Key Post Pyrite in Foundations leading to cracks

Status
Not open for further replies.
All very interesting reading. I also am stuck in the mess that is Pyrite in the founds and am dealing with Premier.
I have some sympathy for some of the comments by @Cruiser1427 as we are also in the position of having to provide quite serious information in terms of testing in accordance with their 'new' spec - I am also interested in the comments of Pyriteengine and Tommy re the costs as €4k doesn't cover it, its more like €6k and thats ex vat when all is done.
In my case we have the support of the builder who is now pushing the broker and underwriters hard to support a lesser spec of testing in order to make it more accessible to the whole development.
Maybe some day we'll get it resolved - but not without a few more painful months of pushing!
 
Re: Pyrite

Pheobe said:
Hi, is anyone in the situation where they didn't buy the house directly from the builders? We bought the house second hand and have discovered cracks and were told a number of people in our estate have pyrite.
Does anyone know what rights we have as we bought second hand? It is a very stressful situation to be in, we dont want to lose value. thanks
Click to expand...

If you bought it within the Homebond Guarantee period, you should still be ok. Some say Homebond Guarantee is for 10 years but my brother had a problem with an extension - roof part of leaked - and he is very technical about EVERYTHING and he says that Homebond Guarantee extends to 12 years. But you must supply all details, pics, and dates and literally times of all 'events' pertaining to the problem. I am not an expert in this side of property so check it out with other posters and experts in this area. Any information I have given is purely from personal experience. Good luck.
 
mrduke said:
i'm dealing with home bond for the last 18 months about pyrite and hitting a wall. they have offered a small some, less then 1/3 of the price of the repair. the builder is no longer around so they are our only point of recourse. my advice is to go after the builder straight away to porevent him from closing his company which will leave you with no option then to deal with home bond...
Click to expand...

Unfortunately Mrduke, we are in the same position as you to a degree,only that the builder is still trading. What Homebond done was to divide their liability by the number of houses that COULD potentially be affected by pyrite with that builder - Homebond liability is 500k euro divide by say 500 houses = 1000 euro each.

Its a complete joke. I have spoken off the record to a guy I know within Homebond and this is what their legal people advised them and is this is their position. Therefore to pursue them legally would be expensive and IMHO wasted time and money. I have refrained from posting this until now as many others are at different stages with their pyrite problems.

Pursuing the builder would seem a better option, our solicitor seemed intent initially pursuing Homebond and not the builder. AFAIK Menolly homes court case v's Lagan quarry seemed to go in Menolly's favour - if this is true then the builder in theory could fix the pyrite issue and then claim from the quarry ?
 
I haven't followed up on the Menolly Homes case.
Quarries supply raw materials and usuallt sell at a relatively low rate to the main contractor.
In other words what they get per house may be miniscule in relation to the cost of the remedy.

Thus I'd be wary of inferring that a favourable result against the quarry might lead to rich pickings for others.
Quarrying doesn't suggest huge financial resources and there may not be a huge insurance fund set up to draw from.
Some insurance policiess allow one claim only per offence per site or whatever while others may have an upper limit per year.

FWIW

ONQ.
 
onq, does it matter if the quarry are insured or not though. If the claim goes in Menolly's favour and Lagan are deemed to be at fault for supplying defective infill surely Lagan have to foot the bill wether they subsequently claim fro their insurance or not is moot?
 
onq said:
Thus I'd be wary of inferring that a favourable result against the quarry might lead to rich pickings for others.
Click to expand...

All we want is to have it rectified soonest. Given Homebond's legal position, the only other avenue is to proceed with legal action against the builder ? I dont really mind who/what caused the problem, I feel we are just unlucky. After buying our house, paying mortgages etc - the least we can hope for/expect is for the issue to be resolved.

ONQ - have we any other recourse ?
 
mrblues said:
All very interesting reading. I also am stuck in the mess that is Pyrite in the founds and am dealing with Premier.
I have some sympathy for some of the comments by @Cruiser1427 as we are also in the position of having to provide quite serious information in terms of testing in accordance with their 'new' spec - I am also interested in the comments of Pyriteengine and Tommy re the costs as €4k doesn't cover it, its more like €6k and thats ex vat when all is done.
In my case we have the support of the builder who is now pushing the broker and underwriters hard to support a lesser spec of testing in order to make it more accessible to the whole development.
Maybe some day we'll get it resolved - but not without a few more painful months of pushing!
Click to expand...

