Is there redress for bad workmanship 4 years after buying new home?

[naftap]

Hoping someone can tell me if we can go back to the builders for bad workmanship by their plumber? Problem only came to light now nearly 4 years after buying brand new home in an estate. An incorrectly fitted pipe and join resulted in a slow leak from the waste pipe under the bath (covered in, hence we didn't notice it) which recently finally seeped through to the ceiling downstairs. Before more damage done got a reliable plumber in to fix the situation but its cost us and we still have ceiling to repair - not too bad, just a repaint I think. House insurance doesn't appear to cover bad workmanship so wondering if its reasonable to expect developer to reimburse the cost?

 

[mathepac]

No, the developer is long gone. Not even your HomeBond insurance, assuming you have it, covers this eventuality. See here - [broken link removed]

We complain about warranties and guarantees for TVs, mobile phones and even cars and yet we have less cover for our homes or recourse over the builder / developer.

 

[extopia]

It's very unlikely that this leak has taken four years to seep through your ceiling. It probably failed fairly recently. Which isn't to say it's not the result of bad initial workmanship - it could conceivable be - but could also be due to other factors.

 

[Stevo2006]

Are you sure your house insurance wont cover it? I mean i tiled my ensuite and when it leaked 4 years later i claimed off the insurance. Nothing was ever mentioned that it was down to my bad workmanship!

Thats what insurance is there for.

 

[dubgem]

I am currently having work done to repair a slow leak in my kitchen and my insurance will cover the fixing of any damage done by the leak, but not repair of the leak itself. (And according to my plumber repairing the actual leak is a simple and inexpensive job).

See if your insurance will cover the repair to your ceiling.

(Although if you try to change insurance company they will ask if you have made any claims in the previous three years, so it might be worth just shelling out yourself this time.)

 

[naftap]

It's very unlikely that this leak has taken four years to seep through your ceiling. It probably failed fairly recently. Which isn't to say it's not the result of bad initial workmanship - it could conceivable be - but could also be due to other factors.

A long portion of waste pipe from the bath was angled upwards to the outside wall to reach the downpipe outside the house. The flow was fighting gravity and then the join between that pipe and the shorter pipe from the bath was badly attached (crooked and against the plastic thread). I imagine they put the hole in the outside wall too high and then weren't bothered to correct it. We actually don't use the bath too much so I think a certain level of accumulation of waste eventually caused the seal to fail but it took some time.

Thanks very much for your replies. It is as I thought so, just have to take the hit. Thankfully the damage is minimal and the main cost was fixing the bad job by a very good plumber. Live and learn!