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Boiler broken within 48 hours of moving in - our sellers had us didnt they?

34 replies

Millionprammiles · 18/12/2014 16:14

Within 24 hours of moving into our new house the heating stopped. 24 hours later the hot water stopped. Turns out the boiler has various things wrong with it and hadn't been serviced in years and needs to be entirely replaced.

Needless to say our sellers told us it worked fine. We've only ourselves to blame as we didn't ask for it to be serviced and believed the sellers when they said they'd had it serviced at some point but had lost the documents.

Its not even the cost that bugs me (we would have paid for servicing/repairs before completion), its that they knew we had a 2 yr old and would be without heating/hot water in December and didn't come clean.

Some people just don't have a conscience.

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MmeLindor · 18/12/2014 16:25

Oh, that is just rotten. Can you keep it going over Xmas?

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springlamb · 18/12/2014 16:29

Some people are b'studs.
I believe a British Gas operate a 48 hr turnaround for real emergencies, might be worth a try.
I had a bit of this when we moved here, but luckily it was a hot June. I had papers to say that both electrical and gas systems had been checked and serviced. Obviously forgeries, our electrician had a hot flush at the fuse box and the boiler was condemned when the gas man's screwdriver went straight through the rust on the top of the casing.
It's shit.

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Quitelikely · 18/12/2014 16:32

Are you in scotland? If the cost to a heating breakdown exceeds a certain amount within a certain timescale it falls back to the previous owners?

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Millionprammiles · 18/12/2014 16:46

Its in the process of being replaced by some very good (though expensive) plumbers so dd should be nice and toasty this evening thankfully.

The plumber said it hadn't been installed properly, corners had been cut etc. Its an expensive brand of boiler but looks like the seller may have installed it himself.

Not in Scotland sadly and I think caveat emptor applies so we're screwed. Thats a great system though, wish we had it here. Our last boiler was 14 years old and worked perfectly so we were a bit blase about it.

Just wanted to rant and warn others really. Definitely ask for certificate of installation, evidence of regular servicing etc. Although can't believe another poster received forgeries, outrageous!

I thought our sellers were really nice and its disappointing they didn't tell us something so crucial. Definitely won't be forwarding on their post!

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specialsubject · 18/12/2014 17:54

caveat emptor applies everywhere. Which is why your solicitor should have insisted on building regs documents for the boiler. This is not the same as service records or gas safe certificates, but is essential. Why didn't this happen? You pay solicitors to protect you by checking all this.

I am also staggered at forged documents!

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TwigletLola · 18/12/2014 18:01

OP - I had a similar situation when I bought my first house earlier this year. Within 4 days of moving in I found out that the wall between the bathroom and bedroom was damp and falling down so had to rip the whole bathroom out and tear the wall down and put a new one in. I thought my sellers were decent people but it turns out they were utter arseholes. They had some parcels sent here a few weeks later and I just left them outside because I didn't trust myself to not punch them in the face if I saw them. Hope your boiler gets sorted out soon without too much more stress and cost!

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UmizoomiThis · 18/12/2014 18:04

What is a building reg for a boiler? I'Ve had a new boiler installed and wasn't told it was required. When we bought our last house, we were provided with documentation of regular maintenance only.

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specialsubject · 18/12/2014 18:12

it IS required (in England anyway) - any appliance added to the house that generates heat needs to be reported under building regulations to the council. The installer should be registered with the right body (Gas Safe for gas, HETAS for solid fuel, OFTEC for oil) and can then report to the council.

chase your installer and/or the council.

been through all this in the last year. Now have all the paperwork. Eventually...

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yomellamoHelly · 18/12/2014 19:14

That's tough! Our roof had so many holes it was like an indoor waterfall when it started raining hard 2 weeks after we moved in. Ceilings looked perfect so they must have known and painted over stains etc.... Had to have a whole new roof.

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EmGee · 19/12/2014 13:29

I can totally see why you would feel disheartened. Glad to hear you are getting a new one fitted. At least you now know you have one that will work and has been properly fitted.

It is so disappointing when people are not upfront and honest about these things. It is unbelievable what they get away with. Angry

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CocktailQueen · 19/12/2014 13:31

Caveat emptor applies everywhere. Which is why your solicitor should have insisted on building regs documents for the boiler. This is not the same as service records or gas safe certificates, but is essential. Why didn't this happen? You pay solicitors to protect you by checking all this.

This! I'd contact your solicitor and see what he says. not fair that he's made a mistake and you pay for it!

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Millionprammiles · 19/12/2014 15:54

Special - I had no idea building regs documentation was required for a new boiler, does that mean we need to do the same for the boiler we've just installed??

