Tenant charge electrician call out charge

BornAtTheRightTime

You are clearly concerned - and so am I from what you have written - that this appliance could cause a fire. For god's sake stop using it. It's your life and those of your children at risk here!

Regardless of the agent's next-to-useless reply to your email, email and send a written copy CC the landlord, stating that clearly the following cannot be considered normal, safe working as it is setting off the smoke alarms...

ilovepoppydog wrote: »

Last night when the heater came on there was a MASSIVE spark and a loud crack noise. I was terrified but had to assume this was normal as I was told on friday.
At 5am the mains connected smoke alarms all came on. I went to the lounge and the room was filled with smoke. So much so we had to open doors to get the smoke out. I switched it off at the wall

Point out that you consider continued use could at the least cause smoke damage to the building, which would likely not be covered by the landlord's buildings insurance due to a known fault not being correctly dealt with. Explain that you are not prepared to put lives at risk and are not using it, however require emergency space heating until such time as it is properly fixed or replaced.

BornAtTheRightTime

PS If you feel bold enough, try phoning and pressuring the poor underling at the agency to force the manager to act promptly, by quoting the Landlord and Tenant Act Section 11 part c:


11 Repairing obligations in short leases.

(1)In a lease to which this section applies (as to which, see sections 13 and 14) there is implied a covenant by the lessor—

(a)to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house (including drains, gutters and external pipes),

(b)to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for the supply of water, gas and electricity and for sanitation (including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences, but not other fixtures, fittings and appliances for making use of the supply of water, gas or electricity), and

(c)to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for space heating and heating water.

ilovepoppydog

Thank-you.
I absolutely will not touch the blooming thing, I am just concerned that even switched off is it safe?

I have emailed the letting agent several times today (as I want it all in writing)about the saefty, saying that I am massively concerned for my family that this appliance is faulty, that I want assurance it is safe (how can they), that if not I want additional heaters whilst waiting for it to be repaired/replaced and requesting my landlords address to see if he knows what his agents are suggesting.

Each time I just get, i will pass this on to my manager who will respond in a day or 2. In a day or 2 the heater may just have caused a bad injury or worse but they will not speak to me or reply to my emails. I will be terrified all weekend & cold.
After the weekend can I request compensation for all this as I will have had no heating for a total of 7 days (not continuosly though) by Monday and no alernative offered.
I'm just at my wits end, I cant sleep I cant eat. I do not think we will be staying here after our 6 months is up!

seven-day-weekend

How can a landlord possibly NOT repair this fault? Are they not concerned that their tenant might burn in their beds?

Write to the Landlord (in a letter, not an e-mail). Don't bother with the letting agent.

Turn the storage heater off . Get a cheap heater from Argos to be going on with. You can take it with you when you move.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4152181.htm

Mokka

I would also recommend that you contact the local fire brigade and tell them what happened.
They can come to your home for free and can check for fire safety.

Maybe it would be also worth calling the police on 101 (non emergency)- the landlord is clearly breaking the law?

Shelter should be able to advise- if you have the patience to call them.

there is also a CAB representative on this forum- have you tried them?

Your landlord is in breach of contract so I would guess you could move out earlier (check with a lawyer though)

There is also another forum with legal advice:
legalbeagles

In my opinion you should be able to claim compensation but ask a lawyer how.

Are you eligible for free legal advice? If so you can go to any lawyer and get free advice. They will be able to tell you if you qualify by checking your household income. You do not have to be on benefits but the overall income/savings have to be low.

If I was you I would google for local CAB or CAB legal advice, local Law Centre and any source of free legal advice. Your local council should also have free housing advice. Try phoning, tell them you are sick and can't come in.

Faulty electricals are extremely dangerous, most fires are caused by these.

So sorry you have to deal with this while being so sick, it must be hell! It puts my own problems into perspective.

ilovepoppydog

Thanks for these, I'll def get on to the fire brigade at least it would put my mind at rest.
I wanted to contact my landlord directly but they refuse to give me his address, they say it's data protection and confidential. But they will give him our number - yeah like he's going to call!
Have now borrowed a nice heater, which is going to cost the earth to run while they sort this out but at least we are warm. I am taking a photo of our electric meter (it's prepay) and intend to ask for compensation for the extra money it costs for additional heating (about £14 a week I worked out). I dont know how long it will take to sort out, they clearly think I am lying, and still have a £84 charge to contend with as they say the 2 call outs are my liability.
Can they even charge a tenant a call out fee? Where abouts on the tenancy agreement would it say this?

Thanks again xx
Just so stressed that it's making me more ill.
Thanks everyone x

G_M

Forget the call out fee for now, this is a side issue which you can, and will, contest later.

The matter in hand is the repair. All the advice above is good, so try a multi-pronged approach.

* fire brigade
* (I doubt the police will be interested!)
* local council - EH and/or private tenancy officer
* Shelter/CAB
* if you feel like it, you could pay your own electrician to inspect - but expect a real battle later if trying to claim this back! (see below)
* you could use the Shelter process for paying for repairs and deducting from rent, but it is slow, and the process MUST be followed. There are good sample letters on their site
* document everything. By all means use email/phone for initial contacts, but always follow up with a letter to confirm. When writing to, for example Environmental Health, cc the landlord and agent.

ALIBOBSY

I wouldn't pay the fees you had obvious and justifiable reasons to contact the agent and THEY made the decision to call out an electrician not you.

I would also get in touch with the council to see if anyone there can push the agents.

Regarding the landlord details surely legally you have a right to know your landlords details? What does your contract say, usually they have both the agent and Landlord details on.

I would put money on the landlord not knowing whats going on.

I would keep emailing and stating you have young children, no heating in winter and expect whoever is acting manager to sort this out today.

Its them who are wrong, rubbish agents, they sound afraid you will contact the landlord directly and they will find out how rubbish their agents are.

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

ilovepoppydog wrote: »

Thanks for these, I'll def get on to the fire brigade at least it would put my mind at rest.
I wanted to contact my landlord directly but they refuse to give me his address, they say it's data protection and confidential. But they will give him our number - yeah like he's going to call!
Have now borrowed a nice heater, which is going to cost the earth to run while they sort this out but at least we are warm. I am taking a photo of our electric meter (it's prepay) and intend to ask for compensation for the extra money it costs for additional heating (about £14 a week I worked out). I dont know how long it will take to sort out, they clearly think I am lying, and still have a £84 charge to contend with as they say the 2 call outs are my liability.
Can they even charge a tenant a call out fee? Where abouts on the tenancy agreement would it say this?

Thanks again xx
Just so stressed that it's making me more ill.
Thanks everyone x

Have you asked for the Landlords details in writing as "IF a tenant writes and asks the person who collects rent for the LL's actual address, the agent (or rent collector) must provide it within 21 days or can face criminal charges."
Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 (section 48).

At least then you could contact the Landlord directly with the truth of the matter. No doubt the agent is painting a "nothing wrong with the heaters crazy tenant" line to them and will probably not have told them about the bang and smoke.

I know its always possible the landlord doesn't give a monkeys, but at the moment you just don't know if the agents are lying to you both.


NB Did you take photos of the smoke when it all went off-could help, although I realise that was probably the last thing on your mind at that point.

Good Luck

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

Link to shelter confirming the agent MUST give you the landlords address when asked
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/complaints_and_legal_action/complaints/complaints_about_letting_agents#complaining_to_your_landlord_about_the_letting_agency