I recently purchased a house which had a current home owners gas safety certificate provided by a CORGI registered heating engineer, certifying that the boiler and system was in good working order (call me naive but I believed that this negated the need for a subsequent inspection as it was in date); however, I have consequently had the boiler and its installation condemed by a British Gas Engineer (illegal connection to the flue by means of the exposed and right angle bends in the coregated aluminimum funneling, no ventilation meaning that an increased likelyhood of carbon monoxide poisioning etc...). This has now been confirmed by four seperate CORGI registered engineers whom I have had out for replacement quotes! Do I have any recourse against the engineer under the CORGI umbrella and is he required to have insurance on which I can claim compensation?
Liability of a CORGI Engineer
- Thread starter 5947ian
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You clearly understand the faults with your installation and have had it confirmed by experts, so is there any other technical or DIY advice you require?
I dont encourage people to ask so many people for "free" quotations. All these four people have wasted an hour coming to inspect and I am sure that you are not going to pay them for their wasted time.
The installation defects now "belong" to you as you have bought the house. Its your responsibility to pay to have them corrected. But see below!
The CORGI who wrote the gas certificate was negligent IF its genuine but with such blatent defects it may well not be genuine! If it is then you can report the situation to CORGI who will send their Inspector to look at it.
The certificate was provided to the Vendor and not to you. Any possibility of legal action would be by the Vendor against the CORGI.
You might well have a valid claim against the Vendor as he has provided a Certificate on which you based your purchase.
I suspect its not a genuine Certificate but thats not your immediate concern although it might be for the Vendor as he has a legal obligation to provide a genuine Certificate. If you could scan and email it to me through my profile I will check it for you.
The reality is that the cost of making good the defects are not likely to be more than about £300 and thats an hours work for a solicitor so legal action to recover it is not likely to be worthwhile!
The learned D Hailsham who posts on here gives better advice on legal matters than plumbing and so he might be able to give further advice on the legal aspects.
Tony
Tony
The installation defects now "belong" to you as you have bought the house. Its your responsibility to pay to have them corrected. But see below!
The CORGI who wrote the gas certificate was negligent IF its genuine but with such blatent defects it may well not be genuine! If it is then you can report the situation to CORGI who will send their Inspector to look at it.
The certificate was provided to the Vendor and not to you. Any possibility of legal action would be by the Vendor against the CORGI.
You might well have a valid claim against the Vendor as he has provided a Certificate on which you based your purchase.
I suspect its not a genuine Certificate but thats not your immediate concern although it might be for the Vendor as he has a legal obligation to provide a genuine Certificate. If you could scan and email it to me through my profile I will check it for you.
The reality is that the cost of making good the defects are not likely to be more than about £300 and thats an hours work for a solicitor so legal action to recover it is not likely to be worthwhile!
The learned D Hailsham who posts on here gives better advice on legal matters than plumbing and so he might be able to give further advice on the legal aspects.
Tony
Tony
Ask the Solicitor who acted for you in the purchase of the house.
You say the certificate was "current". When was it issued? AFAIK a certificate issued to a house owner has no expiry date, unlike one issued to a Landlord which only lasts for one year.
These certificates are like an MOT; they just certify that the installation met the requirements on the day it was tested. If you buy a car with an 11 month old MOT and a week later find that the brakes are u/s that's your problem - not the person who sold you the car.
You say the certificate was "current". When was it issued? AFAIK a certificate issued to a house owner has no expiry date, unlike one issued to a Landlord which only lasts for one year.
I doubt it! There will have been a clause in the Contract to purchase the property to say that you had carried out all necessary tests and inspections and were purchasing the property "as is".
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Show an installation to 20 engineers and they will all come away with different ideas as to what the problem is.
Why not call the engineer and talk to him? Maybe he is not even registered but did a 'homer' like a lot of employed RGIs do. He may even come and rectify the problem.
While not condemning the BG engineer (there are many good ones and a few sad ones both with BG and outside), one job I went to had no ventilation on an open flued boiler. The contract ran for many years until a wise lad discovered missing vents. Another one last week had defective vent, yellow pilot and a gas leak yet the boiler was serviced couple of months previous.
Why not call the engineer and talk to him? Maybe he is not even registered but did a 'homer' like a lot of employed RGIs do. He may even come and rectify the problem.
While not condemning the BG engineer (there are many good ones and a few sad ones both with BG and outside), one job I went to had no ventilation on an open flued boiler. The contract ran for many years until a wise lad discovered missing vents. Another one last week had defective vent, yellow pilot and a gas leak yet the boiler was serviced couple of months previous.
Gentlemen, thank you all for you prompt response to my query and I think based on what has been suggested I will speak to my solicitor in the first instance and perhaps the engineer in question.
Agile; for peace of mind, the four engineers included the British Gas engineer and the further three were people who have provided quotes for the replacement of the boiler system, one of which is getting the job, so please do not think that I have deliberately gone out of my way to waste peoples time, I merely advertised via the site 'Rated People' and they in turn came to me all of whom were advised that I was to get/had got two different quotes. I fully appreciate your sentiments though.
Regards.
Agile; for peace of mind, the four engineers included the British Gas engineer and the further three were people who have provided quotes for the replacement of the boiler system, one of which is getting the job, so please do not think that I have deliberately gone out of my way to waste peoples time, I merely advertised via the site 'Rated People' and they in turn came to me all of whom were advised that I was to get/had got two different quotes. I fully appreciate your sentiments though.
Regards.
I interpreted your quotes to be for just the replacement of the defective parts and making the existing system safe to use.
The law seems to have changed recently relating to property purchase, probably during the run up to the introduction of the HIP on which the Government expected a purchasor to rely.
I think that D Hailsham may not be fully up to date and that you may have more of a claim against the vendor than he thinks.
A situation that I often come across now is that, unless a seller specifically discloses any problems with the heating system, then its the seller's responsibility to ensure that its in good working condition at the point of sale. I have done several repairs at the cost of the vendor after properties have been sold.
Good luck and tell us how you get on. Again if you send me a copy of teh certificate.I will try to check its validity for you.
If you destroy the evidence without an independent report on its condition supported by videos then you will probably have little scope for change.
Tony
The law seems to have changed recently relating to property purchase, probably during the run up to the introduction of the HIP on which the Government expected a purchasor to rely.
I think that D Hailsham may not be fully up to date and that you may have more of a claim against the vendor than he thinks.
A situation that I often come across now is that, unless a seller specifically discloses any problems with the heating system, then its the seller's responsibility to ensure that its in good working condition at the point of sale. I have done several repairs at the cost of the vendor after properties have been sold.
Good luck and tell us how you get on. Again if you send me a copy of teh certificate.I will try to check its validity for you.
If you destroy the evidence without an independent report on its condition supported by videos then you will probably have little scope for change.
Tony
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