Is this fusebox safe? Dodgy LL's - please advise

bumblebee15

I live in an HMO with what I consider to be very dodgy landlords. There has been a catalogue of harrassment, privacy invasion, not providing documentation etc and it has got to the point having been left with a broken window held together by gaffer tape overnight that I am seriously considering reporting them. There are no fire doors, no smoke alarms and I worry all the time about our safety as the LL's husband does dodgy repairs on almost everything. I am cataloguing everything in preparedness to make a complaint after last night's shenanigans which resulted in me (single woman in ground floor, street facing flat) being left with nothing to keep me safe and secure apart from gaffer tape stuck around a window frame after the LL's husband came to 'fix' the handle then disappeared for nearly 4 hours before returning at 5.30pm claiming the shops that sell handles were all closed and the best he could do was give me gaffer tape to close the window!

These are photos of our fusebox in the house. The upper rear room has no electrical current to the power sockets after they developed a fault and the guy in there is having to run all his electrics off an extension cable plugged in in the hallway and run under his door.I don't know whether the circuit in his room has been safely isolated or not. I am not an electrical expert at all but I thought that there should be no exposed wires in a fusebox or looping. The green wire (which I think is the earth) is clearly exposed and looped etc. If anyone knows about electrics, please could you weigh in and give your opinion. Thank you 

davidmcn

As you say, it's an earth wire, which shouldn't have any current going through it unless something has gone wrong. Think there's less concern (at least historically) about earths being insulated. I wouldn't be overly worried about it anyway.

AdrianC

It's not only an earth, it doesn't seem to actually be earthing anything - it just goes from what looks to be one of the screws holding the backboard to the wall, to an earthing block.

The main incoming earth is the other cable going down that corner of the backboard, from the same earth block to (presumably) the sheathing on the incoming feed.

Right, you've got several basic components there...

Fusebox - Consumer Unit is the correct term these days. That's the big grey thing with the transparent flap. There's two RCDs in there, to protect in case of a short from live or neutral to earth. They cover different circuits - I'm guessing the lights are separated, to prevent a blown bulb taking the lot out.

Meter - the offwhite lump just beneath it.

Incoming master fuse - the black block at the bottom.

Then you've got another terminal block just right of the meter, with tails going off to that other old-school fusebox to the side. What that's for, I have no idea. Turn it off and see.

The two cables coming down the left of the pic - they may be the ground floor socket ring.

One of the breakers in the LH side of the consumer unit is turned off.

Is it messy? Yes. Is it dangerous? I can't see any issue. That doesn't mean it's safe... It's not bang-up-to-date (the current regs say metal consumer unit, not plastic, for fire protection), but it's not far off.

As for the rest... Move.

Robbo66

bumblebee15 said:

I live in an HMO with what I consider to be very dodgy landlords. There has been a catalogue of harrassment, privacy invasion, not providing documentation etc and it has got to the point having been left with a broken window held together by gaffer tape overnight that I am seriously considering reporting them. There are no fire doors, no smoke alarms and I worry all the time about our safety as the LL's husband does dodgy repairs on almost everything. I am cataloguing everything in preparedness to make a complaint after last night's shenanigans which resulted in me (single woman in ground floor, street facing flat) being left with nothing to keep me safe and secure apart from gaffer tape stuck around a window frame after the LL's husband came to 'fix' the handle then disappeared for nearly 4 hours before returning at 5.30pm claiming the shops that sell handles were all closed and the best he could do was give me gaffer tape to close the window!

These are photos of our fusebox in the house. The upper rear room has no electrical current to the power sockets after they developed a fault and the guy in there is having to run all his electrics off an extension cable plugged in in the hallway and run under his door.I don't know whether the circuit in his room has been safely isolated or not. I am not an electrical expert at all but I thought that there should be no exposed wires in a fusebox or looping. The green wire (which I think is the earth) is clearly exposed and looped etc. If anyone knows about electrics, please could you weigh in and give your opinion. Thank you 

As noted if the green wire is the earth then the fact it has a bare section shouldn't be dangerous but that doesn't mean it should be as it is. I see from your photos one of the switches has tripped, is that the reason for the upstairs room not having power and id it trip because what ever the tenant plugged in has a fault.

