Tenant charge electrician call out charge

ilovepoppydog

Hi,

We live in a house with storage heaters, only moved in 2 months ago and just started using them this last few weeks.
I noticed that one of the heaters sparked and smelt of smoke. It also didn't feel as hot as the others (before you ask we know how to control the input/output correctly) so we reported it to our letting agent.
The electrician sent out couldn't find a fault, told us sparking and smoke is normal in storage heaters and left.

The letting agent now wants to charge us his fee as he couldn't find a fault.

Now if it had been just us operating it incorrectly or something daft like a switch or fuse then yes I would pay, but my arguement is that we genuinely thought that a smoking sparking appliance was a danger. I reported it so my 18 month old didnt get a shock off it or worse it catch fire whilst we slept. I want to be able to feel ok to report things I consider dangerous - especially electricals - so that there is limited possibility of an accident. Without electrical training and absence of any manual how were we to know that sparks and smoke is ok?

I cant find anything in the tenancy agreement about paying a fee for call outs.
I also thought as a good tenant it is my obligation to report something I thought might lead to a much worse problem? Now I will be scared to report anything potentially dangerous for fear of being charged - so if a socket/switch/appliance is dodgy it will go unreported (surely this is worse for the landlord and his property in the long scheme?)

The heater has now stopped working altogether (not switch or fuse box!) which I do not feel can be coincidence but the letting agent just keeps saying that it was fully working when the electrician left.
They are refusing point blank to get someone to look at it or any other issues if we were to report them till this £50 is paid which makes me feel bullied in to paying something I dispute.

In the meantime I have an 18 month old with croup and I have pneumonia and we have no way of heating the downstairs.

It's not even like I can afford the £50 anyway as I am so financially strapped for cash.

If anyone has any helpful advice I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.

Jonboy_1984

I have only ever lived with storage heaters in both my parents house and my flat and I have never seen one spark or smoke.

MysteryMe

I lived in a flat that had them and they certainly didn't spark or smoke. If they are a member I'd report the electrician to NIC EIC

http://www.niceic.com/householder/introduction

G_M

Write.

A letter.

To the landlord.

at the address on your tenancy agreement "for the serving of notices".

CC the agent.

Recap the issue, your actions, the LL/agents actions, the dates, the electrician visit. etc

Report the non-functioning heater.

Request the LL get it fixed, as required by the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 (S11 c).

Suggest that the LL use a different electrician since the previous one failed to find, and fix, the fault previously reported and now exacerbated.

Ignore the claim for the electricians visit.

homecleaner

In my last house i had storage heaters. Never really noticed until summer time came and id switched them off but my walls above them were black with smoke, i hadnt smelt any smoke or seen a spark but i ended up redecorating as the soot wouldnt wash off. And they were new-ish heaters aswell but had been on full for months so maybe that was why the walls were ruined.

ilovepoppydog

Thanks, I did think the smoking smell and sparks were a bit weird but you end up trusting contractors this is what he said:
[FONT=&quot]storage heaters spark, its how they work, some of the newer ones have
shields on them so the spark cannot be seen.

The smoke and smell was apparently as it had not been used for a while and it was dust inside heating

Regardless of whether this is true or not I dispute the cost as I was acting with the landlords interest. If it was faulty and caught fire and they found out I knew it was faulty I think they would ask me to pay the damage.

So how do I get them to do the repairs and end the charges without just saying "hey I'm not psychic, how could I know that smoking and sparking is normal?"

Thanks all
[/FONT]

Doozergirl

Follow G_M's advice?

ilovepoppydog

I'm drafting my letter right now. Thanks for all your advice. Hope to be warm again tomorrow. My poor baby is suffering so badly in this cold house. How can agents be so heartless?

Hump

The agents are working on behalf of your landlord - which goes some way to explain the heartless bit

grey_lady

there will be someone at the cab or at the council that can help with this, basically the agency is taking the !!!! but when you start reporting them to the council under health and safety grounds then they will take the !!!! much less

Mokka

Your landlord/their agent are acting unlawfully.
Fixing a heater in cold weather is an urgent repair.
There are various places you can get help:
Citizen's Advice Bureau,
Law Centres
Shelter- they give advice over the phone.
Also check their website- there is some basic info about disrepair.

I would be scared if my heater started sparking. It can't be a coincidence that it now stopped working altogether?

Does the flat have Electrical Safety Certificate?