no gas safe cert for 6 years- tenant threatening legal action

domcastro

Guest101 wrote: »

Ye, F'ing tenant wanting to avoid death!

Funny how they were only concerned about not having the GSC AFTER not paying rent. Didn't see them worry about it before! The tenant's a thief and is looking for ways to not pay. The landlord should have complied with law. But don't think, the tenant actually cares - this is about pure greed on the tenant's part

marleyboy

Having spent six Years in a private rented accommodation, Safety check each Year and no complaints whatsoever.

It was a sure bet that on leaving the property, it was scrubbed from top to bottom, garden front and back trimmed n tidied and even getting the guttering cleared out prior to leaving, all in a bid of returning the property in as good as, if not better position for both the LL and his next tenants.

It just goes to show if you look after your tenants, they will respect you enough to look after the property, minus any arrears, trash or issues a tenant can easily leave behind (moreso if they dont expect to get their deposit back). Enjoy your day in court, who dont look to fondly on dodgy landlords.

N1AK

jbcck wrote: »

you must have a very small capacity brain then

Says the person owed £8k by someone who knows they were dumb enough to fail to meet their obligations as a landlord and that they breached a law with serious penalties.

Do what you like, given how badly you come across on here, I at least have the satisfaction of knowing you're going to end up losing at least a few thousand quid whatever happens

domcastro

marleyboy wrote: »

It just goes to show if you look after your tenants, they will respect you enough to look after the property, minus any arrears, trash or issues a tenant can easily leave behind.

This isn't true. I looked after my tenant. I didn't raise his rent in 3 years. He was so bitter when I decided to sell up, he trashed the house, owes 3000 in rent arrears and stole everything he could.

marleyboy

domcastro wrote: »

This isn't true. I looked after my tenant. I didn't raise his rent in 3 years. He was so bitter when I decided to sell up, he trashed the house, owes 3000 in rent arrears and stole everything he could.

Either you have multiple usernames, or your post is completely irrelevant to the OPs

duchy

domcastro wrote: »

This isn't true. I looked after my tenant. I didn't raise his rent in 3 years. He was so bitter when I decided to sell up, he trashed the house, owes 3000 in rent arrears and stole everything he could.

How did you "look after" you tenant ?
Not raising the rent in isolation isn't "looking after"

Had you (for example) given them the impression it would be a long let so they felt they could invest time and money decorating etc or were there other reasons you got such a bitter reaction ?

There will always be exceptions but on the whole if you treat people well they will act well- if you act like you think they are scum - then you create a self fufilling prophecy.

Jhoney_2

domcastro wrote: »

Funny how they were only concerned about not having the GSC AFTER not paying rent. Didn't see them worry about it before! The tenant's a thief and is looking for ways to not pay. The landlord should have complied with law. But don't think, the tenant actually cares - this is about pure greed on the tenant's part

This has nothing to do with the specific tenant though, so their concern or lack thereof is irrelevant. I and others have already said she is wrong to have witheld her rent - but:-

a) LL has failed to confirm type of tenancy agreement
b) Not replied to questions of serving correct notice papers
c) Dismissed queries re the protection of T deposit and the requirements under that framework
d) Was prepared to lie about access being witheld
e) has not replied to questions of providing proper repairs/maintenance
f) Has abdicated himself of all basic LL responsibilities as required by law - but for the fact that he owns the property and she thus owes him rent...and erm legal fees of an additional 5-8K!;)

We do not know why rent was witheld, so beyond that is a matter for the LL. What we do know is what OP has stated and the replies have been based on that alone.

Jhoney_2

N1AK wrote: »

If this just costs you £3k and the gas safety issue is never reported you can probably consider yourself very fortunate.

Agreed - and additionally, that noone came to any harm in the interim.

diamond_dave

Whilst I whole -heartedly agree with most of the posts here( the OP is risking the tenants life and limb) - if he waives the back rent in the hope that the tenant does not report him, what is stopping the tenant from reporting him at a later date?
If the tenant leaves and the OP gets a GSC straight away, can the HSE do anything about the lack of certificate in previous years? As I understand it there is no legal requirement to keep copies of the GSC's, so how can the HSE prove that there was never one in place? Anyway, the OP should thank his lucky stars that no-one was killed by his stupidity.

silvercar

IMHO this is all about complying with the law.

Owner occupiers don't have gsc on new boilers every year. The fact that the landlord breached the law by not ensuring an annual gsc is clearly wrong. The likelihood is that the boiler is safe. I would be far more worried about the danger to a tenant's life if there was an old boiler that was already under warning notification on previous years' certificates. I would hope that the HSE would also view more seriously (with a higher penalty those cases where tenants lives had been put in danger and previous warnings ignored).

None of this bears any relation to the tenant not paying rent, and it would compromise the landlord's position to entertain any idea of allowing the arrears to lapse in return for any deal on the lack of certification.