Roofing company not honouring guarantee

[JoinOxford]

How can we ensure that the roofing contractors who did the work on our room in the roof honour the guarantee? The roof has started leaking and another contractor who we called in to take a look suggested it could be due to a problem with the original work done. My boyfriend has been in touch with the company who did this work and they have been quite evasive - they even changed company names and emails and didn't let him know. They said we would have to pay a refundable £125 for them to look at the roof. My boyfriend politely asked them to waive this as they offer free quotations and consultations for new customers. Now they are saying that the money is non-refundable! I don't think it is fair for them to put this £125 barrier in the way of us accessing what we are entitled to under the guarantee (no charge is mentioned there) and I don't trust that they will own up if they are at fault or (if they do) carry out the repair work in a timely manner. Any advice?

[des8]

Re: Roofing company not honouring guarantee

Hi and welcome.
Could you post up more information please?
1. when was original work carried out
2. when was problem first noted
3. when was company first notified
4.FULL name of original company eg "XYZ limited/PLC"
5 full name of second company
6. date company name changed
7. full wording of guarantee
8. was guarantee backed by independent insurance company

Don't worry about naming names as it will not affect your rights.

[JoinOxford]

Re: Roofing company not honouring guarantee

Hi - thanks for your help already on this. Sorry for my slow reply in responding. The details are:

1. The work was carried out in 2013.
2. The problem was first noticed around May/June 2016.
3. We first notified the company on 9 July 2016, after a roofing professional took a look and advised the problem was likely to be with the flat roof (which shouldn't be touched as it would be under guarantee).
4. The original name of the company was Highridge Lofts Limited.
5. The new name of the company is Bath & Bristol Loft Conversions. http://www.bathandbristolloftconversions.co.uk/
6. I'm not sure the exact date the company name changed. They were still called Highridge as of 29 July 2016, and were called Bath & Bristol Loft Conversions by 22 August 2016.
7. The guarantee says "9. GUARANTEE (a) The Company agrees to rectify all faults arising out of the contract works where it is proven that such faults are due to defective materials or bad workmanship of the Company, provided that the fault is notified to the Company in writing within Five years of the date when payment became due pursuant to condition 7(a)".
8. I'm afraid I don't know if the guarantee was back by an independent insurance company. Is there an easy way to find this out?

I hope this helps and let me know if you need more information.

[ostell]

Re: Roofing company not honouring guarantee

Both companies are still active, with the same director and the same address. There has been no company name change. Someones trying a fast one.

[JoinOxford]

Re: Roofing company not honouring guarantee

Well, to be fair when we spoke with them on the phone (after the Highridge email address stopped working and the website disappeared) and asked whether they had changed their name I think they said something which implied they were still technically both companies. They haven't disputed that the work is guaranteed, and they've said in an email "If the problem is our fault we will rectify, however, if the problem is unrelated to us we will quote to do the works so this will be at an additional cost".

The problem is... we've no wish to use these guys, and they seem to be making things as difficult as possible, but if we get somebody else to investigate/carry out work on the flat roof I assume it'll void the guarantee and could end up costing thousands.

Any advice much appreciated!

[ostell]

Re: Roofing company not honouring guarantee

Write to the company that gave the guarantee to say that you are claiming on it. In case of complaint you would normally have to allow the people that did the original work the opportunity to correct their error, unfortunate.

[des8]

Re: Roofing company not honouring guarantee

....but in no way should you need to pay for them to inspect their own work.
The roof leaks, they did the work.
Youhave a (verbal) report that the leak was due to poor workmanship.
They should be rushing round to see if that is correct before you initiate court proceedings.

[JoinOxford]

Re: Roofing company not honouring guarantee

Thanks for the help everybody.

So, to summarise we have a verbal report from a professional that the dripping in the eaves looks to be as a result of a problem with the flat roof.

We've written to the company that installed the flat roof and gave the guarantee. They've acknowledged that if there's a fault with their workmanship etc they'll rectify it. However they're charging a non-refundable call out fee to come establish this.

So it seems our options are:

A) Just pay them and hope they do an honest job when they come to investigate .

Or

B) Somehow challenge them that we shouldn't have to pay them to inspect it. If we go down this route, where we do we stand legally (is there any particular legislation that shows they can't charge)? Also, realistically what steps do we then take and what would it lead to?

Thanks again for all your help, really appreciated

[des8]

Re: Roofing company not honouring guarantee

If you intend to challenge them you will need a report from an independent building surveyor.

If you have to pay the original builders to do the inspection I personally would opt for the (more expensive?) independent report.
This will give you peace of mind, and if it finds the original work is faulty, it will give you a stick!