Do I Have A Claim

[bazo]

We recently purchased a house,we asked the owner for confirmation that the heating system was in good order,he told our solicitor and the estate agent verbally and in writing that he had aBritishGas contract on the system and that the system was due for its yearly check in June we moved in to the property in May and found the heating was not working on checking it ( situated in the loft ) I found a warning label on it telling me it was illegal to use until all faults had been remedied, I called a local firm of heating engineers to check it out for me they found so many faults on the system that after attempting to repair it on six occasions eventually told me that in their opinion it was not fit for purpose and should be replaced, this we have done at great expense! we feel that as the previous owner did not have a contract at all and obviously was aware the system needed replacing he should recompense us for the new system.

[factor-fiction]

I assume no-one asked for copies of any documents to support this. I'm not sure details such as the conditions of boilers are the solicitor's responsibility, but I may be wrong. I don't think contracts like this are transferable anyway

[factor-fiction]

These are just my thoughts though- hopefully someone with legal knowledge will be able to advise

[bazo]

Yes we did ask for a copy of his contract but we had been told it had been miss placed but as we had his response in writing we felt that was ok we realised that a heating contract could not be transferred but assumed as it was ongoing we could have replaced it with british gas but he clearly did not have one at all.

[ummmm]

I don't think you have a claim. If the working order of the boiler was important to you you should have got it tested before you signed the contracts.

[tonywiltshire]

Talk to the solicitor who dealt with your conveyancing, it is going to depend upon what was said and in what form, if the comments made by the seller were designed to mislead you and caused you to make a decision you otherwise would not have taken, you may have a claim against the seller.

[gness]

Bazo...you must talk to your solicitor. When I recently sold and bought I was surprised at how careful I had to be even in what I told my buyers. If I had lied..even without written proof they could have had a case against me.

[SirOracle]

Was a survey carried out either by you or by the building society prior to your purchase of the house.?
Would have thought a warning notice should have been noticed by a surveyor,even if situated in the loft.

[Peter Pedant]

Tony - I am sure we have had this conversation before:

hasnt seller made a statement (viz the htg) which the buyer relied on and has led to his detriment ? in which case I thought he had a case.

Now the last time I said Hedly Burne v Heller you gave a later very fulfilling case which I cant now find and if you can repeat I would be grateful.


SO i would say you have an obvious case but if the gt TW says nichty-nochty my reply would be 'oo-er !'

He's done it for a living and I never have

[tonywiltshire]

PP, yes I think bazo may have a claim against the seller if a statement was made purposefully to deceive the purchaser into making a decision they would not have made if the correct information had been available, there is quite a good deal of case law on this.
Unfortunately we will probably never know the outcome, but we can live in hope.

[THECORBYLOON]

PP is this the thread, http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Question1178990.html ?

[Peter Pedant]

O sagax corbe !

yes it is and thanks very much. I will return to BAILII and be re-edified !

Mnay thanks both