Expired New-Home Warranty
Posted: 03 Jul 2013 12:07
I purchased a new property in December 2009. During the first winter it became apparent that there were some significant damp/water ingress problems (causing flooding on three occasions). In my opinion at the time, and since, this water ingress seemed likely to have been sourced from down pipes, carrying water from the roof, which were installed inside the walls of the house, but which were either leaking or simply weren't joined together properly (an opinion reinforced when, recently, it was discovered that one of our neighbour's down pipes was not even connected to the water exit point in their roof!).
I complained on numerous occasions to the builder, expressing my belief that the problems originated from the down pipes, but my views were ignored and, while they did replace some of the plaster work, no attempt was made to examine the down pipes or examine the underlying problem.
The builder has since restructured and yesterday re-examined my damp problem. They appear to have agreed with me that the problem is likely to be the down pipes, and have suggested some major works to expose these pipes for repair. However, they tell me that the work 'cannot be carried out under the original warranty' as it has expired.
Legally, what is my situation? During the warranty period, no attempt was made to thoroughly examine and rectify the problem; now, at long last, it appears that they agree there is a problem with the down pipes (I have a long 'paper trail' of correspondence on the subject -it is rather one-sided as they rarely replied to any of my correspondence!). Can they hide behind the fact that the warranty has expired, and expect me to pay for the repairs -even if, when the work is carried out, their tradesmen's bad workmanship is found to be the cause of my problems?
Thank you.
I complained on numerous occasions to the builder, expressing my belief that the problems originated from the down pipes, but my views were ignored and, while they did replace some of the plaster work, no attempt was made to examine the down pipes or examine the underlying problem.
The builder has since restructured and yesterday re-examined my damp problem. They appear to have agreed with me that the problem is likely to be the down pipes, and have suggested some major works to expose these pipes for repair. However, they tell me that the work 'cannot be carried out under the original warranty' as it has expired.
Legally, what is my situation? During the warranty period, no attempt was made to thoroughly examine and rectify the problem; now, at long last, it appears that they agree there is a problem with the down pipes (I have a long 'paper trail' of correspondence on the subject -it is rather one-sided as they rarely replied to any of my correspondence!). Can they hide behind the fact that the warranty has expired, and expect me to pay for the repairs -even if, when the work is carried out, their tradesmen's bad workmanship is found to be the cause of my problems?
Thank you.