House buyers beware!

Adam and Gillian investigate the guarantees that aren't quite what they seem

A furious viewer has contacted us after finding that the guaranteed windows on the house he recently bought weren't guaranteed at all.

Keith Woodland, a former policeman, bought a house two years ago and was given paperwork by the seller which included a guarantee on the windows of the house.

This winter one of the windows flew open and Keith contacted the original supplier, Safestyle UK, to get them repaired, assuming the guarantee would still apply.

The company's response didn't please him.

Incredulous

"They confirmed there was a 10-year guarantee but that it was automatically invalid because I wasn't the purchaser of the windows.

What are you meant to do, take the windows with you when you sell the house?

Keith Woodland

"I was incredulous. What are you meant to do, take the windows with you when you sell the house?

"It means all guarantees are worthless once a person's moved into that property."

But legally the company is in the right.

Legal principle

"There's a legal principle involved here," says Ajay Patel, a Consumers' Association lawyer.

"When a contract is signed between two people, that contract only applies to those two people.

"If it's going to involve a third person it has to be written into the contract.

"You need to check to see if the guarantee applies to a third person, and see if there's a need for a formal assignment so that it does apply to you."

The company at the centre of this particular case, Safestyle UK, issued the following statement:

(The guarantee applies) whilst the purchaser remains in occupation at the installation address

Safestyle UK

"The guarantee offered by our company is in addition to the purchasers' statutory rights and is, in effect, a voluntary extension to a purchase contract between two parties.

"Our written guarantee, when describing its duration, states clearly "... for a period of 10 years whilst the purchaser remains in occupation at the installation address...".

And it isn't just windows that such a person-specific guarantee applies to; anyone who buys a house and inherits a washing machine, damp-proofing, or even a kitchen, could find that the guarantee doesn't apply to them.

Push hard

Crucially, house buyers need to make sure their conveyancing lawyer asks suppliers of such products to switch the guarantees to them.

The problem is that few lawyers push hard enough to have these rights assigned to house buyers.

Indeed, Safestyle UK told Working Lunch that for a fee, they would consider making their guarantees applicable to third parties if asked to do so.

It's not just house buyers who should be pushing for these guarantees to be extended to subsequent owners.

House sellers could increase the value of their homes if they ensured any guarantees lived on after they'd left the property.