Letting agent - demanding repair charges for Boiler Fan

olly300

addictive_saver by law you need to give the LA 21 days to reply to your formal request for the landlord's details so I suggest you write a letter to them pointing out your email was a formal request under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 for your landlord's details.

Check your contract it may stipulate all formal requests must by made by registered mail if so you need to send them a recorded delivery letter or a fax.

Also if you have any children in the house under 6 or any with disabilities I would call shelter (https://www.shelter.org.uk).

nelly_2

This lot will never give you your deposite back when you leave!

I would deffinately NOT pay my last months rent if I was you

BritBrat

Did the landlord have the boiler safety check done? If so, is the gas safety certificate displayed in the property?

Oh that's a good one, WHY because gas installation laws are criminal and they can go to prison for not complying with the regs.

Find out if he has one. They have to be done every year I think.

I know people who have had Kitchens fitted and watched the fitters altered the gas pipes, then when the job was finnished asked to see their ACOP's for the work undertaken and they never had any and he did not pay for the kitchen. They broke the law of the land working on gas without the correct qualifications.

Although I have done my ACOPS a few times but now lapsed I think part of the regs are that there should be user instructions with the boiler.

I will see if I can find out more about that.

addictive_saver

Update Update Update:::

Just been to my local CAB ..but the advisor was kind-of suggesting me - rather than having all this mental stress keeping you & your family without hot water, I should pay the half of the total expenses (as offered by LA)...

Some of his points were correct:
1. If I was not provided manual ..I should have asked for it when I took the possession of the property.
2. If no person from my LA came to explain usage of appliances...before using any appliance..I should have insisted to them for sending somebody to do so...

The advisor called up some engineer he knew to confirm that usage of isolator switch would cause damage to the fan and engineer agreed on that point... But the engineer also pointed out that £500 is extortionate for just replacing the fan..

CAB advisor has agreed that he would write a letter to my LA but not sure what would be the outcome...

After this - I am under impression that this case has got less ground to stand a case in the 'small claims court'

Should I give up???

hollydays

Just bear in mind-cab advisers are unpaid generalist volunteers.Could they not refer you to a session with a legal adviser-lots of cabs have these.Even bettter get advice fron Shelter who specialise in housing.

clutton_2

a landlord has a legal duty to provide tenants with hot water and heating. You do not have this. i am fairly sure that you are perfectly legally entitled to get this repaired yourself and deduct it from the rent - but check with a lawyer if you cannot get CAB Shelter over the weekend - does your house/contents insurance policy give you access to a free legal help line? maybe give them a call. try www.landlordzone.co.uk forum or www.singingpig.co.uk forums where there is more specialist advice available.

addictive_saver

Just had a chat with Shelter... they were saying the same thing as CAB...

They were telling me that LA can argue that if instruction manual was not there and if nobody from LA told you how to use the boiler..then you should have asked them (LA) to provide demo or provide the instruction manual...

No success ...

padders_2

Can you get someone else to come round and give you a quote on fixing it? Maybe it will cost less than £250 to fix, and then the landlord will pay the whole cost.

addictive_saver

Will they allow me to arrange repairs??

I don't think so...

olly300

There is nothing wrong with getting a quote from someone who can provide references, and submitting the quote to the LA with that person's details. It is then up to the LL whether they will go with your quote for the work.

I've got quotes for things in the past but only when I've lived in accommodation where I interacted with the LL directly.

I also suggest you continue to push to get the LL details from the LA. So if you have any problems like this i.e. the LA decides to take 2 months to fix something you can contact the LL directly as a last resort.