If you are being charged more than €4k+vat then go elsewhere. Don't be under any illusion that Premier will accept a lower level of information. You have to prove all steps before they accept liability. I know of quite a few cases that they have accepted and all have provided the full information needed.
 
Pyriteengine said:
If you are being charged more than €4k+vat then go elsewhere. Don't be under any illusion that Premier will accept a lower level of information. You have to prove all steps before they accept liability. I know of quite a few cases that they have accepted and all have provided the full information needed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Pyriteengine, i've currently got two quotes, the third organisation wouldn't give me a quote exactly to the Premier spec as they said it was excessive and proved no more than their normal tests would.
 
This pyrite problem is a mine field of builders, quarries, insurers and legal profession.Its Billy to Jack. Far as I can see the insurers will try to wriggle out of any cover. Makes me wonder should we bother with house insurance. My advice is (a) employ a solicitors firm on a no foal no fee basis, (B) make sure any pyrite investigations are carried out under the insurers protocols otherwise they are useless, (c) fully ascertain the costs involved and who is liable if the civil case is lost, (d) last but not least deal with your insurer directly before undertaking a legal course.
I am in the middle of this jigs and reels nightmare. The government/ombudsman should be involved and using their power to resolve all these issues for unfortunate homeowners.Its about time a nationwide pyrite lobby group was formed.
 
mrblues said:
All very interesting reading. I also am stuck in the mess that is Pyrite in the founds and am dealing with Premier.
I have some sympathy for some of the comments by @Cruiser1427 as we are also in the position of having to provide quite serious information in terms of testing in accordance with their 'new' spec - I am also interested in the comments of Pyriteengine and Tommy re the costs as €4k doesn't cover it, its more like €6k and thats ex vat when all is done.
In my case we have the support of the builder who is now pushing the broker and underwriters hard to support a lesser spec of testing in order to make it more accessible to the whole development.
Maybe some day we'll get it resolved - but not without a few more painful months of pushing!
Click to expand...
If you have the proper professionals helping you the entire process should cost no more than €4k + vat maximum. Perhaps you should be asking hard questions about your teams experience before appointing them.
 
Re: Pyrite

Pheobe said:
Hi sorry only seeing this response now...Yes legal advice is saying that 4% is excessive and can cause swelling, cracking etc. we paid over 2k for report and now have to get another report done from the sample costing 400eur. This is been done at present. What precentage is bad then? Can we sell our home to someone with 4% pyrite in it??
Click to expand...

Look up my previous threads on this. Pyrite % is so 20th century. We have moved on from that. Now it is the total sulphur content and acid soluble sulphate level that is relevant. These are the main reactive components that are relevant.
Nevertheless, the presence of pyrite on it's own is not a problem. Is it cubic or framboidal? what level of oxygen, humidity, heat, ventilation, compaction is preent. What is the height of the standing water table? It is far more complicated that a simple % level. A good structural engineer should be able to inspect your house and tell you if you have any current problems resulting from pyrite
 
I concur with most of that, but avoid the solicitor. The old phrase, "too many cooks spoil the broth" comes to mind.
 
Pyriteengine said:
If you have the proper professionals helping you the entire process should cost no more than €4k + vat maximum. Perhaps you should be asking hard questions about your teams experience before appointing them.
Click to expand...

You must have read my mind. Pushed the builder hard last week with lawyers and they have committed to carry out the testing for me. We'll see if its enough to get the claim accepted this time.
Thanks for the advice over the costings though, will make sure its in mind if anything should change with the builder.
 
mrblues said:
You must have read my mind. Pushed the builder hard last week with lawyers and they have committed to carry out the testing for me. We'll see if its enough to get the claim accepted this time.
Thanks for the advice over the costings though, will make sure its in mind if anything should change with the builder.
Click to expand...

Remember it is not just the testing requirements that have to be met. I know Premier have a detailed set of requirements for the Engineering Reports. Make sure you use a recognised Practise and not someone with no experience in this area.
 
Pyriteengine said:
Remember it is not just the testing requirements that have to be met. I know Premier have a detailed set of requirements for the Engineering Reports. Make sure you use a recognised Practise and not someone with no experience in this area.
Click to expand...

Cheers, all being done to the letter of the law. I'm also having an external engineer work on it overseeing the testing, reports etc to be 100% as I have to get it sorted.
Thanks again.
 
Article in saturdays Times in Menolly v's Lagan court case. Anyone see it ? AFAIK the judge has ordered matters to proceed as there were documents not provided by both sides...???????
 
Sorry folks

I had deleted this thread for review as it contained some potentially defamatory material and I forgot to restore it.

Brendan
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top