No Corgi certificate for 2005 boiler & electrics installation - show stopper ?

swayzak

Canucklehead wrote: »

Good morning: Building works certification for all relevant elements, as well as evidence of warranties, annual maintenance etc would give me peace of mind when spending ££££££ on a property. Every week, MSErs answer queries from those who have been stung by cowboys and dodgy 'property developers'...protect yourself!!! Beware of what lies beneath the glossy exterior...conveyancing solictors should be well versed in certification requirements and advise their clients accordingly but purchasers need to be proactive and look out for their own interests as well...caveat emptor!

HTH

Canucklehead

P.S. Just read OP's latest post.....the certification will cost the vendors a fair penny:eek: Also if the boiler wasn't notified on installation someone should have their knuckles seriously rapped....possible illegal/unsafe installation...insist on annual service as an absolute miminum and ask for copy of the Benchmark Book (installation and service record).

thanks again

I should add that Corgi have no record of a certificate being issued for this address - so I guess they definitely haven't got one.

So either they got the date wrong (ie. installation was before April 1st 2005) or they are telling fibs.

They appears to have lost all paper work relating to work done on house.

And don't have planning permission for the small conservatory they had built ... maybe they didn't need it ?

Hmm ...

EdInvestor

silvercar wrote: »

One way round may be for the sellers to arrange for a gas safety check for lettings to be done. A standard procedure, available at short notice form a CORGI registered guy and would cost them less than £100.

This strikes me as a good compromise, quick and inexpensive to do in what seems to be a borderline case timing wise.

swayzak

EdInvestor wrote: »

This strikes me as a good compromise, quick and inexpensive to do in what seems to be a borderline case timing wise.

thanks

I do need to get it sorted because I really like the property & wouldn't really want to pull out over this issue.

The problem is that I'm beginning to get pressure to complete now, and they seem fairly laidback about the move.

The vendors seem OK - not sure why they've lost loads of paperwork (or would mess me about over this issue). Maybe just a bit careless ...

dweeby

swayzak wrote: »

I do need to get it sorted because I really like the property & wouldn't really want to pull out over this issue.

The vendors seem OK - not sure why they've lost loads of paperwork (or would mess me about over this issue). Maybe just a bit careless ...

The guy's probably done all the work himself (or mates), and he's probably misleading you regarding who did it - and the paperwork.

But, I wouldn't let it bother you overly, especially if you (he) can get the boiler inspected. In the past, anybody could do almost anything. I'm in the process of purchasing a circa 1970 house, where several people have lived previously. Anybody could have done anything, any diy - anything (provided it was done long enough ago), so what difference does it make.

The house we sold in December had a few dodgy bits of (my) wiring, and I'd double glazed the house prior to 2002. Whilst paperwork should be in place for recent work, you're no worse off than someone (like me) buying a house where the work was done years ago.

Just think about re-selling later though.

kingkano

Then again he could have had the work done by a CORGI registered person who then didn't bother to notify it (it costs them £1 or something to do online - plus their time). As has happened to me on 3 occasions using 3 different CORGI registered people for 3 different jobs.

swayzak

Just spoken to the vendor - it seems this boiler was installed right in the threshold of March/April time 2005.

She is adamant it was BG, so I'm pretty certain it must have just missed the legislation.

She is going to check &, if it is March, then I'm happy with a safety check by Corgi-reg engineer.

6889joannew

by reading this post has learnt me something, i had my boiler and gas central heating installed about 2 years ago and i have never received a certificate. Ive got my house up for sale so will this be a problem for me when i come to sell it?? it was done by a professional corgi registered company.

saggingvenus

As far as I am aware the bottom line is that if mortgage funding is being taken to purchase, the solicitor will not be able to use the mortgage advance unless clarification that building regulations have been complied with is evident.

I would advise my conveyancer/solicitor that you want a corgi and niceic certificates from the sellers prior to exchanging contracts. However, if they refuse and you really want the property it might be worth investing in them yourself, prior to exchange so if the inspections fail, you are aware of your full financial committments.

If the Sellers do agree to provide inspection certificates, I would also double check they are correct. I have seen a few recently which on face value seem perfect but when checking with the relevant board (corgi, niceic, etc.) it transpired the 'engineers' had never been registered so the certificates weren't worth the paper they were written on...

I don't know how much inspections cost but I do not think it can be terribly high. I often request these on behalf of clients and more often than not they are received with very little, if any, grumbling from sellers which I take as implication they may not be that expensive.

chappers

Swayzak I would do just that she will be able to get a copy of her invoice from BG and get the boiler tested and that should be the end of it.

6889joannew you will be in exactly the situation that Swayzak is in or it could be worse as your potential purchaser may not be able to get a mortgage on the property, phone CORGI and request acopy of your boilers installation registration if they say it isn't registered get back onto your plumber and ask him why he didn't register it.

I would be very wary of doing what saggingvenus suggests this is a standoff that will probably only be bad for you, once your solicitor is aware of these missing certs he legally cannot procede(not sure if your solicitor is aware at this point)and in the event of the vendor being unable to provide this information you can't buy the house.
He is however correct that inspections are cheap £60-£100 for a gas safety and £200-250 for an electrical PIR, however a gas safety is not necessarily a suitable substitute for the original installation registration cert.

TBeckett100

corgio will send a duplicate to the vendor if they ask.i did that 2 weeks ago and got my old plumber back to fill in the paperwork.