What to do about a dodgy conservatory?

[sillyoldelfbacktohimself]

NC. I'll try and keep this short but I doubt it will be so thanks for reading...

Bought our house July last year. Built in 2011, conservatory added by original purchaser before they moved in.

Noticed after we'd moved in that the conservatory has sunk, where it's supposed to be attached to the house you can see daylight both sides, the tiled floor has dropped and the doors have big gaps around.

The company that built it won't transfer the guarantee to us as the previous occupants didn't transfer the guarantee to them (we're the third occupants), they refuse to correspondent with us anymore due to 'data protection'

NHBC have been out to do a survey and they don't cover additions. FENSA don't cover conservatories, CAB say that a guarantee is over and above statutory rights. Still waiting to hear from trading standards.

Is there anything else I can do? It wasn't particularly expensive (circa 5k) but a builder friend has said it's probably a case of redoing the footings and rebuilding.

Should I pay for a solicitor to write a letter or try and claim on our house insurance?

Any guidance welcome 

You don't have a claim against the company that build the conservatory as you don't have a contract with them. A solicitor's letter isn't going to get you anywhere.

If you had a structural survey when you bought the property you may have a claim against the surveyor.

You are stuffed....cut your losses and demolish it.

Don't build another either as they in my opinion are a waste of money. Wait until you can afford to build an extension with proper foundations and insulation to current building regs meaning it is usable all year

Thanks for your replies, I was worried that may be the case.

We only had the most basic survey done.... a mistake I won't be repeating!

You're right, the conservatory wasn't a selling point for us and turning it into a usable extension seems the only way to go.

Just an annoying situation.

Any chance of tracking down the original purchaser and getting them to transfer the warranty to you?

@MarieG10 in the terms and conditions you can only transfer the warranty within 30 days of purchase (paying £70) which I tried to.

The previous owners didn't however which is why the company say they can't then transfer it on to us.

Oh well. Well back to my previous answer then. I dont know why people pay vast sums for these conservatories as they often have minimal foundations, no insulation and are either too hot or cold which makes them pretty useless. They are classed as temp structure
S