Question of responsibility?

[Luke@Tincknells]

Good afternoon all,

No longer Luke@Tincknells, just Luke now but I thought it better to use the account I already had.

The girlfriend's boiler stopped working recently (installed last year by previous owner of the property) (vaillant ecotec pro 28) and we found that the company that had installed it offered a 5 year warranty.

The issue is that water is leaking at a steady 2 or 3 drips a second from the pressure gauge (bottom right) until it reaches around .4 bar where it obviously no longer works.

On ringing the company they said it was not installed by them or on their books (their name on paperwork/commissioning certificate) and on further investigation (this took them two days) they said that the gas safe number and signature were from one of their heating engineers, however he had installed it on a Saturday and off the books and that this meant that the boiler had never been properly signed off which meant they could not even touch the boiler. Estate agent and surveyor have both said not their problem and it seems the previous owner had a friend fit the boiler on the cheap who was indeed their employee at the time and signed it off using their gas safe etc.

Where does this leave her regarding actually getting someone in to repair the boiler and what actually needs doing before she can sell the property (it was already on the market, but with the boiler being unsafe it has now been taken off until this is resolved, obviously).

 

[thompsonbrown]

Get hold of previous owner tell them you want it sorted out.

 

[hammers4spanner]

Contact the previous owner, tell them you want A ,compensating B, details of gas installer C , if non compliant then court through HSE .

 

[Masood]

Contact the previous owner, tell them you want A ,compensating B, details of gas installer C , if non compliant then court through HSE .

Sadly as there has been no death or injury HSE won't get involved.

Pursuing the previous owner through the courts is probably the only way but will take ages. They could plead that they engaged the installer in good faith, not knowing that he was doing private work on his employee's ticket. Or that he wasn't aware that there was any such distinction. Most non-GSR don't know this.

OP - if it's just a small drip as you describe it's likely a local Gas Safe engineer could fix it quickly and cheaply and do a gas safety certificate at the same time. Most buyers are demanding these now anyway.

 

[stevetheplumber]

anything inside the boiler could be leaking get it looked at sooner rather than later as a rusted out case is the end of the boiler

 

[hammers4spanner]

Sadly as there has been no death or injury HSE won't get involved.

Pursuing the previous owner through the courts is probably the only way but will take ages. They could plead that they engaged the installer in good faith, not knowing that he was doing private work on his employee's ticket. Or that he wasn't aware that there was any such distinction. Most non-GSR don't know this.

OP - if it's just a small drip as you describe it's likely a local Gas Safe engineer could fix it quickly and cheaply and do a gas safety certificate at the same time. Most buyers are demanding these now anyway.

Sorry meant HSE due to illegal works.

 

[stevetheplumber]

illegal work is gas safes baby once they have evidence the hse prossecute in reality gas safe will ask the fitter to register in his own right and take his money

 

[Chalked]

Try ringing Vaillant amd see if the guarantee was registered. They might come and fix it for free as the guarantee is with them.

 

[Masood]

illegal work is gas safes baby once they have evidence the hse prossecute in reality gas safe will ask the fitter to register in his own right and take his money

Exactly this. They'll write to him inviting him to pay his fees and that'll be the end of it as far as they're concerned...

 

[hammers4spanner]

Disgracefull isn't it should do an online petition via this saying we are not happy with gas safe lol

 

[SimonG]

Safety should be your first concern. Get a local gsr as said above to fix the leak and give it the once over for peace of mind. Then take it from there

 

[Nostrum]

I'd put the pressure on the company to persue the engineer for fraud or falsifying information.

Worst case scenario, replace the pressure gauge for £30

 

[Ray Stafford]

The only person that your girlfriend has a contract with is the person who sold her the property, and I would be reasonably confident that their solicitor will have covered their bum anyway.

I think that this is just one of those costs of property ownership.

Unless the engineer has done something dangerous, no regulatory body is going to pursue them. You have no way of knowing if the heating company's story is true or not, and since you don't have any contractual relationship with them, its hard to see quite what pressure you can bring to bear.

Suck it up and move on.

 

[newcastle phill]

In with ray.
You can pull your hair out over this- but it wont fix your boiler.
Everyone could be blowing smoke up your chimnea

 

[Luke@Tincknells]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

So last night the person who installed the boiler got in contact, having heard what was happening via his previous employer threatening legal action against him.

The guy has since left them and gone out on his own and will be fixing the boiler and doing a safety check and she won't be paying for it.