Issue with boiler
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Issue with boiler
Unsure what category to place this
question under…
Ok. Me and my hubby purchased a home
with using VA home loan. Closed and
moved in to the home here August 2017.
Just last week our boiler quit working.
Unsure what to do we called the number
left on the boiler from who
serviced/replaced it in 2008. Guy comes
out and does something to make it work,
phones our home warranty place and come
to an agreement on replacing some parts
on it and says he’ll be back out Monday.
Monday came but he never showed and
played phone tag with him. Finally got
an answer Tues and we schedule him to
come out wed. Well he gets here and
takes another look at it and says oh
it’s actually improperly installed.
Their company back in 2008 installed a
GAS boiler when there should have been a
propane boiler. And he tells us it’ll be
almost 6 grand to replace it. We can not
afford that… Is there any thing we can
do??? Just doesn’t seem right we have to
pay for such a careless mistake from
that company’s negligence in putting in
a wrong boiler even tho it was so long
ago and the previous owners never made
any mention about bad boiler just that
it was replaced. I have no clue what to
do…. suggestions? Help??
Asked on December 13, 2017 under Real Estate Law, Michigan
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
It may be difficult or impossible to recover anything from anyone.
1) You can't sue the company that installed the boiler because they did not make any representations or claims to you, were not contracted with or hired by you--they have no connection to you whatsoever, and they do not owe you any duties or obligations.
2) The seller could theoretically be liable, based on "fraud," for not disclosing this issue to you, BUT to hold the seller liable, you would have to be able to prove in court that they did in fact know that the wrong boiler was installed or at least that they logically *must* have known of the issue--but if the boiler basically worked for the seller, they may well not have known. It takes knowledge to commit fraud: if they did not know, they would not be liable (since you can't lie about or hide what you are not aware of). Unless you can show that the seller know of the issue, you will not be able to hold them liable.
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