Seller lied about boiler do we have recourse?

[Shwish]

Moved into our new house 2 weeks ago and woke up this morning to a flooded kitchen. Boiler had burst. Called an engineer who pointed out it's about 20 years old and not worth fixing we'd be better to replace. Thing is - we asked boiler age before exchange and were told 7 years.
We were also provided with a "service record" which the engineer has shown us is for a different boiler!
Anything we can do or is it just hard luck?
Thanks

I think there's always more to do than you think when you move into a new home. Annoying that replacing the boiler is one of the more expensive ones but just one of those things. Definitely think it's worth asking the solicitor for advice though and whether it's worth sending the sellers a letter or something. I'm no expert but it could be fraud?

@Shwish the Gas Safe Regulations stipulate an address must be on the gas safety record. You can't just 'borrow' one from another house so regardless, if it's blank the engineer has produced an inaccurate document.
If the correct address is on there and the boiler is wrongly listed then also a false document

I think this will all swing on the specific questions you asked about the boiler, as part of your investigations into the property (i.e. ensuring that you were fulfilling the 'buyer beware' requirements of house buying) and whether what was provided / answered in return ended up being untrue.

Thank you. His is very helpful. I'm out at the moment but will check the address when I get back

Whose address is on it?

Mine has my address on it. As pp said, it's a legal requirement. You/I'd also need that for the 10 year warranty to be valid.

If caveat emptor applies in these situations, then I wonder why we all have to waste our time, when selling a house, in filling out the endless forms about maintenance, appliances etc. Might as well just make it all up!

Just looked it up on the solicitors online portal. It's a scanned document and the address is bloody chopped off at the top. Which makes me even more annoyed. That was obviously done on purpose and i didn't notice. FFS. Mind you neither did my bloody solicitors. Twats

I’d write to your sellers asking for at least half of the cost of replacing the boiler saying that you were deliberately misled by them about the age of the boiler. If you’d known how old it was, you’d have reduced your offer accordingly. Also advise them that if they do not agree to payment, you intend to refer the matter to the small claims court and that you have evidence in writing of their deliberate misrepresentation.

The sellers can’t rely on the principle of caveat emptor as it’s clear that they intended to mislead you by telling you the wrong information about age of the boiler and supplying you with a document that doesn’t relate to your boiler.

I'd challenge it. They've deliberately deceived you.

Bloody hell, that's top wankery. And stupid.

Yes top wankery indeed. Apparently the stupid one is me.here though for not noticing the address cut off.

I spent what felt like days going through all my dad’s paperwork (and he had boxes and boxes) when we sold his home to find the relevant paperwork. I should just ignored the questions.

Not necessarily. Mine is 20 years old and you wouldn't know by looking at it or even using it. Still works absolutely fine (is checked annually), no visible wear and tear or rust.

Could it be your solicitors' fault? Perhaps they uploaded documents from someone else's case?

If they were definitely sent by the sellers, it is not ideal that the solicitors didn't ask for complete documents, with the address of the property.

You may have some recourse, and solicitors have their own insurance for this sort of thing.

Them providing false documents does not come under caveat emptor. It's impossible for you to verify it's the right boiler as you aren't the house to check. So they provided.it and you relied on this documentation. Definitely raise with solicitor

When I saw the title of the thread my first instinct was that it’s tough luck (and that’s writing as someone who bought a house where we didn’t know the boiler needed replacing and had the expense and annoyance of doing that). But our vendors didn’t actually lie to us and it certainly sounds like yours did. I’d ask your solicitor for advice on Monday. I think it would at least be worth a stiffly worded letter. But I don’t know for sure and I’m not sure anyone here does. Ask your solicitor.

If others haven't suggested it go to small claims court.

What does your survey say about the boiler? I know they aren't tested but my son's survey notes the age of the one in his house and comments that it's still on retail.sale etc.

Did they survey say anything useful about it?

The lies, and inappropriate documentary proof given, certainly sound like this requires a follow up. What boiler was the service documents for? Is there nothing on there that shows its for a different property?

I’d contact your solicitor. You are not the one responsible for not checking the documents. This is what you pay them for. They should be advising you foc what to do imo. But ianal.

Your solicitor is the one who should have noticed the cut off address - that is their job. Go back to them and tell them to sort it out for free.

Heaven knows we pay them enough - let them at least cast an eye over the documents - not too much to ask.

Even if the boiler paperwork was correct a seven year old boiler would probably warrant replacement rather than expensive repair.

How long were the sellers at the address? If only a few years it's possible that they were given the dodgy paperwork themselves and have just passed it on without ever having needed to look at it.

Many boilers these days come with 10 year warranties so 7 years is rather premature. We buy the same boilers in Germany as the uk and in Germany they expect them to last 20 years… ours is 13 and going strong.

But you are suppose to book surveys to check these things, all homebuyer surveys well state you need a second gas safety survey as they don't do that and its a specialist requirement (same for electrics).

You can have professionals booked to access to the house for these purposes (surveys, safety checks, engineer reports, valuations, builder checks/quotes) throughout the buying process.

The argument of I didn't check because I don't own the house yet would hold zero water.