Brought house then discovered it wont heat properly and the seller hid damp

sheramber

[Deleted User] said:

sheramber said:

I am in Scotland. When I sold my house I had the option to state that everything was in working order or to decline.

I declined.  Not because things weren't working,  but Sod's Law something would have broken down  shortly  after moving in.

You couldn't legally have any comeback for stating the facts in good faith. That aside, is that all they ask you? Don't you have to say what's working and what's not? Otherwise a null answer could mean anything from the landing lightbulb flickering to the electrics and plumbing not working. Or, in your case, everything is working just fine.

My solicitor just advised me that I could state  that  I undertook that everything  was  in working order or I could not state it. I( I think that might result in such a clause in the standard missive being omitted.)

It was stated that I would not accept any claim  over £300 for any such items . Any claim must be made within 5 days of entry date. 

[Deleted User]

sheramber said:

[Deleted User] said:

sheramber said:

I am in Scotland. When I sold my house I had the option to state that everything was in working order or to decline.

I declined.  Not because things weren't working,  but Sod's Law something would have broken down  shortly  after moving in.

You couldn't legally have any comeback for stating the facts in good faith. That aside, is that all they ask you? Don't you have to say what's working and what's not? Otherwise a null answer could mean anything from the landing lightbulb flickering to the electrics and plumbing not working. Or, in your case, everything is working just fine.

My solicitor just advised me that I could state  that  I undertook that everything  was  in working order or I could not state it. I( I think that might result in such a clause in the standard missive being omitted.)

It was stated that I would not accept any claim  over £300 for any such items . Any claim must be made within 5 days of entry date. 

I think Scottish conveyancing has certain benefits over the English version, but that doesn't appear to be one of them. How bizarre.

koalakoala

I’m in Scotland and have never heard of that.
There are boxes to tick
One house we bought stated the heating was 5 years old
When we moved in most of the rads were original ( nearly 30 years old)
I complained to solicitor who said heating is only the boiler
it was rubbish and started leaking, so we just binned the lot and got a whole lot of new
Lesson learned

user1977

koalakoala said:

I’m in Scotland and have never heard of that.

It's been a standard clause for decades. 

[Deleted User]

BikingBud said:

[Deleted User] said:

Confirm its not user error. On the boiler set the temperature to 75. Carefully check if the heaters are hot to touch. Tell us what boiler it is and how old it is. 

I once had a tenant who told me the heating wasnt working, he hadnt bled the radiator.

Well it wasn't. The fact that it is a simple fix doesn't mean it was working. To some without any technical knowledge room not getting warm means heat not working.

Did you explain or demonstrate how to diagnose and fix? And ensure there wasn't a persistent problem so it would  not recur?

What a strange reply. You are apparantly very triggered by landlord tenant issues. The heater needed bled and it worked. Thats the story. I am here to help OP not to answer your questions. There may be steps OP can take as a user to troubleshoot the system. 

Emmia

Our sellers hid a mould issue in the bathrooms by painting over it with regular emulsion, we moved in, used the bathrooms, which because of inadequate ventilation went mouldy again. 

We bought a dehumidifier, upgraded the extractor fans and repainted with appropriate paint after doing some mould killing. We didn't go back to the sellers for "rectification".

BikingBud

[Deleted User] said:

BikingBud said:

[Deleted User] said:

Confirm its not user error. On the boiler set the temperature to 75. Carefully check if the heaters are hot to touch. Tell us what boiler it is and how old it is. 

I once had a tenant who told me the heating wasnt working, he hadnt bled the radiator.

Well it wasn't. The fact that it is a simple fix doesn't mean it was working. To some without any technical knowledge room not getting warm means heat not working.

Did you explain or demonstrate how to diagnose and fix? And ensure there wasn't a persistent problem so it would  not recur?

What a strange reply. You are apparantly very triggered by landlord tenant issues. The heater needed bled and it worked. Thats the story. I am here to help OP not to answer your questions. There may be steps OP can take as a user to troubleshoot the system. 

Not triggered at all, perhaps you have a persecution complex.

But assuming people have technical knowledge of heating systems, in fact any knowledge, is folly.

We see many people on all of these boards that have problems, some due to simple misunderstandings, some due to lack of knowledge, some due to deliberately making the wrong choices and trying to recover the situation.

I repeat if the radiators are not getting hot the heating isn't working. Denigrating someone because they do not understand how systems work and how to diagnose symptoms, cold at bottom, cold at top etc is not required. Providing some knowledge and increasing their ability to self treat will pay off for you when they don't call for a repair again. And perhaps save you cost in the long run as they could report a recurrent issue that might indicate you have leaks or pump problems before they become too severe. Or you could just laugh at them because they didn't understand the heating system.

moneysaver

Flugelhorn said:

moneysaver said:

bouicca21 said:

When I bought my last house we soon discovered that it was so cold that at night we had to sleep with coats and/or dressing gowns on.  The answer turned out to be simple - the boiler was the wrong size for the house.  Never occurred to us to try and get compensation.  Just scrimped and saved for a new boiler …

More fool you. The rules of buying houses are clear so things are not hidden and broken, there are plenty of sellers out there who will hide or disguise things.

Moneysaver

are you in Scotland @moneysaver - I think the rules may be different there

Yes I am in Scotland. Sorry if I am wrong.

Moneysaver

moneysaver

AskAsk said:

moneysaver said:

bouicca21 said:

When I bought my last house we soon discovered that it was so cold that at night we had to sleep with coats and/or dressing gowns on.  The answer turned out to be simple - the boiler was the wrong size for the house.  Never occurred to us to try and get compensation.  Just scrimped and saved for a new boiler …

More fool you. The rules of buying houses are clear so things are not hidden and broken, there are plenty of sellers out there who will hide or disguise things.

Moneysaver

you are totally wrong.  as a buyer, you can not rely simply on the TA6 answers for the central heating being in working order, that just means it turns on and is safe.  it doesn't mean it has to work efficiently.

if you read your survey, the surveyor will always says that he hasn't fully tested the central heating system and would recommend that this get tested by a gas safe engineer.

so it is the buyer's responsibility to get the central heating system tested before purchase if he wants to make sure that it is working.  most buyers don't bother with this and they probably should do, but if you never instructed an inspection by a gas safe engineer before purchase then you can't ask for compensation after purchase as you didn't do your due dilligence as advised by the survey.

I am in Scotland it seems the rules may be different here. I once bought a house & when I moved in the electric shower was not heating up, the seller had to pay to get it repaired.

Moneysaver

bobster2

BikingBud said:

I repeat if the radiators are not getting hot the heating isn't working. Denigrating someone because they do not understand how systems work and how to diagnose symptoms, cold at bottom, cold at top etc is not required. Providing some knowledge and increasing their ability to self treat will pay off for you when they don't call for a repair again. And perhaps save you cost in the long run as they could report a recurrent issue that might indicate you have leaks or pump problems before they become too severe. Or you could just laugh at them because they didn't understand the heating system.

The issue here is not what some people need help with - it's what should be declared as in "good working order" on a TA6.

 A heating system that works fine when the boiler output temperature is set to an appropriate value is a heating system that is in "good working order".

A heating system that works fine when radiators have been bled of air (routine maintenance) is a heating system that is in "good working order".

Next you'll be telling us that a tap with no water flowing out of it (because an isolation valve has been closed) isn't "in good working order".