Help gas hob failed inspection in rental property

melou

Hi,

I wonder if you can help, we have been in a rental property since March 2006. We had the annual gas check done yesterday and they failed the gas hob as it has a combustible surface (kitchen cupboard) less than 700mm without a hood or 600mm with a hood above it (it is 300 - 340mm at a guess). Having done a google search it seems that it contravenes BS6172. I checked the gas certificate we were provided with when we moved in and the hob passed last year. I had to sign a form saying that I had requested for the gas supply to be left on to the hob as I need to cook although the gas inspector wanted to disconnect it. There is demonstrable heat damage on the cupboard above but we had always thought it was just a stupid design not a fire risk.

We have notified the landlord who is picking up copies of the certificates today but has made the mutterings of "it passed last year", which, to be fair, it did.

So I guess I am looking for advice as to what happens next. The units above are in one solid block. To remove one you would have to remove all. Is the landlord obliged/likely to do this? I am worried he will just disconnect the hob and leave me with nothing to cook on but an oven and a microwave. Is this possible? The landlord is a nice guy but we don't really have any dealings with him.

Any advice, greatly appreciated.

Melou

P.S. I wasn't sure if this should be on the renting or in my home board. If it is in the wrong place could the mods please move it?

prudryden

The LL will need to rectify the situation urgently now.

Alan_M_2

Removing the cupboard above rectifies the problem.

silvercar

whatever the landlord does will requie him calling out someone to issue the certificate.

he does have a number of options:

removing the cupboard;
resiting the hob;
replacing the hob with one that requires a lower clearance height (electric, halogen??)

he could call back the guy who issued the certificate last year and see if he re-issues it this year!

Guy_Montag

silvercar wrote:

he could call back the guy who issued the certificate last year and see if he re-issues it this year!

& if he does you could shop him to trading standards

prudryden

Guy_Montag wrote:

& if he does you could shop him to trading standards

Now THAT would be a foolhardy thing to do by the LL.

clutton_2

the thing that i have discovered over the years is that one CORGI guy will have a different interpretation to another. One will apply EVERY single reg to the utmost, another will pass something which may be Strictly against regs but which common sense tells him is ok.

Regulations cannot cover Every situation - materials change annually - new designs come out - DIY folks do weird and wonderful things to houses which no sensible professional would do. I think common sense is also needed.

I had a lethal situation in one of my properties - (as soon as i was notiified of it, i fixed it) - but had there been a serious problem, the CORGI guy who had pased it would have had his head on the block as the professional - me, as landlord, had done her legal duty, but, none of that would have brought a dead tenant back to life.

Guy_Montag

Sorry I meant report the gas engineer who passed it to trading standards.

It's not a case of it being 650mm, or even 600mm it's about half what it should be & showing signs of damage. There is no question about it being a case of being not quite up to standard, it's case of it being passed by someone who clearly isn't doing their job properly (so says he posting from work).

clutton_2

The landlord is in the same position i was in - last year he had the legal professional who passed it as fit - and he now has another profesional telling him it is not fit .... landlord will have to pay the cost. CORGI - they wont give a stuff .........

Guy_Montag

clutton wrote:

The landlord is in the same position i was in - last year he had the legal professional who passed it as fit - and he now has another profesional telling him it is not fit .... landlord will have to pay the cost. CORGI - they wont give a stuff .........

My issue is not with the landlord; if a qualified tradesman tells them it's safe, that's all LL has to go by. (& no-one expects LL to be competent to do anything more than collect money):p

My point is that the Gas Engineer who initially passed the needs to be dealt with.

From the corgi website:

CORGI is able to investigate complaints about the gas safety side of work undertaken by both registered and non-registered installers. Once we have received a complaint our inspector will arrange to visit you and carry out an investigation. There is no charge for this service.

http://www.trustcorgi.com/complain/complaint.htmx

melou

Thank you all. I do feel kind of bad for the LL, it was his brother who put the kitchen on when it was his own home 7 or so years ago. Hes not a bad LL at all, nice guy. But obviously we want to live somewhere safe.