Who is responsible for bleeding radiators

blued

Hi all,

I have my house rented out while working overseas and the agent has been in touch to say the tenant has complained that a radiator in the hall isn't getting hot. The radiator in the hall does require bleeding from time to time and I made the agent aware of this from the get go. I sent the agent a link to Tenants Voice with details of how to bleed the radiator and asked they pass it on to the tenant. The tenant has come back to say they aren't willing to do it.

I'm a tenant myself and would never dream of asking the landlord to bleed a radiator, it would be like expecting them to change a light bulb. I've spoken to a couple of friends and one of them said they didn't know how to do it but when theirs needed bled they watched a video on youtube and then were able to do it no problem.

I'm just looking for opinions on this. Should I be paying someone to go up there and bleed the radiator or does the tenant have a responsibility to perform this minor maintenance?

It's not that they aren't capable, they just don't want to.

anselld

If it is a conventional gravity system and you left them a key and instructions then I would expect them to do it.

It can be more tricky on a Combi system when you bleed the rads you need to re-pressurise the boiler and sometimes that needs a special key/tools etc. Even so, they are designed for owner/occupier to do themselves following the user manual so why wouldn't a tenant do likewise?

PasturesNew

I'd rather live without the radiator than attempt to bleed it..... if I tried it'd all go horribly wrong and somebody'd end up saying "Oh, you shouldn't have done that; shouldn't have done it like that; that's not the right way".

googler

anselld wrote: »

It can be more tricky on a Combi system when you bleed the rads you need to re-pressurise the boiler and sometimes that needs a special key/tools etc.

This.

Get someone to do it who you can trust.

blued

It isn't a combi system, it is gravity fed. It is one radiator, completely accessible and I left a key.

Errata

does the tenant have a responsibility to perform this minor maintenance?

Tenants aren't responsible for maintenance, that's the LL's job. Which is why LL's charge sufficient rent to cover any necessary maintenance.

Pixie5740

Speaking as a tenant I'm with you OP. Bleeding the radiators is up there with changing lightbulbs. I also top boilers up myself when necessary. If the tenant doesn't want to do it then let them have a cold radiator in the hall.

blued

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd rather live without the radiator than attempt to bleed it..... if I tried it'd all go horribly wrong and somebody'd end up saying "Oh, you shouldn't have done that; shouldn't have done it like that; that's not the right way".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3-QWp6E1KU

You might be surprised how easy it is.

Errata

It is easy, but that's not the point. The LL is responsible for the heating system and how it functions, not the tenant.

SeduLOUs

Absolutely ridiculous. I'll have to remember this one and phone my LL next time a lightbulb blows. I'd just leave them with a cold radiator if they aren't willing to do it themselves.

What does the agent make of it?

blued

SeduLOUs wrote: »

What does the agent make of it?

The agent hasn't said much as communication has been over email.

My concern is if they're not willing to do something like this, which could have been fixed quicker than the time it took to report, then what else are they not bothering with? The garden could be a jungle!