Where do we stand?

cherrykerry

A month ago we moved into a 1 bed flat. We have had several problems with our boiler which I think have been fixed now. When we moved in our landlord had put in a reconditioned gas cooker. The day we moved in we could smell gas, as it turns out a pipe hadn't been tightened properly so they came and sorted that straight away. On Sunday we could smell gas again but were not sure where it had come from. We turned the gas off at the mains and on Monday morning the landlord sent the gas man round who found the cooker was faulty and leaking gas. On Tuesday evening our landlord brought round a second hand gas cooker they had picked up and took the other one away. He connected it up and we thought all would be ok. Wednesday morning I could smell gas again and this time I was certain it was coming from behind the cooker. The landlord came round to disconnect it and this morning the gas man came again. He found that there was indeed another gas leek from this cooker and disconnected it for us. He even went out and brought a new guage to check it as he couldnt believe it could happen twice but the new one picked it up too.
Anyway to cut a long story short I sent a text to the landlord this afternoon to let him know what happened and he replied a little while ago (late night text) to say he thought it best we buy our own cooker and they will collect the old one. Can anyone tell me where we stand on this as we really can not afford to buy one of our own right now and we moved in here thinking we had a working cooker :mad:

925dancer

If it was in the property and listed on the inventory when you moved in it is the landlords responsibility to maintain it. It is also law that he provide you with a gas safety certificate when you move in, something which must be renewed every year.

I would also be very unhappy with the landlord faffing around with the gas and the cooker without the properly certified gas fitter present. Leaving himself open to all sorts of problems there.

cherrykerry

We didnt get given a gas safety certificate although I know it was done because the chap who came today did it and he is corgi registered.
The cooker is listed on our inventory so does that mean the landlord has to provide us with one? In all honesty if there hadn't have been a working cooker here when we viewed the flat we would never have taken it as we can't afford to buy one ourselves.

925dancer

Yep, if it's there on the inventory then it is part of your tenancy and unless it not working is down to your own misuse of the item then he is obliged to repair it or provide you with another.

poppysarah

cherrykerry wrote: »

We didnt get given a gas safety certificate although I know it was done because the chap who came today did it and he is corgi registered. .

Well he would have known to give you the tenant copy surely?

(and it's gas safe now)

theartfullodger

poppysarah wrote: »

Well he would have known to give you the tenant copy surely?

(and it's gas safe now)

Quite: Write a calm & polite letter to Landlord (copy agent if there is one, keep a copy) asking for gas safety cert & advising of gas leak. Any LL not being sensible with gas is not to be trusted on everything else...

Be careful!!

Artful

cherrykerry

We can get in touch with the landlord and ask for a copy of the certificate. We also were not given a copy of the EPC which I know he should have given us.
I sent the landlord a text this morning saying we were not in a position to be able to afford to buy a cooker and we expected there to be one as there was one there when we moved in. I got a reply back saying "ok but you may have to wait a while until we find one". :mad:. How long would be reasonable to wait for them to get us one? They don't want to buy a new one so I presume, like with the gas ones they are going to put an ad in the paper to get a second hand one which could take ages. In the mean time all we have to cook with is a microwave :mad:

Loanranger

Do NOT allow your LL to install or mess with the gas supply.
Absolutely refuse to allow him to connect or disconnect any gas appliance.

Apologies, it's Gas Safe:
http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/

cherrykerry

Loanranger wrote: »

Do NOT allow your LL to install or mess with the gas supply.
Absolutely refuse to allow him to connect or disconnect any gas appliance.

Apologies, it's Gas Safe:
http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/

He can't do it now as yesterday the gas man took the connector off the pipe and capped it so the only way a gas cooker can be fitted is by a gas safe engineer. He told me he was going to talk to the landlord about that as he shouldnt be doing it himself.

pararct

Plenty here some at very reasonable prices..

Looks like you LL is a stingy so and so who cannot be bothered to ensure there is a working cooker in his let. Bear this in mind in the future.

The question here is what is a reasonable amount of time. I would say a week.

If one has not appeared in that time write again copy to the agent and ask he replace the item asap re-iterating the time you are without one. For good measure you could add in you expect a rent decrease as clearly you are paying for something that is not being provided.

Looking further ahead, if he does get arsey and refuses to replace, then as the item is listed on the inventory you should be able to claim frustration of the contract (your AST) and get out early (without penalty). You will of course need alternative accommodation to move to.

clutton_2

i doubt very much if you could claim frustration of contract over one missing (albeit important) item. I would classify this as repairs and i woujld suggest OP reads Shelters website to see how to go about getting repairs done herself and deducting the cost from her rent... but there is a VERY specific procedure to go through.....

From now on - put everything in writing - by letter as you may well need a paper trail