Hi Ponder,

You are right to feel disappointed on the bad service of  the very people experienced, enough to forsee these problems,  when you go to view, a house your hoping to buy, you dont always open and shut windows or doors, to check there working, so why would  you check the boiler, most of them are covered  with  an insulating jacket, so if there would be no way of telling if something was wrong with it . Surely this is the job of the seller, estate agent, and major jobs, surveyors, to tell the truth and not try and pull a fast one, then send an engineer in, obviously tell him not  to replace the old boiler because of the cost, this takes the biscuit. These people have probably done this sort of thing to many house purchasers.

I remember when I bought my house (in scotland) that I had a period of 10 days to report any faults or problems. It was in the terms and conditions of the sale. The sellers only wanted 7 days but I would not accept their terms (thats why I remembr this). The cooker did not work (they bought a new one!) There was also a leak in the bay window (they fixed that too!)

Are you you sure you do not have something like that in your sale agreement? I think it has a "name" to discribe this 10 day period when buying a house, perhaps worth looking into?

just food for thought!

Hello Christy

 Your feelings on the matter certainly matched those of mine. My own lawyer is not probably the best to have used - he his a friend of a friend. I did not agree with his statement ealry on when he said we had not purchased a new boiler but as I pointed out even second hand cars are meant to run when you have purchased them. Imagine being told that your new second purchase is not fit for the job. I will consider a new lawyer and progress this. It is not that I cannot afford to have a boiler fitted it is the lack of effort on everyones part to wash over the matter because they have no direct inconveniance! I would rather use the money for my own wishes.

Regards

Ponder

Hi Ponder,

Does the Law in Scotland, state that the boiler has to be serviced I think every year on the grounds of Health and Safety, maybe Trading Standards could tell you more about this sorry I think it goes  under a diffrent name now. Did the Seller,  use a qualified engineer, the engineer already admitted the boiler had seen better days, so he should have replaced it with a new one I would have thought. Not try to repair the old one knowing that this boiler would have probably stopped working as it has now.  Its disgusting that you had to wait 2 weeks  for them to do a repair.  This boiler was definately not fit for the purpose, you were sold your flat without anyone stating it needed a new boiler, it said the flat was centerally heated, and you bought this flat on the sellers word, that this was the case, does it state this somewhere on the paperwork. I would personally demand a new boiler check its not secondhand, and that a qualified engineer fitted it.

I recently bought a flat in Edinburgh, Scotland. The central heating boiler stopped working within the first couple of days.  I contacted my lawyer as I was told that any faun days under Scottish law. My lawyer contacted the seller and the seller's lawyer sent out a Central Heating engineer who initially stated that the boiler had seen better days and had not been serviced for a while at least - he suggested replacing the boiler. Once I explained that the lawyer who sent him (Or his client) would be paying his bill he suggested that the boiler could be repaired and then after a delay of two weeks repaired the boiler - and it worked. Three weeks later the boiler stopped again and the same company returned to fix the problem. They did and then went away. Today, after three months of being in the house the boiler stopped and an engineer from the same company stated that the boiler had had it!

Does anyone know what rights I have in regard to this matter as I feel that this is maybe a common problem and I do not feel that I have been sold what I paid for

Thank you for any help