CORGI engineer required to install new radiator?

[Denon]

After getting 3 quotes for what seemed ( to me ) to be absolute rip-off prices and being told that "if you don't use a corgi reg fitter you will die.... its that simple mate " I then went ahead and fitted my own combi boiler. I had never even plumbed a tap before in my life nor changed a tap washer, none of those technical things, what I do have is common sense. The best quote I had was £500 labour and was told it would take 2 days due to it not being a the same make of boiler out as in. I did it myself in 6 hours without any experience and having to go buy a couple tools and standard tea breaks..... oh and it cost me £25.00. That was 18 months ago and I'm still here to tell the tail. I have since remodelled the bathroom including fitting and extractor fan (which I wired myself) I have rewired my garage/workshop totally I have replaced all the windows in my house. I have also been told that if I rewire my house "you will die....its that simple mate" Guess what my next job is........

These so-called experts may have a license to print money but it won't be my money

[Cerberus .]

It's getting to the point where people will have to notify BCO if they want to wipe their backsides!

Last year we had a gas fire replaced & a flue liner installed. Guess what, BCO had to be notified and I was issued with a pretty little certificate. FFS why should the BCO be involved?

Don.

[Andy Hall]

So that they can increase their workload, hire more of them and reduce unemployment while increasing taxation.

did anybody hear the Radio 4 item about the Purbeck bedroom tax yesterday?

[clangers_snout]

Dave, it's your choice. When you come to sell the house there is a standard question on the buyers form, from their solicitor, which asks if the central heating has been altered from a certain date. If you say yes (which you would have to in your case), then there is a follow up which says please supply BCO completion certificates (electrical and gas) and CORGI certification. If you don't have that then the buyer can either use it as a reason to knock you down on price or even pull out of the deal altogether if it worries them that much. The BCO retrospective fee if 20% on top of the normal fee. From the buyer's point of view, the fact that there is no 'legal' paperwork for the installation can invalidate any insurance claim they might make in the future and of course they would have the same problem when it comes time for them to sell.

[Andrew Gabriel]

In my (admittedly limited experience of two recent cases), the seller's solicitor doesn't allow you to answer any of these questions, even where apparently favourable to you.

[clangers_snout]

Sure, the buyer's solicitor can't legally force you to answer the questions but, what would you as the buyer think if you outright refused to answer those sticky questions? You'd immediately assume (correctly) that there's no paperwork or that you're hiding something or both. Either way, answering honestly that you have no paperwork or alternatively just refusing to answer, you're in the same boat. The buyer tries to knock you down on price or walks away.

[Andy Hall]

One could simply answer that there is no paperwork and that none is required. It isn't.

Then the buyer can choose. If they want the house they can choose to ignore the issue (because it is a non issue) and then check that their solicitor really knows what she's doing (if she got this wrong how much more is wrong?)

If it's a price issue and a negotiation then that will have to be about something else.

[Tony Bryer]

I'm about to find this out, since I replaced mine in 2004 and am about to sell. I am (hopefully) going to pre-empt problems by getting it professionally serviced and get a Landlord's certificate at the same time. For the electrics, I will get a periodic inspection report. If I have an awkward buyer ['s solicitor] they may insist on a Building Regs regularisation approval which will cost me £250 or so for nothing more than eyeballing the other paperwork.

[Tony Bryer]

Yes, a Conservative council, for anyone who expects things to change in

2010

[John Rumm]

No point now... If you sell the place and it proves to be a problem, you can get a (worthless*) insurance to cover retrospective building regs problems.

• IIUC the window of time where a LA can take any enforcement action on building regs violations is short, and since your system complies anyway there would be nothing for them to take action over. That even assumes they had the will - which seems unlikely.

[clangers_snout]

Andy, are we talking about the boiler replacement or my original question about the radiator? If you are talking about the boiler replacement, where are you getting this idea that no paperwork is required from? Can you refer me to a legally binding document that states this, something that I could refer the clueless solicitor to when they (or the buyer) insist on BCO completion certificates and CORGI paperwork?

[Piers Finlayson]

When I sold my house, in which the boiler had been replaced a few years earlier, the buyers (via their solicitors) asked for paperwork from recent servicing of the boiler.

I told them, not untruthfully, that I had never had my boiler serviced and therefore I had no servicing paperwork to give them. They asked again and I told them the same thing. They then asked whether it worked OK, and I said to the best of my knowledge yes (which it did).

That was that. I was prepared, if pushed, to get it serviced and pay for it, but I didn't think it was worth servicing it on the off chance.

[Andy Hall]

Specifically the radiator not boiler replacement.

[ronny]

Any fitter or whatever you want to call them who can't test a simple component like a pressure switch wants shooting IMHO.

But come on mate, describing testing of a pressure switch as "back up" is a bit lame a six year old could do it, lets face it.

Ron.

[Cerberus .]

I was going to call it 'daylight robbery', but that was the "Window Tax" of

1696. Oh well, that's progress for you. ;-)

Don.

[John Rumm]

The window tax is a scam run by FENSA these days ;-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

OK. I've no intention of selling - I wouldn't have replaced the boiler if I had.

Great. I put in a larger window at the same time. Wonder what I've not done that I should have with this. ;-)

[geoff]

In message , ronny writes

The backup is me explaining to the fitter how to do it over the phone

[John Rumm]

Nothing to worry about then...

Same thing... building regs Part something or other (I lose track of the alphabet soup of pointless regulation that has flowed forth in recent years). You need to be a member of FENSA or go the building notice route to replace a window. (although you can repair one with impunity however)

(stats suggest that to all intents and purposes no one bothers taking any notice of this one).

[Ed Sirett]

IIRC the assessments have alot about recognising load of obsolete gas controls but very little on modern stuff. The other side of assessment is the certified work record. However this is eroded becasue a) The on the job training can be very patchy. b) The assessment centres are competeing with each other to see who can offer entry on the basis of the smallest work record.