Limited construction business - claim for historical work

hughie2020

My partner has recently bought a limited construction business. 

He received an email from someone claiming structural damage caused by a leaking velux window fitted in April 2022, and requesting for it to be fixed under a 10yr builders warranty. It seems that this work was completed by the previous owner, before the business was registered with companies house in Sept 2022. What are our/ do we have any obligations here? 

user1977

I can't see it has any relevance to the limited company. I assume nothing daft happened like the warranty being granted months later by the limited company?

Hoenir

On a broader level what level of due diligence was performed prior to purchasing the company? 

What agreement was reached with the previous owners with regards to potential undisclosed liabilities? Has some of the purchase consideration been deferred? 

Tucosalamanca

One has to ask, why would they buy a construction company that was registered in 2022?

It's barely established, setting up a new company would be far more straightforward and avoid issues such as this.

The problem sounds like an insurance claim, consequential damage is unlikely to be covered by warranty.

You could always tell them that the business isn't liable as it wasn't established at the time of the works and wait for their next move?

Your partner should be on top of this, they're proprietor and decision maker.

I'd suggest that they quickly need to 'up their game' if they want to run a successful business....

DullGreyGuy

hughie2020 said:

My partner has recently bought a limited construction business. 

He received an email from someone claiming structural damage caused by a leaking velux window fitted in April 2022, and requesting for it to be fixed under a 10yr builders warranty. It seems that this work was completed by the previous owner, before the business was registered with companies house in Sept 2022. What are our/ do we have any obligations here? 

When you buy a limited company you buy all its liabilities too, thats why when you see these companies going bust the "buyers" only buy the brand name, stock and IP but not the company itself. 

Presumably you have searched for companies that previously used the same name? They may or may not be related to the person who you bought the company from. 

Ultimately if they are claiming for something that pre-dates the formation of this legal entity then you just need to write back stating the company was founded in September 2022 and as such cannot have been involved in work done in April 2022