Whose responsiblity is arranging boiler repair and staying at home to let them in?

ali_hire

G_M wrote: »

The LL has a legal duty to get it repaired.

If you want to be there, either to protect your privacy (strangers in your home) or to make life easier for the LL, fine - you can offer to let the engineer in.

But if you are not there or willing/able to take time off work, the LL still has to get the repair done somehow.

He can go round himself to let the engineer in;
He can give the engineer the keys;
He can give arrange for his agent (friend whoever) to let the engineer in;

But he must get the repair done.

And what if the tenant states that he wants to be present, but can't be in during the day due to work. Is it fair that the landlord pays a higher charge for labour due to the anti-social call-out?

NB. I'm not saying that's happening here, I'm merely playing devil's advocate.

jjlandlord

ali_hire wrote: »

And what if the tenant states that he wants to be present, but can't be in during the day due to work. Is it fair that the landlord pays a higher charge for labour due to the anti-social call-out?

There must be a balance and both parties must behave reasonably.

The landlord has repair obligations and has a right of entry to carry them out.
Reasonable and normal times for this would be during office houre, during the week.

If the tenant wishes to be there, at another time when it would cost a premium, then the quid pro quo should be that the tenant pays the premium.
If he does not want to pay then the work will be done during normal hours.

ali_hire

Which would be my take on it too.

It's a fine balance between not harassing the tenant or infringing their right to quiet enjoyment and fulfilling your obligations as a landlord.

There's a good post on the Landlordzone forums about rights of access.

mjoneseyjones

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I wouldn't want to deal with someone else's responsibilities myself personally (ie if it aint my accommodation then it aint my responsibility).

On the other hand, though its not "yours", it is your home (as at present anyway) and I don't know what the legal angle is on just who should be present (ie the owner or the tenant) in those circumstances BUT I would tend to go along the lines of ignore the job you do to earn your money (regardless of what "level" of job it is) and just think "It's my home - regardless of whether I own it or no and whether its my legal responsibility or no" and want to be sure that no stranger was in my home without me there too keeping a watchful eye on them. The level of job you do is not relevant.

The only time I recall having A.N. Other supervising work being done in my home when I wasn't there was me taking the "It aint my property...so it aint my responsibility" viewpoint and having a neighbour let the workman in.

I shouldn't have done it in the event, because by the end of the day one of them had stolen a personal possession from my home whilst I was out. I couldn't be 100% sure which one of them was the guilty party. On balance the greatest chance was that it was the workman that was the thief...but I couldn't be quite certain enough to ring up British Gas and complain about their workman and ask for him to be sacked. I honestly didn't know whether British Gas' workman should be sacked or my neighbour thrown out of their home - as it wasn't totally clear in my mind which one of them was the thief.

Don't put yourself in that position and stay put do the supervising yourself - regardless of which person has the legal liability. Chances are the landlord thinks they are doing you a favour - on the grounds that its your home - anyway.

What the hell has all this waffle got to do with anything?!