Builder liability? Sewerage pumped under house.

U

Underpressur

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Hello,

I am looking for some advice please. We bought our new build house 8.5 years ago from the builder (who is still in business locally). We recently had drainage problems with our main bathroom (toilet, sink, shower and bath not draining) so after many hours of investigations the 3rd drainage company has diagnosed that the builder attached the main bathroom foul pipe to the radon sump (a box underneath the house devised to release gas into the air). In effect all sewerage and water from our main bathroom has been pumped under our house and into the foundations for the past 8 years.

I contacted the builder and he's not returning my calls. Homebond says they don't cover services. House insurance is sending out a loss adjuster to investigate.

My question is .... is the builder legally responsible for covering the cost of fixing this issue?

Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.

Many thanks.

Underpressure
 
Underpressur said:
My question is .... is the builder legally responsible for covering the cost of fixing this issue?
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Another reason Homebond is useless.

I advise you to go to a solicitor to find out your rights.

Alternatively, as the builder is still in business, you can try the bad advertising pressure on him. As in tell him you will stand with placard where he is currently building to warn others that he is a bad builders, don't write anything libelous though.

You might want to check out if he is not a 'different' company to the one he was when he sold to you. If that company has folded you won't be able to pursue him is my understanding.

Is he a big builder?

It is absolutely shocking that this has been signed off as acceptable, and shocking that a builder could designedly do such shoddy work. And purchasers seem to have little or no protections.

Maybe you'll be lucky and the insurance company will pay out.
 
How did the Drainage company diagnose the Radon sump connection ?
 
Who certified the house before you purchased it? Was there an engineer/architect involved?
 
Thanks for replies.

It seems the company covering the my estate is in Nama. He is a medium builder and still operating in the area but obviously under a different company.

The drainage company used a cctv camera down the pipe to diagnose the problem.

What do you mean who certified the house? It was part of a large new build housing estate.

Thanks.
 
Underpressur said:
What do you mean who certified the house? It was part of a large new build housing estate.
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Did you get a surveyors report from a surveyor or engineer when you bought the house? If you bought with a mortgage, your bank would have insisted on this.
 
Bank would have insisted on a valuation not a survey so unlikely to be one done on a new house.
 
emeralds said:
Who certified the house before you purchased it? Was there an engineer/architect involved?
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When you bought the house, you should have received an Opinion of Compliance with Building Regulations from your solicitor. This document would have been prepared by your builders Architect or Engineer.
 
Underpressur said:
In effect all sewerage and water from our main bathroom has been pumped under our house and into the foundations for the past 8 years.
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I'm amazed that it's taken 8 years for this problem to become apparent. I would have thought your pipes would have backed up years ago.

I've never heard of drainage being done like this before. It the drainage company is correct, then it's quite a serious issue. Not only has you builder compromised the foundations of your house, he has also rendered your radon barrier ineffective. You should carry out a radon test in your house to check radon levels.

I would be proceeding directly to legal action.
 
Insurance cover of the problem will be nill.
The clause of insurance usually states that they do not cover negligent or bad work
by a trade or service and the insurer are therefore not liable to cover negligent work.
Been there a few times over the years with folks being left
with terrible work and the insurance company each time told the house owner to sue
the person who did the work.
Which as most of us know is a waste of time as cowboys are as slippy as a greased pig.
OP - That is going cost big bucks to fix I'm afraid.
 
You're probably right about the house insurance, but it is worth exploring other legal options first. Check out the certificate of compliance as mentioned above, and talk to the solicitor who did the conveyancing about what legal value this might be for you. Can you sue the professional who signed the certificate? If your solicitor tells you that it is worthless, you might ask him why he bothered accepting it as part of the conveyance, and what other steps he took to protect your interests when you were making the largest financial transaction of your life.
 
Leo said:
They should have had professional indemnity insurance that might be a recourse here.
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Professionasl are only usually required to hold Professional indemnity insurance for 6 or 7 years after completion of the build. If the Architect or Engineer has retired then they will have given up their insurance. Get your solicitor to move fast on this one.
 
Many thanks for the replies. I have contacted my solicitor re certificate of compliance. I'm waiting for the engineer to come today and the insurance loss adjustor is coming tomorrow (although I don't hold out much hope there).

Underpressur
 
Underpressur said:
It seems the company covering the my estate is in Nama. He is a medium builder and still operating in the area but obviously under a different company.

.
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Pity the poor people buying those houses.

Cannot see how underpressur is going to gain anything here, those certificates of compliance seem to be worthless. Full of get our clauses, and the person who signed it is probably out of business or in OZ or broke. Look to the people in Priory Hall, their certs didn't do them any good.

I do wonder as a purchaser currently what the Law Society recomends in relation to these certs and how useless they are. I don't believe anything has changed in relation to shoddy work and regulations.
 
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