Do I have a right to refuse specific Plumber?

buel

Hi all.

Long story cut short, twice now the nominated Plumber sent by our estate agents to fix radiators in our house has not turned up when he said he would and sent non committal texts insinuating he might turn up but never did, resulting in my wife staying in all day twice.

When I first told them of the problem before Christmas, I explained that the issue is that none of the radiators could be turned down / adjusted which meant that our 2 year old daughter’s bedroom gets uncomfortably hot when the rest of the house is barely adequately warmed. I really thought this would cut some ice with them but it didn’t.

We emailed and spoke to our estate agent about not wanting to be messed around and wasting a third day so would like them to choose another Plumber. They have so far refused to do this and we are now at an impasse, which has disappointed me.
Three times this week I have asked to speak to the owner / boss at the estate agents but they have not replied.

Do I have any right to ask them to choose another Plumber?

AdrianC

You can ask.
You have no right to insist. You do not need to be present when the plumber visits, so any inconvenience is entirely your own choice.

It's winter. Plumbers are busy. This is a very small job that he's going to be fitting in to a window in his day, not scheduling.

Let's see a pic of the valves on this radiator - it may well be easy but non-obvious to adjust, and simply require a common tool or two.

buel

Thanks for this. Not sure how to see the valves?

NewShadow

AdrianC wrote: »

You have no right to insist. You do not need to be present when the plumber visits, so any inconvenience is entirely your own choice.

I would suggest the flip side of that is the landlord - likely - not being wiling to take a day off to supervise and many tradesmen not being willing to be unsupervised in a property due to the increasing risk of accusations or litigation...

GS..

You can have whichever plumber you like. Cost you about £80 to have one thermostat put on a rad and improve your daughter's wellbeing. Might even get your money back off your landlord

buel wrote: »

..... our 2 year old daughter’s bedroom gets uncomfortably hot when the rest of the house is barely adequately warmed. .......?

AdrianC

buel wrote: »

Thanks for this. Not sure how to see the valves?

The valves are the bit you turn to adjust the temperature of a radiator... They're where the pipes attach to the radiator.



One may be smooth and possibly rotate freely - that's a cover over the lockshield. Don't remove that.

The other is likely to have some kind of a handgrip on it, like that pic. Clockwise to allow more flow and make hotter, anti-clock to restrict flow and make cooler. If it hasn't been adjusted for a long while, it may be stiff. If you have a pair of lockshields, then one cover will remove, probably with a single screw, and you can use a pair of pliers to turn the valve itself.

If it has a bulkier top to it, it's probably thermostatic, and should rotate easily. There'll be numbers and a finger pointer on the bottom edge.

Have you tried bleeding the other radiators? Or adjusting those? This is all basic occupier stuff, along the lines of changing lightbulbs, and calling a plumber out is as totally unnecessary as calling an electrician to change bulbs.

princeofpounds

Loving the monty python-style big hand pointing to the valve AdrianC. That you? Or a copy/paste?
Buel - this is probably a valve issue. Sometimes they can be broken, but more often the settings just aren't right. On traditional thermostatic valves there are often min/max pin settings inside the valve as well as the dial outside, and they also need calibration to work properly.

Sometimes it doesn't look obvious how to adjust them if you haven't done it before, but it doesn't require special equipment. If something is broken, it's often not the valve itself but the thermostatic regulator, and replacement is simple.

Less likely, you don't have valves or a regulator fitted, but that would be odd.

Show us some photos of your valves as a starter (plus points for the big hand!) and that might help us assess.

As for your original question - you can't demand a new plumber. But you can enforce repairs of your own if the landlord hasn't been reasonable in addressing issues (google 'shelter repairs in private accommodation' for a guide). I would suggest you're getting to that point but not yet.

AdrianC

princeofpounds wrote: »

Loving the monty python-style big hand pointing to the valve AdrianC. That you? Or a copy/paste?

Not my hand...

It's a still from a YouTube vid on how to repair a leaky rad valve, courtesy of a google image search for "central heating radiator valve"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udlENiipBCU

Niv

AdrianC wrote: »

Not my hand...

It's a still from a YouTube vid on how to repair a leaky rad valve, courtesy of a google image search for "central heating radiator valve"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udlENiipBCU

Disappointed now haha

G_M

You could try sending an invoice to the agent for your time/lost earnings......


No you can't insist on choice of plumber unless you pay the plumber yourself - and that is risky as you are then responsible for any subsequent problems.


The LL must fix the issue within 'a reasonable period of time' from your reporting it, but for a non-emergency, in winter, that is flexible.


You could ask the agent to arrange a key for the plumber so you need not stay in, yhough I appreciate some peopke are not happy about arrangements like that.


But end of the day it's an isue we all face - owner-occupiers don't even have the option of an agent to provide access.

missile

Whatever next. When I rented my property I had an irate tenant who phoned me Friday evening one Easter weekend complaining heating did not working.
"Contact the letting agent"
"They are closed for weekend"
"Why did you not phone them today?"
"I was working"
"Call them on Tuesday"
"I am a single mother, have young kids and it is cold"
Spend hours finding a very expensive plumber to make an emergency visit.
Turned out this "lady" had tried to adjust the time clock and had accidently turned heating off.
Did she pay for the call out?

Pigs might fly.