Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Legal matters

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have any legal concerns we suggest you consult a solicitor.

Issues with unsafe boiler

2 replies

cansu · 09/04/2015 11:57

So bought house last year. Boiler is at end of garden, oil fired central heating system. House was bought from a local plumber so assumed all was ok. Was told boiler was recently installed. Ran out of oil at weekend so when system was switched back on it wouldn't work. Called out heating engineer who said it was probably air in pipes. However he found whole raft of problems with boiler including fact it was running off test switch as was incorrectly wired and that cabling was unsafe. It should be proper armoured cabling, mine was not. boiler is against fence, there is no way to service boiler in current position and the condensing pipe is not correctly sited. There is also no fire valve shut off in boiler. All in all will cost about 600 to 1000 to fix as need to move boiler and run new cabling. Original owner not even registered with oftec to fit these kind of boilers. Is there any way I can get money out of him through small claims? I am furious as each time there is a problem with the plumbing it turns out that he has done a cowboy job that costs me loads to sort. When we moved in I found he had hooked up a gas hob to a red propane cylinder in the kitchen which again was completely unsafe. Any ideas as to how I can get the money to sort out making boiler safe.

OP posts:
PurpleWithRed · 09/04/2015 11:59

Did you have a survey and did it cover the plumbing? Otherwise I suspect it's all part of the joy of home ownership.

frogsfromrumrah · 11/04/2015 19:32

Tricky one, a surveyor or solicitor may have picked this up but it depends on their terms of engagement and whether it was reasonable in all circumstances that they would pick up this defect. If you had a basic home buyers survey then this may not have been considered at all. I was caught similarly in that I bought a house which was supposed to of had new electrics. The fuse box looked new but like you, I had no paperwork. I bought a new light fitting for a bedroom and the electrician I instructed started work and then stopped, saying the bedrooms were on dangerous wiring- even though the switches were modern. I'd been done! I had to get the upper floors rewired. Lesson learnt - unless the vendor can furnish you with independent boiler service Certs and electrical periodic testing certs, assume there is work to do.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread