Legal Q&A: who should pay for our buyer's new boiler?

Question: We sold our house about six months ago. During the sale we became quite friendly with our buyer and told her where we were moving.

We were astounded today to receive a letter from her saying the boiler had broken down and we should pay the cost of the repair or pay for a new boiler, whichever the gasman said was needed.

We won’t be doing so — but why does she think she can ask this of us?

Answer: If the fault occurred with the boiler after the property was sold and you were not aware of it, the responsibility for the repairs remains with the purchaser. However, if you made any misrepresentations to your buyer about the boiler, she may have a right of action against you.

A misrepresentation occurs when one party makes an untrue statement of fact which induces another party to enter into a contract and that other party suffers loss as a result.

When you were selling your house your solicitor should have asked you to fill in various protocol forms, one of which would have been the Law Society Property Information Form. Part of this form relates to central heating and asks the seller to confirm when the central heating was installed and last serviced or maintained. You should have completed this form and provided your solicitor with copies of any gas safe inspection and service records, and your solicitor should have passed this documentation to the buyer’s solicitor. If you provided accurate information, your buyer is unlikely to succeed with a claim against you for misrepresentation in relation to the boiler.

The principle “caveat emptor” meaning “buyer beware” applies when buying property. Your buyer could have had an independent inspection carried out on the boiler.

These answers can only be a very brief commentary on the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor.

If you have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email legalsolutions@standard.co.uk or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE.

We regret that questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a solicitor specialising in residential property.