needed to change the boiler sooner or later but they didn’t knew it wasn’t working at all which obviously is different as you can’t really live without heating.

People lived without (central) heating for millennia before it was invented.

Short-term some cheap electric heaters will take the chill off in the rooms they are using (although don't use portable electric heaters in the bathroom).

If it is a back boiler then they will almost certainly need to move the new one to an external wall with some fairly extensive replumbing work to connect it to the system.  This should have been factored in to the amount offered for the property (and/or holding enough money back to do the work).

Although if it is a back boiler it is somewhat surprising that lack of use/cold has affected it.  They are simple and solidly built.  I'd at least try to find someone (Gas safe) who knows how to service/repair older boilers - there's a good chance people used to working on newer models will just tell you it is beyond repair without even looking at it.

propertyrental

albelmel said:

The last time they saw the house was in August,
and when did they Exchange Contracts?
and when was Completion?

the heating was off. When they did the inspection they said the heating was off because it only turns on from 7pm to 8am
did they press the 'over-ride' button, or '1 hour heating' button to see if the boiler switched on?
they were told the boiler was old but was working.
told by who?
How- in writing as part of the contract?
The guy who did the survey didn’t check anything else because the boiler is inside the wall.
I assume you mean a surveyor? Surveyors are not gasSafe registered so never inspect gas boilers. But in their srvey reports they (almost) always recommend getting a gasSafe engineer to inspect and report.
Did they get a gasSafe egineer's report?

When my friend saw the report he called the sales agent to make sure the boiler was working
!!!!?? Why? the sales agent is also not a gasSafe engineer, plus he is biased. Definitely not the right person to ask!
 and he was told the boiler was indeed working.

To save money, the previous owners turned off the boiler which caused the pipes to burst
If this was August (summer) turning off the boiler would not cause the pipes to burst
and the boiler to break
turning off the boiler, whether summer or winter, is highly unlikely to cause a boiler to 'break'.
leaving a mess for the new owners as they were not warned about this. 
Did they inspect just before Exchange? The property at Completion should be in the same condition as at Exchange. 
But it is unclear when Exchange, and Completion, happened.
I do feel the previous owners should keep a house in good state until the new owners move in.
he property at Completion should be in the same condition as at Exchange. 
The house wasn’t bought in an auction.

you say:

The last time they saw the house was in August,

and

bought at the end of summer

and 

They finally moved in last month

so the most likely scenario is that the burst pipes happened in the autumn/winter after the purchase. Why did your friend not protect the house during that period?