Dealing with property developer

Diceicle

Hi there,

Not looking for legal advice but if anyone has had any similar situations as outlined below, knowledge of the best course of action (if any) to take would be appreciated.
Our home is 5 years old and on a recent chimney clean the sweep (is that the right term?) told us that when the house was being built a lump of concrete had got lodged in the schute. This will mean either extracting the concrete (expensive) or basically doubling the cost of chimney cleaning (as it will have to be cleaned from either end if you get me) for the rest of my time living here. Working on the premiss that the sweep is telling the truth, would I have any recourse with the developer for dropping concrete in my chimney? Its not ruining my life or anything but if I could have my chimney cleaned like a normal person I'd be satisfied.

Delancey

Is the property developer still in business is the first question ?

The vast majority of newly built homes are covered by Homebond , however I am unsure if this would cover something relatively minor as you describe or is not there for more serious issues only.You could always check with Homebond ?

FreudianSlippers

OP you are essentially looking for legal advice. I'll let this thread continue for now in relation to how you can contact the appropriate body(ies) to deal with your query, but be aware that you may or may not have a claim which should be dealt with via a solicitor.
Any legal advice to this post will be dealt with according to the charter.

FreudianSlippers

OisinT wrote: »

OP you are essentially looking for legal advice. I'll let this thread continue for now in relation to how you can contact the appropriate body(ies) to deal with your query, but be aware that you may or may not have a claim which should be dealt with via a solicitor.
Any legal advice to this post will be dealt with according to the charter.

I'm not being an ass on purpose, it's for everyone's own good!

Diceicle

Totally understand Oisin.

The developer is still on the go. Maybe Homebond should be my first port of call.

dermot_sheehan

Homebond I understand only deals with structural defects.

You need to look at your contracts for purchasing the property. Most have a provision for minor defects (which this would be, it's not structural) stating that a schedule of dilapidations is to be sent by the purchaser within a certain period of time. Furthermore there is often an arbitration clause for arbitrating a reduction in purchase price due to minor defects and the arbitration clause often has a timelimit for arbitrating.

Victor

If this is indeed a lump of concrete* lodged in a chimney, it could be argued that is is a structural problem as the only way to remove it would be to open up the structure of the chimney. There may be novel technical solutions, but I'm not aware of any. While such opening up might be limited to the area of the obstruction, it would nonetheless be structural. Asd its in a chimney, it could be argued it is a latent (not obvious) defect.**

There may also be the issue of your fireplace not venting properly, thereby causing a build up of carbon monoxide (look it up) in the room. You would be wise to not use that fire until it is better inspected.


* It could be concrete from the chimney capping or alternatively one of the sections of flue pipe was damaged and the packing concete around it leaked in. It could also be anything that was introduced at a later stage to the chimney, e.g. a bird's nest.

** I'm not sure if many of d'learned friends have been inside a chimney.

FreudianSlippers

Victor actually makes a very good point re: dangers from Carbon Monoxide etc.

There will be "code" established by (I believe) the County Council that stipulates that a chimney must be free from obstruction - they'll almost certainly also have regulations that say that chimneys must be capable of venting x amount of smoke per minute etc.

Likely most Counsel would be drafting this as breach of contract, breach of duty including statutory duty and negligence.

I'd say there is even a danger of chimney fires as the obstruction could cause buildup of soot etc.


If it were me as a lay person I'd be taking my contract to a Solicitor P.D.Q. There may be an arbitration clause in which case you will have to factor the cost of replacing the chimney vs increased costs in cleaning against the value of the home.
While it may seem more expensive to replace the chimney, this is actually quantifiable - whereas increased costs in chimney maintenance is not really. You may be able to get a quote today (2010 prices) but they may vary over the length of time you own the home.
Plus you should consider whether you will have to get more frequent sweeps and, more importantly probably, the dangers that may arise by reason of this defect.