Faulty Boiler - who is to blame?

[gillykms]

Hi,

I bought my first home last year and have had no real problems with it until last week there was a knock on my door and it was the fire brigade! I had just had my oil tank filled up that day and had switched on my heating which was the first time really since the start of the year. A neighbour reported that they could see black smoke coming out of my garden and when they came to investigate it, it was coming from my boiler. They advised me not to turn my heating on again until the boiler had been serviced.

The person who serviced my boiler has now told me that the boiler that is installed is not correct or is illegal. There is a sticker on it which says August 2007 and I also have paperwork from buying my home which says it was replaced in 2007. The problem is that he said the boiler is a grade C when it should have been replaced with a grade A. He also says that the burner and the boiler do not match and that it looks like just the shell of the boiler was replaced not the boiler itself. (Sorry I can't provide anymore technical information but hopefully that will make sense to someone out there!) He said that although I am able to use it, it will need serviced more regularly than an energy efficient bolier and also it will be using more oil than an energy efficient one. He also has said that when I come to sell my home I will need to replace the boiler first before I can sell it?

So basically it would appear that whoever replaced the boiler did so wrongly, perhaps they knew they did it wrong or perhaps they just weren't trained properly. The person that serviced my boiler seems to think that someone should be liable for this and I should get some compensation but I'm sure its alot trickier than this.

I could contact the people who used to live here but I'm sure its not their fault and also I'm sure they would not have a receipt of who replaced the boiler the last time therefore there is no way of proving who carried out the work even if they did remember who it was.

I have also been advised to contact the estate agent who sold me the house as they would have been responsible for organising the Energy Performance Certificate to be carried out and whoever done this should have picked up on the problems with the boiler - therefore could they be liable?

I do not have the EPC myself and contacted my solicitor who said that the mortgage lender would have it with the title deeds but if I wanted to request a copy they could well charge me £50 or so for it. He also said that the EPC doesn't effect the value of my home, 'it is what it is' is what he said and when I do go to sell my home it can be shown to possible buyers and they can decide whether or not they want to live in a possibly less energy efficient home. If I don't replace the boiler will I have to pass on the problems I know about it to a future buyer?

And to end this....is there any way I could claim off my house insurance for a new boiler in this situation??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Apologies I have posted it under a few different topics as not sure where it fits in!!