Contractor went bust, but plumber still in business - who should provide gas safe cert?

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Hi all,

I'm slowly emerging from a nightmare situation where the contractor of my renovation went bust leaving my house with a lot of problems.

I'm now trying to get the paperwork together for building control. Before the contractor went under, the boiler had been installed and was running, but I was never given a gas safe certificate.

I know the plumber is still in business. I gather from other tradesmen who worked on the job that the contractor didn't pay them towards the end of the job - even though he was claiming additional costs from me.

I don't know if the plumber was paid in full or not. Before I reach out to him, can you help me get a better handle on what situation I'm in? Is the plumber obliged to produce paperwork given that he fitted and turned on the boiler, or can he withold it if he hasn't been paid by the contractor?
 
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I wouldn’t rush to your aid if I was owed money on the job that is for 100%sure.
Put yourself in the installers shoes and tell us honestly if you would.
You can pursue the matter or you could ask another installer to provide the paperwork you require.
This is exactly why I and many others don’t work for builders.
I’ve got the T shirt!
 
From an end users POV.

Doesn’t the install once commissioned and working get logged online, somewhere?

Or is that just wishful thinking?
 
Is it the gas safety certificate you need? - easily obtained from another GSR engineer for a nominal cost.

Is it the benchmark and registration - much more difficult to obtain and really needs to be the original installer
 
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From an end users POV.

Doesn’t the install once commissioned and working get logged online, somewhere?

Or is that just wishful thinking?
I wouldn’t until I’d been paid. We are obliged to do it but we don’t have a strict timescale to do it.
You could approach gas safe and see where you get. I’d personally say I’ll do it when I’m paid.
 
Could the original installer take the boiler back if they haven’t been paid for it?
 
Is it the gas safety certificate you need? - easily obtained from another GSR engineer for a nominal cost.

Is it the benchmark and registration - much more difficult to obtain and really needs to be the original installer

Oh! I don't have any paperwork. I didn't know about benchmark and registration.
 
From an end users POV.

Doesn’t the install once commissioned and working get logged online, somewhere?

Nope, there is no online database really for any of that.

The benchmark is completed at the back of the manual and the boiler is registered with the manufacturer who then pass that onto the LA/Gas safe to register with them if needed.
 
Could the original installer take the boiler back if they haven’t been paid for it?

I think they'd have a hard time there. I've paid the contractor (as evidenced by invoices etc). I had no idea that the contractor was not passing those payments on until months later when I found out from one of the trades. He of course had been told by the contractor that I had not been paying (apparently the contractor had been saying on site for weeks that I hadn't been paying), but was a bit more open to talking when I showed him the invoices and payment receipts.
 
Ok. Just wondered because whenever I’ve bought stuff on account I’m sure I remembered seeing something like 'title to goods does not pass until full payment received' or something like that.

If you have to pay someone, could you not pay the original installer to come back to sign it off and complete the paperwork/guarantee/registration etc?
 
I didn't know about benchmark and registration.

These are the 2 key items if you want the boiler warranty to be valid and the LA notified :-

The benchmark - it shows that the boiler has been installed as per the MI's - it is found at the back of the boiler manual
Registration - The boiler install is registered with the manufacturer - Must be done within a month of the install and commissioning. The boiler shouldn't have been switched on until the benchmark was completed and handed over to the customer.

Once registered then most manufacturers will then notify the LA/GS as part of that.
 
I think they'd have a hard time there. I've paid the contractor (as evidenced by invoices etc). I had no idea that the contractor was not passing those payments on until months later when I found out from one of the trades. He of course had been told by the contractor that I had not been paying (apparently the contractor had been saying on site for weeks that I hadn't been paying), but was a bit more open to talking when I showed him the invoices and payment receipts.
Sounds criminal to me. Is it worth speaking to a solicitor, or the police?
 
It's utterly depressing. But I was warned when we parted ways not to pursue him in the small claims court because I would have to pay my legal fees and if I won, he could just go bust and I would be left even further out of pocket. As it happened he did go bust even without me pursuing him. And now he's started up a new venture, only this time his foreman is the named director!
 
sadly all too common a practice, I would stop chasing money you are never going to get back, hard lesson and very unfair, totally agree, but it is what it is, as @jeff the gasman says this is why most of us wont work for builders
 

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