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UmizoomiThis · 19/12/2014 15:59

I really have no idea where specialsubject is getting this info from - it clearly says on the govt portal website (I even went through the main govt site to make sure this wasn't some dodgy private website meant to look like an official one)

"Planning permission is not normally required for installation or replacement of a boiler or heating system if all the work is internal, though if you live in a listed building you should check with your Local Planning Authority."

www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/boilersheating/

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UmizoomiThis · 19/12/2014 16:28

Ah, found what special was referencing

www.findlaw.co.uk/law/property/building_regulations/9025.html


the law states that your local authority should be notified if you install a new heat-producing gas appliance such as a gas fire or a gas boiler. Only a Gas Safe registered heating engineer can install the device, and it is the Gas Safe engineer that will notify your council. The law requires the Gas Safe engineer to notify the council within 30 days of installation.

Once notified by your Gas Safe engineer, your local council should issue you with a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate. It typically takes around 10-15 working days for your certificate to arrive. The certificate is important as it belongs with your house and should be passed to any new owner if you sell the property later on.


Well that's a bit worrying - I did use a reputable, certifitied person and I don't recall receiving any such document from the council! Boiler fitted fine as I've had different people doing gas certificate checks on it and no issues have come up.

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Millionprammiles · 19/12/2014 16:29

Umi - special is right, building regs consent is required, not planning permission. However if the boiler is installed by an approved supplier then consent is granted this way and a separate application isn't required.

I've contacted both our solicitor and the council. There's building regs consent in place for modernisation of the house but not clear if it covers the boiler. The boiler was serviced...but 7 years ago.

Thanks for all the advice. This is what I love about MN, there are some smart cookies on here. Baby brains indeed :)

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springlamb · 19/12/2014 16:32

The installer should take care of this for you and you should receive a copy with your final papers. It might be a flimsy yellow piece of paper (the one for my boiler is). Although I think the installer may be able it file online now so it might get emailed to you (this happened with our new bathroom a couple of months ago).

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UmizoomiThis · 19/12/2014 17:20

Million, I searched for building regulation and that was the resulting page. Probably because building regulation certificates are issued after an inspection on a project requiring planning permission?

Anyway, I did acknowledge special was right in my second post. Our fitter was definitely CORGI registered, and a bit of googling of building regulations compliance certificate suggests that the certificate may a CORGI logo on it (definitely remember something like that coming in the mail). Failing that, I can get CORGI to reissue it, at a cost.

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specialsubject · 19/12/2014 18:42

glad you all sorted that out. Building regs and planning permission are different things.

umizoomi CORGI went out several years ago. A proper gas fitter needs to be GAS SAFE registered. CORGI is no longer valid. So if they haven't updated, they broke the law and you've got a problem.

councils can take a while to register all this. Latest boiler I installed was oil and OFTEC fitters now certify online. This was news to my installer (who is OFTEC-registered but turned out to be a bit of an admin disaster) but he did sort it in the end. This coupled with the council's system being down for months (No kidding) meant it took a lot of chasing.

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Pipbin · 20/12/2014 10:19

Special - I had no idea building regs documentation was required for a new boiler, does that mean we need to do the same for the boiler we've just installed??

I had a new boiler fitted a couple of months ago. The fitter filled out all the paper work and I got a certificate through the post from the council a week or so ago

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UmizoomiThis · 21/12/2014 01:08

Thanks special, but this was a few years back when CORGI still had the contract to provide the certificates. I admit when I saw the name change on the gas certificates, I thought they had just rebranded Smile

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specialsubject · 21/12/2014 12:39

if only...

if it was done before the change (1 April 2009) then you are fine.

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heather1 · 21/12/2014 12:44

Yes, exactly the same thing happened to us when we brought our last house. There was nothing we could do. It's on their conscience though.

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sparklysnowflake · 21/12/2014 14:50

:( That's an awful thing to do. Our seller knowingly left a leaking bath and cold water supply (soaked through to downstairs over a few weeks and ruined the first room we had decorated), a leaky boiler, central heating that didn't work, a gas leak and live electrical wires hidden behind a picture on the wall.

He apparently moved onto a houseboat; I generally like to imagine it springing a bloody enormous leak when I think of him!!

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specialsubject · 22/12/2014 14:32

all these things are bad - but this is what checks and surveys are for. Caveat emptor DOES apply.

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PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 22/12/2014 14:41

Thing is, a boiler being properly installed, say, 8 years ago doesn't tell you much does it. We knew our boiler in our first house was quite old. But it broke down, probably between exchange and completion. Idiot sellers didn't tell us and we moved into a freezing house mid winter. Arse hats.

I must admit that I returned their post to sender instead of forwarding very quickly. They had changed no addresses including bank and I didn't see why I should act as an unpaid forwarding service.

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