Council policy to let every tradesmen into their property

teajug

Does this seem right, council contractors for servicing annual gas check on equipment for residents has advised them that they tradesmen are allowed to enter residents homes whenever they are in their vicinity without appointments being made first. The problems how would resident know if they if their tradesmen are who they say they are when they make cold calls like this to people homes. I think it is very dangerous to let tradesmen into people home without appointments, especially elderly and disabled people what planet are these council people on. :eek::eek:
The yearly annual check form say the next safety check due within 12 months. Gas company says they cannot veer from the council policy.

Fire_Fox

Check your tenancy agreement for any clauses, if you have agreed to this you will need to formally withdraw your consent. Generally tenants have the right to quiet enjoyment and landlords are supposed to give 24 hours written notice other than in an emergency, so no the home cannot just be entered. However on the flip side the landlord has repairing and elfin safety obligations so would have to find a way of accessing the property should the tenant refuse.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/legal/tenancies-residential/access-for-repairs.htm
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/harassment.htm
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/gas_safety.htm

teajug

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Check your tenancy agreement for any clauses, if you have agreed to this you will need to formally withdraw your consent. Generally tenants have the right to quiet enjoyment and landlords are supposed to give 24 hours written notice other than in an emergency, so no the home cannot just be entered. However on the flip side the landlord has repairing and elfin safety obligations so would have to find a way of accessing the property should the tenant refuse.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/legal/tenancies-residential/access-for-repairs.htm
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/harassment.htm
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/gas_safety.htm

Thanks Fire Fox, I will see what the clause is in the tenancy agreement says, the company has been asked to produce the written authority from the council that they have the right to enter residents home to inspect at their will , but have not enclosed it with their letter, I am wondering if this is a verbally agreement with the council, I do not think it would be something in writing.

The next check date is not due until the end of April, but they company have already made numerous of threatening telephone calls as well as a couple of tradesmen have made cold calls as well.

What this company has done before is if they cannot gain spur of the moment entry to resident homes they report to the council that they cannot gain access, then a threatening letter is sent to that resident from the investigating team from the council saying that they will take the tenant to court if they cannot gain entry to do checks of the gas boilers and possibility for non residency as well, all for not be in when a gas man turns up unexpectedly at the resident door. The resident concerned has given the company 3 dates for appointments and all dates are before the due date for the actual gas check, but they still keep harassment residents.

They company also said that they can do inspection 2 months before the 12 months is up for the actual due date for gas check therefore they resident have 2 months of harassment from that company with council permission according to what they say in their letter to residents.

Has the residents any rights regarding see the authority from the council giving the company rights into residents home without any appointments and if the gas company does not let the resident see that authority then they are possibly lying. :eek:

dan3811991119

The landlord can get into trouble if they don't fulfill there safety checks. Be thankful you have a landlord who does not shy away from there legal responsibility. Why don't you ask them if you can be notified when they will attend and you be in. However you should be happy either way that they are fulfilling there obligations.

lemontart

with gas safety checks if they fail to gain access to do an annual gas check which is a legal requirement for all landlords you could be at risk of your gas being capped until they have accessed property to ensure safety - I have heard of this happening, but to be fair that is when tenants have refused access. If they leave gas on and have not done the safety check gawd forbid something bad happens then the landlord becomes liable.

teajug

dan3811991119 wrote: »

The landlord can get into trouble if they don't fulfill there safety checks. Be thankful you have a landlord who does not shy away from there legal responsibility. Why don't you ask them if you can be notified when they will attend and you be in. However you should be happy either way that they are fulfilling there obligations.

I never said that the resident was not happy about getting gas checks done, the residents were unhappy about the harassment by the contractors and this was for not been available when they happened to be in a particular areas and made cold call to residents flats without any notifications.

Resident maybe out for the day for all sort of reasons, how are they to know when a particular gas company would be calling to make inspections. The resident has give 3 appointments to the contractor but they still make cold call to their home. Do residents not have right to peace and quiet in there homes and are they obliged to let any stranger into their home without appointments. :eek::eek:

lindseykim13

I know exactly what you are talking about, had a lot of trouble last year. We did have an apointment sent out though-waited in nobody came. Next day when we were out a card was left to say they had tried to do the check! My dates were correct lol
We then got a threatening letter, phoned to explain, new apointment made. They again failed to show, letter sent, this happened 3 times!
We had to complain very firmly to both the council and the contractor before they sorted it out.
This was all well before the check was even due.

teajug

According to the contractor they got 2 months to keep calling to resident home to try and gain entry to do gas checks despite them having appointment with residents. The contractors seems to want to torment residents to get there money from the council as quickly as possible.
Surely contractors cannot be allowed to keep doing this. Residents has written to council about other contractors substandard repairs and council wrote back telling residents to contact the contractor directly which has been done. Resident will now keep asking to see council written permission to enable them to keep harassing them for spur of the moment access to their homes.

lemontart

sounds like contractors have a penalty clause in contract that if not carried out financial penalties just like the council would face risk of penalties if they do not carry out. Perhaps the answer is when you know is coming due call them first to arrange rather than wait for them.

dan3811991119

I would rather have a contractor harassing me as you put it then heaven forbid live in a place where the safety check is uncompleted.

teajug

dan3811991119 wrote: »

I would rather have a contractor harassing me as you put it then heaven forbid live in a place where the safety check is uncompleted.

I would rather be safe as well but how would anyone know who they are letting into their homes if these people just turn up on the door without any appointments.

Residents will have to take time off work to wait in for tradesmen that will not turn up, but will turn up when they not expected. They seem to be getting away with this and it is always the residents fault.

Are residents entitled to see what authority the company has got from the council to gain entry without notices. :T