Thanks for your help everyone! Will contact Gas Safe ASAP as suggested, as well as my solicitor first thing on Monday.

Hi, wasn't sure where to post this, so hope this is ok!! We bought a house back in October and haven't had any major problems so to speak of until now... We signed up to Npower's Homeserve service, subject to an initial inspection, but it's taken ages for them to come out and carry this out due to the backlog during the snowy weather. Anyway, the guy turned up yesterday and said that the boiler hasn't been installed properly and the debris plate (back boiler) is broken, so he couldn't continue the inspection until this was resolved. So I called out a gas installer today, and he said that not only is the debris plate smashed, but the flue is too short and is probably leaking carbon monoxide into the bedrooms upstairs, and the builders opening isn't sealed. It's going to be a big job, as they don't make the boiler anymore and parts aren't that easy to source apparently. The whole this is very dangerous and illegal, and we've now had the gas disconnected due to having a 3 year old and 4 month old baby in the house. Anyway, we found copies of the receipts from the installation (carried out by British Gas in 2002), and the boiler has been inspected yearly by BG (or so the vendor declared on the Property Information Questionnaire prior to exchange). The guy we called out said he'd be very surprised if this is true. However, the vendor left some documents about the boiler in the house for us when they moved out, and there is an inspection report from 2005 stating that the debris plate was broken. Obviously here we have two problems: the flue is too short, and this was not spotted by either the BG Engineer installing it, or by the subsequent inspection engineer. Also the debris plate was broken in 2005, and the vendor signed the Property Information Questionnaire which stated that the central heating system was in good working order when apparently it wasn't. We are now faced with the prospect of either a big repair bill or an entirely new boiler being put in - while I'm maternity leave, this is going to be a bank loan job. Obviously, I'm aware of the legal aspects (caveat emptor), so assuming we are liable, but it seems to me that the vendor lied in a legal document and the inspector in 2005 obviously missed the fact that the flue was too short (although glaringly obvious even to me when the guy put his torch up there). Would this be worth speaking to my solicitor or BG about, or would it be a waste of time? Thanks for your help!