Oven failed gas check, agent gave me quote for repair?

bargainbunny

Hi yesterday I had the annual gas check and upon inspecting the oven a number of faults came out.
The electrics that run at the back of the gas oven are not boxed in.. ie live. dont know how it passed before as i have not touched it.

The second oven as its a double type oven is burning orange.. so according to the gas guy it needs to be proffesionally steam cleaned.
Also it needs a chain on the back.

He said it is unsafe to use and was going to let the agency know.

I emailed the agents to let them know the outcome and seek advice .. and they said they would supply me with a quote for the clean.. I received it today and its £55 plus vat.. i cannot pay this until after christmas and i cant really use the oven.

The oven was here when i signed the tenancy and tbh if it had not then i would not have taken the tenancy.

I do not know the best way to approach this as i dont want to cause hassle but i cannot afford this.. plus surely its not safe to steam clean with the electrical fault also?

any advice please and thanks

BitterAndTwisted

I would say that this sort of expense is something that your landlord should be meeting, apart from the cleaning part which is debatable. It might not even be necessary. How long have you been in the property? Your first priority and that of your landlord is to get the damned thing made safe for you to use.

bargainbunny

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I would say that this sort of expense is something that your landlord should be meeting, apart from the cleaning part which is debatable. It might not even be necessary. How long have you been in the property? Your first priority and that of your landlord is to get the damned thing made safe for you to use.

Hi thanks for reply.

I have been in property for 14 months and I can clean it but cannot prof steam clean it and it seems to be dirty internally so i wouldnt know where to start.
I have just sent them an email
which i hope will help.

Hi H,
I thought as oven is landlords that it is responsibility of landlord to repair/ make safe?

According to Nick there is an electrical issue at the back which must have been like that at start of tenancy / when prev gas certificate was issued.
So steam cleaning does not seem wise to me until thats fixed plus a chain needs to be fitted.

At present I do not have any extra money for any repairs.. I can clean it but it wont be steam cleaned just done with mr muscle spray .
I do not use the oven 2 that is burning orange so did not know it was burning orange or that there was build up of soot etc as i have only used it last christmas as a warming aid. So hence soot etc must of been there before the onset of my tenancy.

I will be in tuesday, wed, thursday .So please advise what i should do.

Thank you



Normally id carry out small repairs myself but this is out of my league and I dont feel that safe doing it.

I have children one of which has autism and im trying to hide it from him as he gets overly worried /stressed so hence why i email.

Im trying to find inventry form but im sure its listed on there anyway plus it was here when i moved in.

Do you think i will have to pay some towards it ?

BitterAndTwisted

If you've never used the oven and can work round not being able to I'd forget about it for the time being.

Ask the agent to arrange for it to be made safe AS A MATTER OF URGENCY: like within the next seven days! If you carry on having a discussion about the steam-clean you might not have anything to cook with over Christmas.

ironflower

Hi BargainBunny,

This is quite straightforward.
I work for a lettings agency, and have had a similar situation.
The question I would have asked is whether the oven was originally part of and 'integrated' within the kitchen when you moved in. If it is, it has either been PAT tested by the agency, or fitted professionally at the request of the landlord. Either way, it is not your responsibility to meet the bill for it.

The annual gas check (CP12) will have been billed to the landlord as part and parcel of the legal requirements of the property being Gas-safe for it to be tenanted. If there have been problems uncovered while the check has been carried out, they form part of the CP12 cost (think of it like an MOT for a car, standard price usually, but plus parts and labour if required).
Basically, this is not your cost to meet.
They wouldn't ask you to foot the bill for steam cleaning the gas fire pipes -- this is part and parcel of the CP12.
The gas oven is too.

Call and speak to someone, as it is easy for them to fob you off via email, and at the end of the day (harsh as it may sound) the agency will be about saving the Investor money -- you're talking about HOW you'll pay for it, without even disputing WHY you're paying for it.
The cost shouldn't fall to you, trust me!

