Gas Leak in Rented Property

Jowo_2

Ask the Gas engineer for a copy of his report which has condemned the boiler.

C_Mababejive

Natural Gas would not tend to make you feel i ll or induce vomiting. Its not really toxic in that way. It will simply ignite within certain parameters and in very high concentrations,may displace breathable air causing suffocation..highly unlikely in this situation.

CO poisoning can produce symptoms such as vomiting,headaches,breathing difficulties etc and if a blood sample is taken quickly enough after exposure,the levels can be measured in the blood.

Landlord-legally required to have gas safety cert.

Obliged to use a GSR qualified engineer to do repair.
GSR is not a guarantee of competency or quality of work.
Emergency gas man may be saying he will submit a RIDDOR report to HSE
Landlord needs to get someone trustworthy and competent to fix.
It isnt rocket science.

princeofpounds

Contact the environmental health at your council as a matter of priority. Dealing with landlords who do not do gas checks is their job. If you get another leak, you must also contact TRANSCO, who will send a technician for free to find, record the leak and usually fix it.

As for withholding rent, no, you cannot do that. However, you should take a look at section 11 in landlord and tenant act. These are the landlord's repairing obligations. The landlord is obliged to do repairs in a reasonable amount of time, and there is a higher standard for heating and hot water. A landlord must ensure a supply at all times, otherwise they are in danger of committing an offence. This can of course mean a kettle and a fan heater, although they must do the main repair in a reasonable schedule all the sam.

With things like heating and hot water, environmental health can assess them and issue repairing orders which are legally binding, so that is one option.

Another option is to use the tenant's right to repair, as outlined in Lee Parker vs Izzet 1971 (google it). Shelter tells you how (see link below). You cannot withold rent, but you are allowed to pay for repairs and deduct from future rent, but you must follow the procedure.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets

princeofpounds

oh yes, and get a carbon monoxide alarm.

bitsandpieces

RAS wrote: »

Have any of you been to get medical check ups?

Sounds like a good idea, if you haven't already.

Also, you can buy a carbon monoxide alarm (one that rings, not just changes colour) for a tenner or so. Not a substitute for proper maintenance, but well worth getting.

Mich81

Thanks all - some great advice here.

Off to A&E shortly, don't want to take any risks healthwise.

Hopefully now the gas is turned off the poor cat & dog will be feeling better too!

RAS

Hi

Are you guys OK?

Mich81

Thankfully the Gas Leak is now sorted.

The Landlord has a contract with British Gas apparently, and someone came around to fix it (after the landlord lied & told them there was a child in the property so they'd sort it quicker)

British Gas said we were lucky that we'd never tried to turn on the fire in the front room, so thank god the weather has been quite nice, because the gas was pumping out.

It was sorted Thursday night, now you'd expect the landlord to have been back in touch to check that we're all ok and that everything is now finr wouldn't you? But there's been no contact since from him, despite us leaving him messages to call us.

Requested a callback from HSE to report him - and we're going to get legal advice to see if there's anyway we can leave the property and forfeit the 6 month contract (probably not possible but we can try)

clutton_2

""It was sorted Thursday night,""

so that would be the 6th May - the day you first came to MSE to report it......

i am not condoning for one minute that the LL had not issued you with a current gas safety Certificate... not for a minute... but gas leaks happen unexpectedly and without any warning and can happen the day after a LGSC has been done and which says that all is well.....

Re getting out of the contract - it was fixed in 3-4 days... this is "reasonable time" and i doubt very much if any court would agree to an early termination of an AST based on these grounds....

""If you get another leak, you must also contact TRANSCO, who will send a technician for free to find, record the leak and usually fix it.""

TRANSCO usually just turn off the gas, put warning stickers on everthing and tell you to get a gas engineer in.. unless it is a leak in the pipe outside the property which is their responsibility....

Mich81

clutton wrote: »

""It was sorted Thursday night,""

so that would be the 6th May - the day you first came to MSE to report it......

i am not condoning for one minute that the LL had not issued you with a current gas safety Certificate... not for a minute... but gas leaks happen unexpectedly and without any warning and can happen the day after a LGSC has been done and which says that all is well.....

Re getting out of the contract - it was fixed in 3-4 days... this is "reasonable time" and i doubt very much if any court would agree to an early termination of an AST based on these grounds....

""If you get another leak, you must also contact TRANSCO, who will send a technician for free to find, record the leak and usually fix it.""

TRANSCO usually just turn off the gas, put warning stickers on everthing and tell you to get a gas engineer in.. unless it is a leak in the pipe outside the property which is their responsibility....

Yes, and it was the 4th leak we've found! We moved in on the 23rd April and have had problems since that date, so it actually took nearly 3 weeks to sort out - all of which wouldn't have happened if the landlord had checked out the gas and got a safety certificate BEFORE we moved in.

We have had to chase him, and chase him to get someone in to fix it, we called the emergency gas line, who the first time they came round (we now realise) didn't turn on the heating when doing the checks, so only found 3 of the leaks.

When we complained to the landlord to say it still smelt of gas, and asked if he could send someone round again (he actually employs a handyman) because everyone who came in the house said it still smelt of gas - and at this point my mum had been ill for nearly a week - he suggested that we were being paranoid.

At this point (6th May) we decided to call the Emergency Line again, and thankfully they came around within the hour, and they found the next leak from the boiler, which he said was pumping gas out. I think this guy will probably report our landlord himself as he was disgusted that we'd been living with this leak for nearly 3 weeks.