Advice for a tennant please.

NUFCnutter

I am moving from a privately rented house to another privately rented house hopefully on friday 11th July(the date I agreed with my new landlord's agent) and I have put my notice in on this house, and it runs out on the 18th July. But we have a wee bit of a problem. The last tennants ran up a massive gas bill with British Gas who broke in and took away the meter. Now the landlord cannot get the CP12 done because there is no gas meter, he has spoken to British Gas and sent a letter through his solicitor explaining that it was the previous tennants who ran up the bill. However I cannot move into the propery until the CP12 is done, and friday is looming nearer and nearer. I have a van booked to move, everyone is poised ready to go, we are just waiting for British Gas to sort out the meter. Is it likely to be sorted by friday or am I dreaming. And if not what then?

moneysavinmonkey

ok, i googled CP!2 and it came up as the Gas Safety Certificate - is that what you mean?

So you are saying there is no Gas Safety Certificate in your new property
due to the gas supply being cut off by British Gas.

It is illegal for the landlord to rent the property without the Certificate, so rightly he won't allow you to move in.

Have you signed a rental agreement that has the tenancy start date on it??
If so then you have a contract with the landlord - if he is unable to meet the obligations of the contract he needs to compensate you fairly, e.g. put you up in B&B or something. Read the tenancy agreement, it should have a paragraph or so giving details of what happens if the property is unoccupable (eg. due to fire or flood not the fault of the tenants)

If you don't have a signed tenancy agreement and move in date yet, then i'm afraid there isn't much you can do except keep your fingers crossed that British Gas get things sorted in time.

Premier_2

CP12 = landlords gas safety certificate.

Who took the meter away? British Gas or the tenants?

I guess ultimately it depends on what you want, and whether you need a gas supply.

Assuming a gas supply was promised (either explicitly or implicitly) and/or you need one (e.g. gas cooker supplied by LL, central heating, etc) then you could claim the property is uninhabitable, so the LL would need to fund you alternative accomodation.

Ask the LL what the plan is to get a meter installed. If he already has a firm appointment, it takes about 30mins if that to install a meter and a CP12 is usually completed within an hour or two.

Assuming no gas supply is required and the supply was disconnected properly when the meter was removed, you could move in without any problem as without a gas supply there is no requirement for a CP12.

zebulon

are the 2 flats far away?

any chance you can do the big moving as planned on Fridays and stay a few more days in your current flat (which you have until 18/07 anyway)

hassle I know but I would also ask the LL to reimburse you the days you won't be staying in the new flat while it get sorted (providing it;s actually uninhabitable)

you would also have to make sure that the LL is dealing with that (as said above appointments are taken etc) and not just some approximate date, nothing concrete.

MoneySavingSpender

I'd be tempted to buy a portable plug in electric stove and some oil heaters until that certificate was done and promise not to use the gas until it was, sorted, landlord gets his tenants, tenant gets to not to go cold and starve (if there is a gas stove) and a roof over their heads.

As for who would share the costs, that is what negotiating is about...

NUFCnutter

Ok, so its two days to go and I am not further ahead. I cannot move into the property without the CP12, and I still haven't heard from the landlord (through an estate agency) about whether it is going to be sorted. Am starting to get annoyed as I have the van booked to be picked up tomorrow night, my bt phone line is moving over on friday and I still have no confirmation that I am moving. EEEK :eek:

embelliss

NUF!!!!ter wrote: »

Ok, so its two days to go and I am not further ahead. I cannot move into the property without the CP12, and I still haven't heard from the landlord (through an estate agency) about whether it is going to be sorted. Am starting to get annoyed as I have the van booked to be picked up tomorrow night, my bt phone line is moving over on friday and I still have no confirmation that I am moving. EEEK :eek:

Premiers suggestion is a good one, "Assuming no gas supply is required and the supply was disconnected properly when the meter was removed, you could move in without any problem as without a gas supply there is no requirement for a CP12."

Also, have you signed a tenancy agreement yet? If so, moneysavinmonkey gave some good advice.
If you have signed an agreement, you should go to the LA and make it clear that you want to move in on the date agreed, if not then they are breaking their side of the contract - and you should be conpensated in some way...?

There is alot of good advice from the previous posts, I think you should consider it all.

ruggedtoast

The last flat we lived in had no gas supply and no gas safety certificate. Why on earth would you need a gas safety certificate for a property that has no gas?

NUFCnutter

It needs gas for the hot water and central heating though, that is why I need a cp12 certificate. The only reason it has no gas is because the last tenants ran up a HUGE bill then disappeared and British Gas broke in and took the meter out.

zebulon

NUF!!!!ter wrote: »

British Gas broke in

is it only me that find this VERY strange...
or is it something quite possible I never heard about ??

is that the LL who told you that's what happened?

embelliss

zebulon wrote: »

is it only me that find this VERY strange...
or is it something quite possible I never heard about ??

is that the LL who told you that's what happened?

I was slightly baffled by this also.