Brought house boiler never worked and condemned who pays??

[Jaffa__]

Hi I recently brought a house from a policeman which has two boilers (it's a big house) anyway one of the boilers has never worked and despite the previous owner trying to ignite I had two separate Gas Registered engineers condemn the boiler stating there is an 'Immediate danger' if used they also both said that due to the rust it would of been condemned several years earlier

 

the immersion heater was left on by the previous owner to supply hot water and a surveyor did there usual by saying ensure all boilers are serviced (it is sooo corroded even I can see it's dangerous) on the property details and txts sent to me the previous owner states the boilers are in good working order but hadn't been serviced for 3 years

 

My solicitor says tough luck and it's not worth his time as his costs could be more than the settlement I think we have a good chance in the small claims court the cost to replace it is £2K minimum ... what do you guys think??

 

thanks in advance

[Andyorch]

I would tend to agree with your Solicitor Jaffa.Did you do an in-depth survey before purchase?

 

Andy

[Jaffa__]

Hi Andy

 

Yes had a homebuyer survey with 'actions' which I did had the electrics and drains surveyed before purchase

are you saying that we probably won't win a small claims court? after all the previous owner lied on the house info stating it was in good working order when clearly it wasn't or it's tough luck because we should of checked it out

 

really p*ssed at the surveyor as well as he didn't put it as a 'action' to have the boiler checked out which I would of done ... just seems unfair that we have been lied too by the previous owner and had a crap report from a surveyor and there's nothing we can do about it ...... no justice!

Edited October 10, 2013 by Jaffa__

[Andyorch]

Look at the terms and conditions of your surveyor...maybe there is recourse with them.

[Surfer01]

Go after the surveyor who stated, hopefully in writing, that the boilers were in good working order.

[Jaffa__]

Go after the surveyor who stated, hopefully in writing, that the boilers were in good working order.

 

It was the previous owner that said they were in good working order, bottom line is they lied ... I may go after the surveyor but I'm really after the people that sold the house

[steampowered]

What were the exact words used the owner? In this kind of case the details are very important. There is a huge difference between a general statement of opinion and a specific statement of fact.

[Jaffa__]

Steam thanks for the very relevant point, I will dig the paperwork over the weekend ...

[Jaffa__]

Hi Steam the paperwork asks "is the boiler in good working order" and they wrote "yes" and signed the end of the paperwork

[steampowered]

The problem with this statement is that there are two boilers in the house. It is not clear which question refers to. The Defendant could say he thought the question was referring to the working boiler, and providing that this boiler is sufficient to provide water for the house I think you might struggle to bring a misrepresentation claim.

[Jaffa__]

Thanks for the advice Steam, there's a couple of txt's from the previous owners phone stating the broken boiler serviceable so I'm going to try and the small claims court anyway worse case is I lose £100