House Sold: "Faulty" Boiler

[Guest]

Good Morning.

I recently sold my property (last Friday - 11th December) and was advised yesterday (Thursday 17th) that the new owners have had Scottish Gas onsite and they have condemned the boiler with the stating there is an excess carbon monoxide coming from the boiler.

I have been given access to the Scottish Gas report which states:

"At Risk: Your appliance or installation has a fault which could put you and your property in danger in the future if you continue to use it. A warning label has been attached and with your permission the appliance/installation has been turned of.
Our Engineer has recorded that permission to turn off was: Refused"

Within 24 hours of being made aware of the issues I made arrangements for an independent engineer to attend and attempt to assess the works and carry out whatever was required to get it working again however the buyers solicitor has made it clear that access has been refused and they have made arrangements for their own engineer to attend site. I have been made aware of an email between the solicitors in which the purchasing solicitor states "as this is an emergency, my clients are entitled to instruct the necessary works without further recourse from your clients".

My concern is that now I am not involved in the process of repairing/replacing the boiler but have been made aware that I am liable for any costs associated with the works.

The property and boiler are 13 years old - I had British Gas out in August to carry out a repair on the boiler as there was a leak and they did not mention at the time any issues - safety or otherwise - that the boiler was an issue. My family lived in the property until a week ago so I certainly wouldn't have continued to use the appliance if I had any suspicions that there was any risks posed.

I should add that I am based in Scotland as I assume Scottish law may differ.

My question(s) are;

Should I be given an opportunity to repair/replace the boiler?
Should I be given access to have an independent engineer confirm that the boiler is unsafe?
Am I liable for the full costs of replacing a 13 year old boiler?

If I am honest my solicitor seems disinterested now that he has received his payment. I am getting one line email responses from him and I want to keep everything in writing so I am avoiding contacting him via phone

Any advice is appreciated as I really am out of my depth.

Thanks

Mark

[ostell]

Why should you pay at all? So an apparent fault has developed which was not present in August. Or Scottish Gas want to persuade the purchaser to buy a new boiler. Did you have an inspection certificate for the boiler?

There can be excess CO in the flue gasses but this is inefficient combustion, and wasted money, and in a sealed combustion chamber will be exited out the flue.

[mark054]

Hi Ostell - thanks for the reply.

My solicitor has stated that

"Under Clause 4 you are legally obligated to ensure the boiler is in full working order at your own expense. Ordinarily the purchaser has to give you 5 working days to arrange to fix the issue before they can instruct their own tradesmen but, as this issue is an emergency as they have no hot water, they are able to instruct their own tradesmen without waiting."

[ostell]

Not withstanding that the boiler was, as far as you were concerned, in good working order.

I think the fact that there was a service action in August helps your case.

[des8]

As this is Scotland tagging ScottishSolicitor

[ScottishSolicitor]

A caution - I am not a conveyancing. The missives will govern this situation. From my knowledge it is pretty standard for the buyer to have say 7 days from moving in to notify the seller of issues such as these. I suspect the only issue here is the "emergency" question. The best person to advise you on that is your own solicitor.

[mark054]

Thanks ScottishSolicitor
My solicitor has contacting the purchasing solicitor and advised them that should the refuse access and instruct work(s) without further recourse then they shall be voiding any claim they have against ourselves under the missives. As you say the "emergency" situation is the stalling point, my arguement is that upon being advised that the appliance was being marked as "at risk" the new owner chose not to power down the boiler - this was marked down on the engineer's report I have now received which would imply they they still had hot water and heating.

I suspect it is going to get messy, I am happy to accept any legal obligations I have under the contact however I am not willing to accept that they are in charge of deciding what action should get taken without my involvement. Getting a new boiler installed by Scottish Gas will be twice the price of an independent engineer - and is it reasonable to expect that I cover the full costs to install a brand new boiler with 5 year warranty when they purchased a house with a 13 year old boiler.

End of rant, just very frustrated.