Hope that helps.

bargainbunny

thank you both for your replies.
My son is at school tomorrow so I will call them then as it is part of a fitted kitchen its like a double oven but side by side with 8 rings
some of the knobs was in wrong places when i moved in and it seems quite old too prob cost alot to replace so i will chase them up to fix it espically as gas man said not to use it at all.. just done my shopping so not too happy as i cook with oven almost every day.

Dont know why there are expecting me to foot the bill , does not make sense.

I update tomorrow after speaking with them.

thanks again.

just got reply...

Your landlord has given gas man the go-ahead to sort out the wiring issue so he should be liaising with you to arrange a convenient time to carry out this work.

It is the landlord's responsibility to ensure that the gas certificates are up to date and any remedial work required is carried out; however as the oven is not working properly as a result of build up of grease/soot etc, this would be down to you. If you could get the oven cleaned that would be great and I totally agree that steam cleaning it with the electrical issue would be unwise - if this could be done once the wiring work has been completed, I will take your landlord's advice as I'm not sure if gas man would have to check the cooker again.

so i replied...

Hi H,
thanks for quick response,
gasman said he would check it once it was professionally cleaned.
The build up of soot etc is internal which i cannot clean but i happily clean the oven itself but without removal of screws etc as its not my expertise.
Im avaliable on tuesday/wed.. thursday so if wiring could be done urgently then that would be great as im not allowed to use it in its present condition and i need to cook .
thanks.

so im going to send the gas man email asking when he can do electrical work..
according to them before though its in new yr..

ironflower

no worries, good luck!

G_M

The second oven as its a double type oven is burning orange.. so according to the gas guy it needs to be proffesionally steam cleaned.

I'm unclear what this means. Does this mean the gas flame is burning orange and the burners need cleaning? Or the oven (walls, roof) need cleaning?
Two very different things. The former needs to be done by a GasSafe engineer and is part of the landlord's responsibility to keep gas appliances safe.
The latter is 'just cleaning', and is the responsibility of the tenant, just like cleaning the bath, the carpets etc.

bargainbunny

G_M wrote: »

I'm unclear what this means. Does this mean the gas flame is burning orange and the burners need cleaning? Or the oven (walls, roof) need cleaning?
Two very different things. The former needs to be done by a GasSafe engineer and is part of the landlord's responsibility to keep gas appliances safe.
The latter is 'just cleaning', and is the responsibility of the tenant, just like cleaning the bath, the carpets etc.

I only kept a turkey in then to warm last christmas and always just wipe inside that oven.. as i use the attached oven on other side every day.
so it must be internal ie the burners.. the gas man did say i could unscrew it remove the cover and soak and that may work but he said really whole oven needed prof steam cleaned.

i dont like the idea of removing screws but of course oven walls roof etc i clean reg.

G_M

To clarify: You are saying it is the gas flame that is orange? And that the engineer said it was a problem with the burners?

Do not touch the burners. Write to the landlord and copy the agent saying
1) the engineer told you not to use the oven for safety reasons
2) there is a problem with the burner
3) you'd like to know in what timeframe the landlord will get the problem fixed.

Shelter info on enforcing repairs is here in case you need it later.

bargainbunny

G_M wrote: »

To clarify: You are saying it is the gas flame that is orange? And that the engineer said it was a problem with the burners?

Do not touch the burners. Write to the landlord and copy the agent saying
1) the engineer told you not to use the oven for safety reasons
2) there is a problem with the burner
3) you'd like to know in what timeframe the landlord will get the problem fixed.

Shelter info on enforcing repairs is here in case you need it later.

Hi yes the flame is burning orange due to build up of soot in burners which gas guy told me.. it failed due to that aswell as the electrics being live at the back of the oven.. which although i cant touch they could cause a fire risk.

gas man did say that he would have put sticker on sayin do not use but he was not in his work car so didnt have them.

Just had date confirmed for electrical work which app takes 3 hrs.. but cannot be done til 1st week in Jan.

So im going to have to use the cooker.. obv i wont use the orange burning side but am worried about using it but dont have no choice it seems.