Am I entitled to some money back

[me2you]

I recently sold a burger van after having all the electrics and gas redone.I had a job finding someone qualified as I needed certificates for both.Now the new owner tells me has had to have both done again the certificates were no good.The electrics needed a fuse box and the gas should have been installed with flexible hoses and copper pipe was used.I paid £504 which I thought was a bit steep at the time.I have not done anything about this yet as I have not got my receipt and i`m not quite sure what my rights are but I would like to get some money back for the person who bought it from me as I feel he thinks I`ve ripped him off.Any advice is welcome.

[buildersmate]

In law you are not 'entitled' in that sense.
In contract law, if the service you received was unsatisfactory (and it sounds like it was), the first thing to have done would have been to go back to the supplier, explain the failure and give him the first opportunity to put things right. Only then could you reasonably go elsewhere then use a legal process to try and get a refund. Unfortunately that didn't happen because the new owner seems to have not told you about it until he had incurred additional costs in re-doing the certification. That puts you (and the buyer) on a weaker footing.
By all means try, but I think you may find the original service provider will ask you why you didn't report the defects earlier before repairing elsewhere. So then it is down to your skills of negotiation to try and get some of the costs back.
At least then you would be able to tell the new owner that you had tried.

[roobidoo]

I can't comment re the electrics and obviously if you have received shoddy service, that is not right. However, I wonder if the gas piping issue could be down to a different inspector - do you live in the same Local Authority area as the person you sold it to?

We constantly get conflicting information regarding the gas installation in our catering trailer, having finally tracked down someone who was certified to carry out services on both a commercial and mobile unit, and getting it passed by the EH officer for where it is registered, we took it 20 miles away where, as it was in another Local Authority are, it needed to be inspected, and were told it wouldn't have been passed by them. One authority will say everything must be fixed piping with factory fitted fixings (including our catering tent) another is happy with flexible pipe throughout, and the others fall somewhere inbetween. Sorry if I have waffled a bit, but I hope the information is useful.

[tonywiltshire]

If you have had work carried out which was not of satisfactory quality, you need to make sure this is the case, according to the new owner, you first need from the new owner the proof that the work is unsatisfactory. As BM says the new owner having the work done again without reference to you has not helped your legal position. The correct course of action would have been, if you were satisfied that the work was not of satisfactory quality, which is one of your statutory rights, to go back to the original person, with whom you had a contract and ask him to complete the work to a satisfactory standard within, say two weeks, at the agreed cost. Only if he failed to do so or ignored you should you have the work done by others to a satisfactory standard and charge the original person with any cost. In the event of him refusing to pay you would need to take action in the county court.

I suggest you explain the legal position to the new owner and explain how his actions have not helped, if he wishes you to take action against the original person, (with whom you had a contract) you will do so at his (the new owners) risk and cost. There will be costs involved in you taking action in the county court and you may lose.

[me2you]

Thankyou all very much for your replies.I will pass this on to the buyer.