Consumer rights in a private sale?

Okell

jimmymacd said:

Okell said:

jimmymacd said:

I recently bought a second hand oil fired combi boiler as ours was condemned and we don't have the money for grant scheme or new.
... After contacting a seller on ebay, I thought I had found the perfect solution. The seller informed me by email that the unit was installed 5 years a go ...

I don't want to be unduly pedantic, but it being installed 5 years ago is not necessarily inconsistent with it being 10 years old...

As others have said, whether you have any rights as a purchaser depends on whether he misrepresented the boiler in the advert and whether he answered truthfully any questions that you might have asked him.

Go back to him and see if you can squeeze any more out of him.  If you can't you'll have to decide whether you want to go down the route of suing him and sending a formal "Letter Before Claim" etc.  You don't need a lawyer you can do it yourself if you are willing to invest some time in it.

It was installed 12 years a go which he has accepted and not 5 years as he had claimed prior to purchase.

OK.  If you are saying* that (1) he advertised the boiler as being installed at that house 5 years ago, but (2) the paperwork shows that it was installed at that house nearly 12 years ago, then yes, you probably have a claim against him under both the Misrepresentation Act and the Consumer Rights Act.

I have no idea of the respective values of a second hand 5-year old boiler as compared to a 12-year old one, but I assume you have a better idea than I do.  I suggest you go back to the seller, point out that his advert misrepresented the boiler and that it is not as described and that you want a refund of £nnn** and see how it goes from there.

If you can't reach a mutually acceptable amount or if he won't won't cough up, you'll have to decide if it's worth your while issuing a court claim against him.  But bear in mind that winning a claim is often a different matter from getting paid...   [Edit:  If you can't agree an amount acceptable to you or he won't pay up, come back here for more advice before doing anything else]


*The point being made earlier was that a boiler "installed 5 years" ago doesn't necessarily mean either that it hadn't already been installed at a different location 12 years ago or that it wasn't 12 years old.  It might have been installed second hand 5 years ago at the house you bought it from.  You need to make sure he meant installed 5 years ago at that house you bought it from.

**  You bought it for £550 and wanted a refund of £200.  As I have said I have absolutely no idea of how much a 12year old boiler would cost versus a 5year old one, but I'd have thought you might want to start at more than £200.  Presumably you know a gas engineer to fit the boiler.  Why don't you ask them?  They ought to have some idea