Landlord or Tenant Responsibility

HannahRebecca

Hi All,

I had 2 different questions about who takes responsibility in a rented home...

I recently moved into a house that was advertised as unfurnished and therefore without a cooker. I checked with the agency and they informed me that the previous tenants had a slimline electric cooker so this is what I have purchased to ensure it fits in the designated gap.
Since trying to arrange delivery and installation of my cooker it has been found that we do not have a red switch for the cooker or a space in the fuse box for it either.
I have been told by some family members that it is the landlords duty of care to ensure there is a way to cook and without this switch or a gas line for the cooker we do not have one. I am currently relying on slow cooker/fat fryers and a George Foreman Grill for all of my meals which is much more hassle than if we could just install out cooker.
The agency are sending out an electrician to quote installing this switch but I want to ensure this is going to be charged to us as it is essential for the house to have not a luxury we are asking for?

The second thing I wanted to check was regarding the Broadband port in the property. The wires are slightly frayed and our broadband is intermittent. We have had BT out to look at the this and the engineer has said he will not charge us however in the event that we are charged who would need to pay this as it was in the property before we were and we have only been there for 1 week?

Please let me know on either of the above topics as I am a bit clueless when it comes to who has to pay for what!

Thanks!

Guest101

HannahRebecca wrote: »

Hi All,

I had 2 different questions about who takes responsibility in a rented home...

I recently moved into a house that was advertised as unfurnished and therefore without a cooker. I checked with the agency and they informed me that the previous tenants had a slimline electric cooker so this is what I have purchased to ensure it fits in the designated gap.
Since trying to arrange delivery and installation of my cooker it has been found that we do not have a red switch for the cooker or a space in the fuse box for it either.
I have been told by some family members that it is the landlords duty of care to ensure there is a way to cook and without this switch or a gas line for the cooker we do not have one. - Do you have a microwave? I am currently relying on slow cooker/fat fryers and a George Foreman Grill for all of my meals which is much more hassle than if we could just install out cooker. - So you have a way to cook?
The agency are sending out an electrician to quote installing this switch but I want to ensure this is going to be charged to us as it is essential for the house to have not a luxury we are asking for? - Best asking the LL then?

The second thing I wanted to check was regarding the Broadband port in the property. The wires are slightly frayed and our broadband is intermittent. We have had BT out to look at the this and the engineer has said he will not charge us however in the event that we are charged who would need to pay this as it was in the property before we were and we have only been there for 1 week? - You would.

Please let me know on either of the above topics as I am a bit clueless when it comes to who has to pay for what!

Thanks!

In both cases I would say you do.


<as far as I know, the LL doesn't have to provide a means of cooking> - but it's irrelevant as you have one anyway.

theartfullodger

Broadband is not (yet) considered one of the fundamental human rights: What did the tenancy advert or agreement or inventory say about broadband?? e.g. My tenancies usually say it is "thought to be working but responsibility of tenant to sort out, arrange & pay for": (I've never had a problem with this in 10+ years, multiple properties.

Cooking yes, but, again, what did the tenancy advert or agreement or inventory say about cooking or cooker or anything related??

When you wrote (yes WROTE!) to landlord (yes LANDLORD! - copy agent, keep copy) about this what response did you get to your calm & polite letter??

The regulations on cooking etc are in HHSRS see-
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-health-and-safety-rating-system-guidance-for-landlords-and-property-related-professionals
- have a browse through that lot, e.g.

Cooking
• Facilities should be of adequate size for the household with appropriate
connections for fuel (gas or electricity);

You could suggest you were thinking of asking council for a HHSRS survey but that will probably guarantee bad relationships for the time you are there...

MrJB

Presumably you're not in NI otherwise the LL is in breach by not providing a cooker?

HappyMJ

I would ask the landlord to install an isolating switch for an electric cooker....

I don't see why they wouldn't install one for you.

You can though just plug the cooker into a 13A socket and it will work. Just make sure all it requires is a 13A socket. It'll be in the manual. The installers you employed aren't allowed to do that they must make sure there is an isolation switch.

G_M

Write politely to the LL asking for a dedicated electic circuit to tbe installed, and say you had expected one to be there.

many (I hesitate to quantify) LLs would install - it's an improvement to their property as well as keeping their tenant happy, and ensuring compliance with general H&S requirements.

However they might refuse.

datlex

MrJB wrote: »

Presumably you're not in NI otherwise the LL is in breach by not providing a cooker?

Don't know where you got this idea? OP's rental is unfurnished. My flat was unfurnished, rented from a housing association. No furniture at all. I had to get my own cooker. There is a space in kitchen for one. I have gas here. The relevant shut off switches are in place. The landlord has to do a yearly gas safety check. This includes ensuring that the cooker is safely connected, even though they do not own it.

AnotherJoe

Is there a gas supply in the kitchen?

[Deleted User]

To be honest, whether there was the right connection for a cooker should have been checked by the prospective tenant before they moved in. Agencies can and will just nod wisely speak off the top of their head because who knows how many properties they are managing.

It helps to be extremely negative, expect things to go wrong and trust no one when moving into a property lolol. I wouldn't take the word of a LL or LA for anything, I would however, trust my eyes etc. I'm the one who's got to live there and most interested in getting an accurate answer. Mind you having said that, I saw a gas connection where the cooker goes in this place. Was stupid enough to assume the gas fitting was connected to the gas supply. I didn't trace it back to the supply coming into the building. When I finally did, it wasn't lol. So even I was caught out lol. Lesson learned.

No a LL does not have to supply a cooker when letting a place. A lot do but its not a legal entitlement.

HannahRebecca

Hi All,

We are aware that the LL doesn't have to provide a cooker however it is the cooker point we are thinking should be installed. We don't have a red switch or a switch in the fuse box for a cooker nor is there a gas link for a cooker either.

Is this okay to not be anywhere in the property?

Dan-Dan

How did the previous tenants use their slimline electric cooker?