Smell of gas in rented property

alexia75

Hi,

The landlord had some work done on our kitchen this week, which involved disconnecting and reconnecting our gas appliances - hob and boiler. This morning we can smell gas in our kitchen. It's faint but it's there.

We've rung our letting agent and they've said that they'll contact the contractor and try and arrange for them to come out. In the meantime they've told us to open the windows and not turn on anything in the kitchen. However, the agent we spoke said that it was not actually their responsibility to fix this and that this responsibility devolved on us as tenants to deal with it 'as anyone would' which I take to mean calling out an emergency engineer. I was wondering if anyone here can explain this to me, as it would seem to me that work conducted on behalf of the landlord would be the responsibility of the landlord to put right (and thus their agent too). I'm worried that he's going to ring us back and say the plumber can't come before next week in which case we won't be able to use our kitchen at all until then.

Could someone explain how we move forwards here? Do we call out British Gas Emergency? Would this cost us anything and could we claim that back from the landlord? Any advice greatly appreciated.

poppysarah

If you can ssmell gas ring these up 0800 111 999
http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Gas/Safety/Emergency/

• The address/location of the suspected gas escape or gas emergency
• How many people are at the property where the smell is most noticeable?
• How long the smell has been noticeable?
• Is the smell coming from the cellar/basement?
• Are any neighbours affected?
• Your name and phone number
• Any special circumstances or access information

They'll come and check and if something isn't right they'll disconnect it. In the meantime ring the LL and let them know. They might be keen enough to get someone out.

I've lived in a place where there was a bit of a sniff of gas - with a bit of a background dirty oil smell... In the end I decided to ring them up and get them to come out. Some bit of my heating system needing replacing but the system was capped off so there was no risk of anything blowing up.

Jowo_2

This is reminding me of the sketch in the IT crowd where Moss is in a burning office and he types an email me to the fire brigade "help. exclamation mark. help."

Turn off the gas at the supply, open the windows and call the gas emergency line of your supplier. This link makes it clear that there is a series of questions asked by the supplier and I reckon you, not the agent, is best placed to answer them.

http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Gas/Safety/Emergency/

It is the responsibility of the landlord to pay for repairs in the property.

In an emergency - fire, flood, gas leak, medical - a person should contact the appropriate emergency line. This, I think, it what the agent is encouraging you to do, to treat it as an emergency. Shame they didn't make this clear.

tbs624

Smell gas? Call 0800 111 999

It *is* the LLs responsibility but if the LA is being slow to act then protect yourselves. If you haven't been provided with an emergency number under an HE's service contract then use the number above.

Many LAs have precious little knowledge of LL & T law - they don't need to have any specific training or qualifications to set up in business

Make the phone call, then write to the LA, keeping a copy, confirming the date and time you notified the LA of th e problem, your understanding of their response and that you have contacted the number above, whose staff confirmed x and y

alexia75

Hi everyone, thanks for the quick replies. I wanted to be sure of my position before I got back onto the LA again. Have now got them to confirm that it is their responsibility and that a gas engineer will be coming out in the next hour or so. Happy days.

Jowo - Isn't MSE the 5th emergency service?

clutton_2

As a LL i would be furious if i thought any agent of mine had dealt with you in the way initially... i I would tell teh LL if i were you... not only is it your safety at risk, its his building and any agent who is so flaming blase needs sacking.....