is this legal? - urgent advice wanted on plumbing when renting, please

debtfreein4years

as a tennant i think your being unreasonable. your landlord has responded very quickly to the situation even managing to get someone to see you on the weekend which is usually pretty difficult to do. its just unfortunate that the problem has occured whilst you were on holiday and were unable to report it as soon as it happend.

ok so you both have asthma which i appreicate is a bit of a pain for you to be dealing with but its not the landlords problem nor anyone else's. I would get a dehumidifier to help dry things out and if anything needs replacing well if its the landlords insurance or your contents insurance get a claim in.

if you were in when the gas inspection was done you should have got a certificate then and there so keep chasing it up. its been checked its safe, its just a little bit of paper at the end of the day. ok you should have it but you dont and its not the end of the world.

ive got a leak under my sink that i just noticed. my landlord is getting her handyman to call me on monday to arrange a time to come and check it out. im not getting all bothered about not being able to use the kitchen sink or the washing machine for a few days as the landlord has done her duty and is getting someone round to look at it and then fix it at my convienience!

clutton_2

as it happens i am very asthmatic - so i do sympathise - but in the "real" world of getting repairs done - these things take time -

and it was not "freezing" last night - its August.

this LL has responded in less than 24 hours - how is that unprofessional ?

"" what if the ceiling had fallen down in the night, ?"" - but it didn't

You have been on holiday - this leak may have been building up for weeks - your landlord might well ask why didn't you report it earlier ?

vicstick86

It always makes me wonder when I read this site!
Landlord sends round someone and your still not happy!
Landlord cant help the mould from a leak!!!
And sleeping with the window open and freezing with a hot water bottle...where do you live thats that cold, tis august!

As for the boiler, you say in the first bit someones come round to check it, who was corgi registered..... if you were there and saw him do it, then seeing the certificate isnt gonna change anything! its really not that interesting.

(Not a landlord)

pete80

vicstick86 wrote: »

It always makes me wonder when I read this site!

And sleeping with the window open and freezing with a hot water bottle...where do you live thats that cold, tis august!
(Not a landlord)

Yeah, it does sound a bit like "Jackanory" doesn't it...freezing in August LMAO, I sleep with window open 365 a year.....:D

dfh

Well,you can never please some people.Landlord does not send the right person,they do not come at a time convinient to me,me and my family have asthma and it is all the landlord's fault.....now then,how much comp am I entitled to? Oh,and because of the landlord I have had frost bite in august ! So I will moan and moan but won't move !

dfh

carolt wrote: »

Got back from holiday to find had had leak which was dripping down through our kitchen ceiling; nothing showing on the first floor, so it was obviously a pipe under the flooring, presumably leading to the central heating in one of the bedrooms, from the location.

Now, as we rent - phew! - luckily none of the cost of this is to be born by us.

However, the slightly worrying news, and reason I'm posting here, is that when our landlord got back to us today, he said he'd send round a non-Corgi registered plumber - who is retired, but is a friend of the landlord, and according to him, used to live on our street and fitted the central heating system for him originally.

This plumber is here now, messing about, and has said there's a leaking pipe under the carpet, as we thought, but he's going to have to drain the whole central heating system to change it.

Is this legal for a non-Corgi registered plumber to do???

I thought not.

Plus, a separate issue, we've not had a copy of the gas safety cert, although a gas check was done months ago (by a different, Corgi-reg plumber). Again, is that legal? I thought a copy was required?

Plus, the landlord gave us all of 15 minutes notice just now (we phoned yesterday), that the plumber was on his way; apparently the plumber was driving past, and the landlord figured it would be difficult to get hold of anyone at the weekend - but 15 minutes? On a Saturday morning? I wasn't even dressed, nor were the kids; luckily it's all tidy, as I had left the house tidy while we were away, and unpacked everything since we got back...but 15 minutes does seem rather a liberty.

Advice, anyone?

Oh yes,your landlord is being so unreasonable.Go on,sue the pants off him ! You are entitled to loads and loads of compensation.

real1314

I'm confused. i thought the OPs main concern was a non-Corgi doing plumbing work on a leak that arose in the last 2 weeks or so. Oh and a non-corgi was going to check the boiler, but Op complained and a corgi guy did it (I presume OP checked he was corgi, having known that the other was not). Corgi guy did the check and didn't tag anything as unuseable.

OP has been told this is fine, but now it's generated mold spores that affect her asthma - this seems very quick for mold spores to have formed and seems a bit odd. Also it's been really cold, despite overnight temps staying over 10 degrees too.

Sometimes people start a thread wanting to be told they are right and should get retribution. When they get told they are wrong, the story changes and adapts to paint a worse scenario. Funny that.

clutton_2

""a non-Corgi doing plumbing work on a leak that arose in the last 2 weeks or so"" - any joe soap who can join copper pipes can mend a leak in a pipe - not all plumbers are either CORGI or GASSAFE registered - it costs a lot of money to be registered.

if this leak is so old that mould spores have grown, there must have been a lot of leaking water somewhere -and you would have thought that, as a responsible tenant, that OP might have noticed a drop in her pressure on the boiler - if she noticed it before she went on holiday ...........

Geenie

Thank goodness I don't have gas in any of my properties, but if I did I would ensure that who ever came to repair it was Corgi registered and all the relevant certificates were in place. This would be solely because I take my responsibilities as a LL seriously, I also take having gas in a property seriously, having known of 2 cases of death from carbon monoxide poisoning. So on this point I agree with Carolt being concerned.

That said, I do think the LL has acted quickly when informed of the problem, and can not be held responsible for the place being damp because the OP was away on holiday. Nor are they responsible for the tenant having asthma, as this sort of leak is bound to leave a property damp after, and needing time to dry out. I own a house and have had plumbers etc turning up whilst in a state of undress. I am just grateful they come when asked. Renting is no different to owning when it comes to repairs, and we all have to be tolerant and adapatable to when people can come, and how long we have to wait for things to get better.

carolt

clutton wrote: »

""a non-Corgi doing plumbing work on a leak that arose in the last 2 weeks or so"" - any joe soap who can join copper pipes can mend a leak in a pipe - not all plumbers are either CORGI or GASSAFE registered - it costs a lot of money to be registered.

if this leak is so old that mould spores have grown, there must have been a lot of leaking water somewhere -and you would have thought that, as a responsible tenant, that OP might have noticed a drop in her pressure on the boiler - if she noticed it before she went on holiday ...........

What a load of utter piffle.

I don't know know what world you live in where mould spores take more than 2 weeks to develop.

In the real world, mould spores will form on damp surfaces very quickly, certainly within a couple of days if it's as warm as you all claim it is. :rolleyes:

More to the point, all the moaners on this page appear not to have reading my OP, whic was not a complaint about my landlord replying too slowly - that is a figment of clutton's overactive imagination.

My OP raised 2 points - 1. was it legal for anyone to undertake work involving the whole central heating system, Corgi registered or not? Still not had an answer to that, from anyone with a clue to what they're talking about.

And 2. how long should I be required to wait by law for a copy of my gas safety cert? This point was very helpfully answered by Miss Moneypenny - my landlord is clearly breaking the law. End of. I didn't invent the law. Presumably it's there for a good reason. If landlords like clutton object to the law, they should lobby the relevant bodies. Or ignore it, if they so choose, and face the legal consequences. I believe I've read on here that's jail.

Obviously the law has a rather different view of landlords' duties than clutton.

I wonder who should take precedence? Clutton or the law?

Difficult one, that..... :rolleyes: