Where Do I Stand Legally?

BarryRiley

I rent a property and had an electrical problem last weekend. Basically the electrics all went and I needed to get someone out to fix it. I called the property management company and they told me that since they are not based in my area, and since it was Saturday I was simply to arrange the electrician myself and pay for it then they would cover the costs once I sent them the receipt.

The electrician came and I explained that although I would be paying him, I would be claiming back the money from the landlord. He therefore didn't quote me a price before doing the work and just completed it then gave me the receipt. The cost was very high for the work that was done. I forwarded this on to the lettings company and they stated that since the cost was so incredibly high they would only cover half of it, leaving me to cover the other half for a property I don't own.

What do I do? I can't imagine the contractor giving me a partial refund and since I was never asked to shop around by the property management company why on earth should I be expected to foot the bill?

Advise please

thesaint

You are both in the wrong.
The agency should have set the parameters of getting the work done.
You should have asked for a quote before asking the electrician to complete the work.

Since they said to get it done, then they should honour that agreement.
Put it in writing, and if they don't agree, you sue them.

Look for alternative accomodation in the meantime.

DannyboyMidlands

I don't think that there's anything you can do.

You arranged for the work to be done, didn't even run one quote past them let alone a selection and seem to have paid double the going rate. For all they know you and the electrician have stitched this one up between you.

Kind of like when you get a cab for work and ask the cabby to increase the receipt amount. A little bit for him, a little bit for you.

I don't think that them not asking you to obtain quotes is much of a defence (unless you recorded the conversation).

BarryRiley

The company didn't ask me to get quotes and I have e-mail evidence of this. All they did was ask me to pay for the electrician and they would pay me after receiving the receipt. Why should I be left for a bill for half the costs of maintenance when not only do I not own the property, but I was directly instructed to do exactly what I did - no mention of quotes or anything?

Surely the company can't withhold payment simply because I *might* have been in cahoots with the electrician. Wouldn't they have to have some sort of evidence before simply basing their withholding of the money on an assumption?

I can completely understand why they don't want to pay double what they think the work is worth, but this could have easily been rectified by them getting the work sorted themselves and not allowing customers to do it and then promising to reimburse them with no set parameters.

grifferz

BarryRiley wrote: »

The company didn't ask me to get quotes and I have e-mail evidence of this.

Do you mean:

"I have an email saying to get the work done, but it doesn't ask for a quote"

Or:

"I have an email telling me to get the work done and not to bother them with a quote first"

?

...because the two situations are very different.

It would be very easy to argue that any reasonable person would seek a quote before getting work done, so if it's the first case and you didn't get a quote to run by them, you could be in difficulty.

DRP

BarryRiley wrote: »

I rent a property and had an electrical problem last weekend. Basically the electrics all went and I needed to get someone out to fix it. I called the property management company and they told me that since they are not based in my area, and since it was Saturday I was simply to arrange the electrician myself and pay for it then they would cover the costs once I sent them the receipt.

The electrician came and I explained that although I would be paying him, I would be claiming back the money from the landlord. He therefore didn't quote me a price before doing the work and just completed it then gave me the receipt. The cost was very high for the work that was done. I forwarded this on to the lettings company and they stated that since the cost was so incredibly high they would only cover half of it, leaving me to cover the other half for a property I don't own.

What do I do? I can't imagine the contractor giving me a partial refund and since I was never asked to shop around by the property management company why on earth should I be expected to foot the bill?

Advise please

I'm not sure i understand your/agency reasoning- how do you know the price was (too) high?

have you sought quotes subsequently and found what other electricians are charging?

G_M

1) was the fee reasonable?
* what was the fault?
* how long was the sparkie there?
* were anyparts needed?
* was it at night as well as the weekend?
* what was the fee?

2) what is the precise wordingof the agent
* on the phone
* in the email

3)
*was this a sparkie you found yourself?
* did the agent tell you which sparkie to call?

A 'reasonable person' would seek costs, and compare, before instructing a contractor.

But if told to use a specific contractor, then clearly you would have no choice.

[Deleted User]

to control costs yes you should have obtained over the phone quotes or at least a quote from your electrician.

When he did the job and gave you the high bill.., that was the final point when you could have queried the cost. You knew it was too high (from what you have said) and did nothing.

So I am afraid the LA may have room for manouvre for saying they will only cover half the cost. They ahve a good idea what the repair should have cost although you might be able to negotiate them up a bit as I would imagine they go for the cheapest person.

Dan-Dan

BarryRiley wrote: »

The electrician came and I explained that although I would be paying him, I would be claiming back the money from the landlord. He therefore didn't quote me a price before doing the work and just completed it

Why oh why didnt this ring any warning bells , after all , the first person in the chain of being out of pocket was going to be you!

Now your arguing from a position of weakness , not strength

WellKnownSid

BarryRiley wrote: »

they stated that since the cost was so incredibly high they would only cover half of it

Without knowing what was wrong, what was done, and how much was paid, it's impossible for anyone to comment on whether it was too high or not.

In some situations, it would be hard to quote a price and only an hourly rate, but that should have still been made clear. Unlike a plumber, a qualified electrician would have some duty of care regarding the installation - even though they've never seen the house or its wiring before. 'Fixing a fault' and then walking away, after which the house catches fire and kills several people because the actual fault was not detected is not an option.

Did the electrician carry out any form of electrical testing? Were you left with a copy of the test results? Did you get any kind of inspection report?

poppysarah

Was it a Saturday the electrician came out? Going to cost more than usual for an emergency call out.