Seller has damaged gas pipe on completion day!

sarahgal4

Hello

Moved into a mortgaged property on friday to find a generalised smell of gas, could not locate a specific area where gas was coming from. Left it overnight thinking it may just be the boiler ticking over with nothing needing gas, sat morning (today) gas still apparent. Contact Transco who say the gas pipe (where oven was situated) has been knocked as seller has removed oven and has fractured below the tiled floor surface. Deems it dangerous, so isolates gas off and says we need to repair it. Who is liable for this as we didn't do it? I have contacted solicitors who are not in until monday so left a rather frustrating answerphone message.

Help me please i am a FTB and haven't a cluE! :mad:

izzybusy23

sarahgal4 wrote: »

Hello

Moved into a mortgaged property on friday to find a generalised smell of gas, could not locate a specific area where gas was coming from. Left it overnight thinking it may just be the boiler ticking over with nothing needing gas, sat morning (today) gas still apparent. Contact Transco who say the gas pipe (where oven was situated) has been knocked as seller has removed oven and has fractured below the tiled floor surface. Deems it dangerous, so isolates gas off and says we need to repair it. Who is liable for this as we didn't do it? I have contacted solicitors who are not in until monday so left a rather frustrating answerphone message.

Help me please i am a FTB and haven't a cluE! :mad:

Hi there

I think you will find you will be liable for the bill. It happened to me years ago when I bought a property. Moved in to find the gas tap on my one of the gas fires was leaking and one of the double glazed bedroom windows would not shut properly due to the internal mechanism broken. As we had exchanged and moved in, it fell to us to repair according to our solicitors.

Good luck, you may have a different thing told to you on Monday.

SouthCoast

Have you spoken to your insurance company?

clutton_2

Sarah "" Left it overnight"" - pleeeeease - never ever do this again - if you smell gas, call Transco immediately several people die every week in residential homes from gas problems. if you are unsure of your property's installations, get a carbon monoxide alarm immediately - it will save your life if there is a serious issue.

sarahgal4

i had transco out first thing saturday morning, was really kinda shattered, exhausted and gutted at the same time as you have high hopes of moving into your first home and mine didn't live up to the hype.

Transco have now isolated so everything is safe.

Have re-read through solicitors stuff and it states on the sellers questionnaire that if the seller causes any damage from the removal of personal items from the property that they will make it good ? - not really sure where i will stand with this one!

If i pay i have to pay, not sure how much its gonna cost though as its supposedly fractured the pipe under the tiling!

Not spoke to esure yet but i am covered for accidental damages? maybe i could claim one day into my policy!

thanks for your support and advice - much appreciated!

KellsBells

I understood that your insurance kicks in from exchange of contracts and one you've exchanged you have effectively "bought as seen." Don't think that there is anything you can do about this, but perhaps try contacting the former vendor - they may be reasonable about it and ofer to pay half of the repair costs.

Good Luck.x

teabelly

If the buyer is liable then that would make every buyer liable for any damage caused by a seller so they could trash the place and leave the buyer with a worthless house?

If it is part of the contract that the seller makes good any damage caused by removing their property then they are obviously liable as long as this isn't considered an unenforceable contract term.

In your shoes I'd get quotes for repairs (3) then instruct your solicitor to demand the repair cost as the seller caused the damage mentioning the sellers conditions. If the demand is refused then try your insurance company as most buildings/contents policies have free legal helplines. They will be able to advise you further. They may pay out to you then pursue the seller for the cost of repair which will cost the seller a lot more than doing the decent thing and paying for damage that they caused. Fracturing a gas pipe is dangerous and could have caused death or serious injury. Minor cosmetic damage is one thing but fracturing a gas pipe or damaging wiring as to leave it dangerous is something that needs to be pursued with the seller. Other things you'd just shrug off as a fact of life.

I'm moving in a few weeks so I'll be checking around the oven :-)

LuciferTDark

Don't get too upset with me but ARE YOU MAD OR STUPID? You left it overnight after smelling gas! You're lucky you're not all dead!

merlinthehappypig

teabelly wrote: »

If the buyer is liable then that would make every buyer liable for any damage caused by a seller so they could trash the place and leave the buyer with a worthless house?

If it is part of the contract that the seller makes good any damage caused by removing their property then they are obviously liable as long as this isn't considered an unenforceable contract term.

In your shoes I'd get quotes for repairs (3) then instruct your solicitor to demand the repair cost as the seller caused the damage mentioning the sellers conditions. If the demand is refused then try your insurance company as most buildings/contents policies have free legal helplines. They will be able to advise you further. They may pay out to you then pursue the seller for the cost of repair which will cost the seller a lot more than doing the decent thing and paying for damage that they caused. Fracturing a gas pipe is dangerous and could have caused death or serious injury. Minor cosmetic damage is one thing but fracturing a gas pipe or damaging wiring as to leave it dangerous is something that needs to be pursued with the seller. Other things you'd just shrug off as a fact of life.

I'm moving in a few weeks so I'll be checking around the oven :-)

I agree with teabelly - if it's in the contract then they should be responsible. It's all very well having a go at the OP, but they are a FTB and finding this out on the day you move in is a little overwhelming. Yes, leaving the gas smell unattended is somewhat irresponsible, but not as much as damaging the pipe and leaving it for someone else to sort out.

I'd be surprised if there wasn't scope for a criminal prosecution.

sarahgal4

thanks for your help everyone.

No i am not mad or stupid, but when you haven't done something like this before and are totally unsure of the whole process yourself it can be a little daunting and totally out of your depth. If i had been totally sure where the gas was coming from then i would have had transco out straight away, but as the smell was more generalised around the house and not in a specific place i wasn't sure. So i have learnt my lesson, will pursue tomorrow with solicitors/repairs etc and let you know the outcome.

andyrules

I agree with merlin, the seller should be hung for leaving a damaged gas pipe.

If it states in the contract that they make good damages, then I'm sure this will apply. You can find out in the morning. Have you had no cooking facilities all weekend?

Think the seller is mean for not being honest anyway, aside from the danger. On the morning of one of our moves we cracked the toilet seat (don't ask); as there was no time to replace it I left more than enough cash to cover it.

Once this is sorted, you can start to enjoy your home and have a drink or three!