Gas boiler and landlord question

littlequickie

Hi all,

Am not sure if I am posting in the right place here, (long time lurker, just starting to post) but hope someone can point me in the right direction if not.

The boyfriend and I moved into our flat just over 3 months ago. It was a brand new conversion, one of four and we were the last to move in (by about a month). When we moved in our gas meter was reading 0.0009 but we recently checked it as we are due a bill and wanted to send a reading in. It is now reading over three times the amounts of the other flats. :eek: The only things run by gas in our flat are the heating and hot water. We have not turned the heating on at all since we moved in, but the flat has been very warm from day one which we assumed was just how the flat was as its above a shop.

We are really concerned we are going to get hit with a massive bill and be unable to pay it. One of our neighbours works for our letting agents and she came to have a look at the boiler - we have had no manual and no instrucations on how to use it except for a quick guide on a magnet stuck to the boiler which gives only very very basic instructions which we used to ensure the heating was off and to turn the water temp down by 5 degrees. She found a dial that was hidden inside the body of the boiler which we knew nothing about (not mnetioned on the magnet), it tucks underneath it in a hole and you have to press it for it to spring down, hers was visible when she moved in, ours was completely hidden. It is some sort of timer dial for the heating. We have a horrible feeling that this may be the source of the problem somehow and we had no knowledge of it.

We have reported all the above to the landlord and asked for an engineer to come out and check the boiler over as well because there is no way two people (all the other flats are two people as well) could have used the amount of gas our meter indicates we have unless there was a fault or it was set up incorrectly. This was 2 weeks ago and despite several calls we have still not had an engineer contact us or visit. :mad:

Does anyone know what our rights are with regards to claiming part of the bill back form the landlord if no fault is found on the boiler when they eventually send an engineer. We are very happy to pay for what we have used but if it was set incorrectly from day one and we had no manual and turned everything off we could, could the landlord be liable for not providing us with the right info? According to our neighbour the builders left manuals for the boiler, cooker and fridge when they completed the conversions but our landlords removed these before anyone moved in.

So sorry for such a long post its turned into a bit of an essay. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

LQ

littlequickie

Dagnammit! I think this should perhaps be in the utilities section. Sorry, I shall re-post there.

LQ

sooz

You certainly should have a copy of the instructions for your boiler.

Don't call - WRITE to you LL and letting agent, & ask them to provide you with the instructions for the boiler asap & to get an engineer round to see why your flat is using 3x the gas of the other flats. Tell them when you first called (x weeks ago) and that since you are concerned about a possible gas leak you expect an engineer round urgently.

Have to ask, if the flat was warm since you moved in, have you actually felt any radiators on?

littlequickie

Hi, thanks for replying. Nope none of the radiators have felt warm to the touch at all. The boiler room (and often the outer casing of the boiler) is warm all of the time but not the radiators. As far as we can see everything is set to off heating wise and water is only heated when we use it as we have no tank.

tbs624

Were you shown a copy of the Gas Safety Certificate before signing up and is there a copy of it at the property? (this is a legal requirement even if the boiler is new)

littlequickie

No I don't believe we were shown anything like that when we moved in. I have not seen any paperwork to do with it either, I can double check tonight but as far as I am aware there is nothing like that in the flat.

Captain_Mainwaring_2

Why not post a picture of the meter reading? Many people get confused with meter readings.

littlequickie

I will see if I can take a shot over the weekend (am at work right now) but its an awkard cupboard to get to. That said you would be able to see our reading in relation to everyone elses so would be able to see the massive difference. Am pretty sure I am reading it correctly, but am totally willing to be corrected on that :-)

We are going to try turning off the boiler and shutting off the gas supply to our flat for the day while we are away visiting relatives over the weekend. We will check the reading when we leave and when we get back to see if it uses any gas. If this is the case then there is either a leak or its supplying more than just us!

tbs624

littlequickie wrote: »

No I don't believe we were shown anything like that when we moved in. I have not seen any paperwork to do with it either, I can double check tonight but as far as I am aware there is nothing like that in the flat.

If you *don't* have a copy, ask the LL/LA straight away, preferable in writing (keep a copy)

If they refuse to give you a copy of the safety certificate, and/or claim that one is not needed, then contact the Private Sector Rentals Team or the Environmental Health Officer at the local council, or ring the HSE helpline 0800 300 363

See here for further info: http://www.trustcorgi.com/consumer/Documents/TenantsFact20Sheet.pdf

Also see here on meter testing:http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Networks/Techn/Metrolgy/AssetMgmt/Guidance/Documents1/5875-Factsheet_MeterAccuracy%20and%20BillingDisputes.pdf

pinkshoes

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

Why not post a picture of the meter reading? Many people get confused with meter readings.

People get confused with individual readings, but the OP has compared it to others, and it's 3 times what the others are!

We have the same system in our 2 bed flat (no water tank, but gas for central heating, hot water, and gas hob), and pay approximately £22 a month for our gas. We only turn central heating on around end November when it actually gets a bit nippy.

littlequickie

Thanks for that info, we are due a bill any time now and your figure will give us something to compare it to. We don't have a gas hob though, ours is electric so really our gas usage should be minimal at the moment.

I will go home tonight and have a really good scout about for anything vaugely resembling a safety certificate. If I cannot find anything I will get onto the LL and LA as soon as I can.

Thanks so much for all the help and advice so far, its really helping me get my head round things and figure out a plan of action.