It can be devastating to move into your new house and discover that the furnace is unsafe. You might discover this right away—perhaps on your first walkthrough after you’ve signed the papers and made your down payment—or it might take you a few weeks.
Either way, you might be wondering: whose responsibility is this unsafe furnace? Is it yours, because you are now the owner of the house? Or is the previous owner’s—since it was unsafe when they sold you the house?
Your best course of action? To talk to a lawyer. Whose responsibility this issue is will vary from city to city, simply because of the jurisdiction. Some areas make this the responsibility of the contractor who installed the system, some put it on the current home owner, others put it on the previous homeowner, if it can be proven that they knew the furnace was unsafe when they sold the house.
If you knew that the furnace was unsafe at the time you bought the house, it is likely going to be your responsibility to fix it. The best way to deal with this issue is before you buy the home—if you note that the furnace is not safe, make the correction of this problem a condition of sale. Most sellers want to get out from under the home they’re selling and will not hesitate to make the necessary changes to an unsafe system to make sure they don’t lose the buyer they’ve secured.
As with everything when buying a new home, get the agreement in writing and then hold the seller to it. If you have already purchased a home with an unsafe system, contact a lawyer or your insurance company to see what needs to be done.
