Landlord repaired our gas boiler

little_miss_kitty

We are in a bit of a predicament! Yet again out heating broke down two weeks ago. This is the third time its happened in just under two years. We have finally come to the end of our tether. Its taken two weeks for the engineer to locate and fit the repair items to an ageing gas boiler in the property. On previous occasions we have had the boiler repaired which we paid. Gas safe certs have only been done after we protested to the landlord.
The first time the boiler failed, the landlord himself repaired the boiler!
Today, we finally returned to the property as the heating had finally been repaired, only to find the hot water system had failed. The gas engineer thankfully was able to reset it quickly.
The landlord has been advised that both the heating and HW system needs replacing.
Is their any way we can force him to take his obligations seriously?

Thanks

moreofthegoodstuff

Our landlord has a contract with British gas where we can just phone up and they will come out to make repairs/do the yearly checks. We have a really old boiler and had a very frustrating two years when practically every part was replaced and they were called out constantly so this year it has been fine since we now have all new parts just an ugly shell!! Why not suggest this type of plan to the landlord? I would also recommend getting a decent carbon monoxide detector to keep yourselves safe.

G_M

You cannot force him to get a new boiler. Provided he is responding to breakdowns and getting it repaired he is doing what he has to(oh, and the the annual certificate).

But you can ask.

As for why you were paying for repairs, I'm amazed. Send him the bill?

martindow

I suppose it is possible that your LL is a Gas Safe registered engineer. If not it is no laughing matter and I would contact your local authority and the Health and Safety Executive.

olly300

OP can you do everyone on here and yourself a favour by:
1. Going out and buying a carbon monoxide detector now then fitting it.
2. Give Shelter a ring - keep trying and find out your full rights. They are open until 5pm today on 0808 800 4444

Your landlords actions from the description risk killing you.

societys_child

martindow wrote: »

I suppose it is possible that your LL is a Gas Safe registered engineer. If not it is no laughing matter and I would contact your local authority and the Health and Safety Executive.

Not entirely true though is it? There are any number of things that could be done to "repair" the boiler that don't require a GSR..

G_M

olly300 wrote: »

OP can you do everyone on here and yourself a favour by:
1. Going out and buying a carbon monoxide detector now then fitting it.
2. Give Shelter a ring - keep trying and find out your full rights. They are open until 5pm today on 0808 800 4444

Your landlords actions from the description risk killing you.

1) is excellent advice.

2) with respect (and I know the OP has no way to be sure) the 'full rights' have been/will be explained here - faster than Shelter.

However Shelter also has an excellent website.

As does HSE.

little_miss_kitty

Apologies but i'll re cap the full events, my OH posted the original topic and he has some memory problems.

Tenancy commenced 04/2011 on AST 12 months. Gas check done on commencement, unbenown to us the engineer recommended replacing the boiler as it was 15+ years old and in his view would become expensive to maintain.

08/2012 the boiler failed, contacted landlord who took 1 week to come out, we had asked him to just send an engineer but he wanted to check that we werent doing something wrong. He attempted to relight boiler and i went upstairs to make him a cup of tea and when i went back down he had the front off the boiler and was taking it apart! I asked him what he was doing and he said dont worry i'm a corgi engineer it's the (electric board thingy, sorry dont know name) My OH overheard this and then asked the landlord if he was Gas Safe registered, he replied no and my OH insisted he called a qualified engineer, engineer came, ticked landlord off for messing with boiler, did safety check and boiler fixed. Job done and 1 very disgruntled landlord who was behaaving oddly and kept hiding himself away in the garage looking at boiler.

In Jan this year the boiler stopped working again, with heavy snow and the landlord not answering calls i contacted the engineer who has performed all repairs and safety checks, when he arrived the fan had stopped working, when he removed it he found that the LL had modified the cooling fin on the fan and this had caused the fan to fail, he had done this obviously after the engineer had done the safety check and unbeknown to us, cost of repair was covered by me as i was getting no reply to emails/calls. TBH i havent really chased for the money as i got the repair done so we had heating and hot water (4kids in property).

In November i had asked the landlord if we could do some work on the property, decor was verry shabby, awful carpets etc, he agreed to this as long as we bore the cost, which we have done, wooden floors throughout, professional decorator in, my OH qualified sparks has replaced fuse board and all light fittings as fuses kept blowing in fuse box due to poor electrics. We took th view that if we are going to stay we want a nice house. We have replaced failing door locks, a gate which was broken etc etc. TBH we are quiet tenants who just want a nice house to live in, rent is all paid in full on time every time, we pre pay all utilities etc.

2 weeks ago the boiler failed again, i managed to get engineer to come and look at boiler and quote for repair and emailed the landlord, at that point i mentioned all previous repairs and the cost for this one stating that the engineer was again recommending rplacement of boiler as repair costs since last August were already going to total £800 ish.

The reply

"I suppose the boiler is 14 yearss old or so - but i think less trouble to go with new gas valve anyway. Not much left to fail?! More regarding previous electronic ignition failure - I wondered if i saw a pre-pay gas meter and whether gas cuts it off if money runs out - would leave spark attempting to light continuosly - best avoided - dont want to encourage second round of replacements!

Our 30+ year old boiler packed up before winter - gas fire and immersion only since! Nice SH replacement for £16.00! Most fit somewhen!

New boiler also horrifyingly expensive complicated/condensing etc - work for about 5 mins.......

Can you deal with and we will discuss costs?"

The Jan repair aside i dont see any reason to discuss costs, the repair is £240, either he pays or authorises me to deduct from rent surely?

Re the electronic ignition failure it looks as if he is somehow trying to pin the damage on us, 1. we cant afford to let gas run out, we have 4 kids who need heat and hot water. 2. surely the energy suppliers would not be allowed to fit a pre payment meter that would damage boilers as they would leave themselves open to all sorts of claims?

I'm getting the feeling that should there be anymore boiler issues he is not going to authorise repair, i am not overly impressed with this as we rented the property with functioning central heating, not electric fires etc, i would also not be impressed with freestanding heating with 2 toddlers?

As we stand atm we are on a rolling contract.

I have just found out also that our deposit is not protected in any of the gov schemes. With these things in mind where would we stand on notice periods by either party and negotiating safe return of our deposit?

Thanks for replies thus far and any new ones. x

C_Mababejive

You dont need to be GSR registered to work on boilers...
(ducks behind wall !)

little_miss_kitty

C_Mababejive wrote: »

You dont need to be GSR registered to work on boilers...
(ducks behind wall !)

How does that work? My OH is electrician and can only work on domestics as he is part P etc so surely they have to be qualified?

little_miss_kitty

I have just spoken to Gas Safe and they say he cannot unless he is qualified and registered with Gas Safe, he can work on his own boiler but not ours?