Council Bill for Repair Work

ILW · 13 December 2011 at 9:06PM

mondello wrote: »

With regards to no/insufficient oil, do you know when the last gas servicing was done? This has to be done by law so if this was done recently then surely this should have been picked up. If this was not done within the past year then the council is breaking the law. Your mother should have been provided with a certificate for this, I believe.

I would assume it's an oil fired boiler. Gas boilers do not use oil.

mondello · 13 December 2011 at 9:15PM

ILW wrote: »

I would assume it's an oil fired boiler. Gas boilers do not use oil.

oh I see, I'm only familiar with gas boilers.

WhiteHorse · 14 December 2011 at 8:39AM

It seems to be a mess. I suspect that given the lack of paperwork, agreement etc, that the whole thing may be unenforceable. If push comes to shove, the final response might be "Sue me, then you'll have to produce and justify everything in court".

Which of course they can't.

moremore · 14 December 2011 at 8:59AM

Have you been in contact with your local MP they should also know how the council is acting towards their tenants. Also send SAR requests to what information they have on your mother.

The council probably wants to some money to give to contactors for Xmas box because they value contractors more than their tenants.

Butterfly_Brain · 14 December 2011 at 9:08AM

I thought that the council, as landlords are responsible for the upkeep of property and that tenants only pay if they have caused the damage.

mazza111 · 14 December 2011 at 2:35PM

But would running out of oil have caused some of the damage? I think that's maybe where they are coming from, I don't have any clue about oil burners tbh. But know here they started billing people for getting the gas repair men out to restart boilers when the prepay gas had run out

ILW · 14 December 2011 at 4:39PM

mazza111 wrote: »

But would running out of oil have caused some of the damage? I think that's maybe where they are coming from, I don't have any clue about oil burners tbh. But know here they started billing people for getting the gas repair men out to restart boilers when the prepay gas had run out

An oil fired heater can require priming if left to run dry. This can be tricky and messy in some cases, so the £45.00 may be reasonable. Cannot see where the rest comes from though.

talksr · 14 December 2011 at 5:44PM

Hi, thanks again for all of your posts and suggestions.
I went down to the offices today and spoke with the head of repairs.

They admitted that they had communicated incorrectly with my mother and that £45 is the charge they often charge for drainage work.
Because the heating oil was low, they said this can have an effect on the running of the boiler and as such, this would be classed as damage to the system on our part making us responsible, even though it was not careless or deliberate.
My mother explained that items on the bill were for works carried out during her bathroom refit which was a completely different job and something not authorised by her. They looked in to this and have got back in touch and explained that this was a mistake on their part and they are going to amend the bill accordingly.
They said it will now be in the region of £80 which includes the time it took the repair man to drive to our house and re-start the boiler.
They said that this is the going rate if you allow your system to get that low on oil.

A substantial amount lower than the nearly £260 bill my mother received on Monday.
I dread to think how many other tenants actually pay these kinds of things without looking into it more.

Thanks again for all of your help. Local MP was my next port of call as many of you had suggested, but luckily it has not gone that far.
I still think it should be £45 as that was what my mother was quoted on the phone and even then she was told if you do have to pay, it will be £45. They admitted they made a mixup, so why should she be footing the bill?
I suppose either way, if she had been told it would be £80, she would still have needed them to do it to get it working, so maybe it would not make any difference.

For the record, we have an oil powered central heating system. It is quite a new one and had a big overhaul not so long ago including new boiler and exhaust.

Thanks once again for all of your help and support, what a fantastic community!

norbet · 14 December 2011 at 6:12PM

Glad to hear you got it sorted (of sorts) - £80 is probaly about fair for a call out charge, but the engineer should have mentioned at the time the reason for the problem was down to low fuel and explained that this would be chargeable.
I don't know if your mothers tank has this or not, but many have the option of wireless fuel gauges - these let you know (next to the boiler controls rather than having to go out to the tank to check) the fuel level. This may be something you may wish to look into.

GDB2222 · 14 December 2011 at 6:13PM

£80 is a reasonable charge for the call-out and the work. It's possible, if your mother is a bit elderly, that she misheard or mis-remembered. For example, she was possibly told that £45 was the minimum charge.