GDB2222

The earth wire is perfectly safe as it is. Indeed, it's attached to an exposed screw at the bottom of the wooden board.  All that part of the installation is done by the electricity supplier, so if they think it's safe it probably is.  I don't think the wooden board would meet current regs, though. That might be an issue for an HMO.

If you think there are serious shortcomings in the fire precautions, please do report that. But, restrict your report to the main one or two points. You just want them to inspect and come to their own conclusions. Less is more, and if you throw every minor niggle into the mix it will detract from your report.

As to the broken handle on your window, you are being utterly unfair. The landlord came round and did an emergency repair straight away. And, if the parts are unavailable, I can't see what else he can do?  If you move elsewhere, you won't get any better service.

bumblebee15

GDB2222, Actually he didn't do a repair! He wrenched the handle off with a claw hammer, disappeared for two hours, came back, took the window out off its hinges (leaving me without a window and freezing cold!) before disappearing again for another two hours returning with a friend of his who is a drug addict/alcoholic and claiming that the shops were all closed! there are 5 shops that specifically deal with double glazing installations and repairs at the end of my road!! He came back at nearly 6 pm with a roll of gaffer tape, screwed the window back on its hinges and told me to gaffer tape it. As a single female living in a ground floor, street facing room with nothing but a bit of tape standing between me and a possible intruder - I find it utterly disgraceful! I barely slept a wink because my safety and security has been compromised.

bumblebee15

Robbo66, There is a fault with the circuit and they have basically refused to pay to repair it rather than it being the tenant tripping anything.  Even with nothing plugged in, it trips.

bumblebee15

AdrianC, thank you for being kind enough to explain what all the components are. I don't know much about these things but I have ever seen exposed wires in anyone else's fuse boxes so wanted to check.

AdrianC

bumblebee15 said:

GDB2222, Actually he didn't do a repair! He wrenched the handle off with a claw hammer, disappeared for two hours, came back, took the window out off its hinges (leaving me without a window and freezing cold!) before disappearing again for another two hours returning with a friend of his who is a drug addict/alcoholic and claiming that the shops were all closed! there are 5 shops that specifically deal with double glazing installations and repairs at the end of my road!! He came back at nearly 6 pm with a roll of gaffer tape, screwed the window back on its hinges and told me to gaffer tape it. As a single female living in a ground floor, street facing room with nothing but a bit of tape standing between me and a possible intruder - I find it utterly disgraceful! I barely slept a wink because my safety and security has been compromised.

Move.

You know it's the only sensible solution.

GDB2222

Robbo66 said:

bumblebee15 said:

I live in an HMO with what I consider to be very dodgy landlords. There has been a catalogue of harrassment, privacy invasion, not providing documentation etc and it has got to the point having been left with a broken window held together by gaffer tape overnight that I am seriously considering reporting them. There are no fire doors, no smoke alarms and I worry all the time about our safety as the LL's husband does dodgy repairs on almost everything. I am cataloguing everything in preparedness to make a complaint after last night's shenanigans which resulted in me (single woman in ground floor, street facing flat) being left with nothing to keep me safe and secure apart from gaffer tape stuck around a window frame after the LL's husband came to 'fix' the handle then disappeared for nearly 4 hours before returning at 5.30pm claiming the shops that sell handles were all closed and the best he could do was give me gaffer tape to close the window!

These are photos of our fusebox in the house. The upper rear room has no electrical current to the power sockets after they developed a fault and the guy in there is having to run all his electrics off an extension cable plugged in in the hallway and run under his door.I don't know whether the circuit in his room has been safely isolated or not. I am not an electrical expert at all but I thought that there should be no exposed wires in a fusebox or looping. The green wire (which I think is the earth) is clearly exposed and looped etc. If anyone knows about electrics, please could you weigh in and give your opinion. Thank you 

As noted if the green wire is the earth then the fact it has a bare section shouldn't be dangerous but that doesn't mean it should be as it is. I see from your photos one of the switches has tripped, is that the reason for the upstairs room not having power and id it trip because what ever the tenant plugged in has a fault.

I have certainly had a tenant who complained that the power had tripped and wouldn't turn on. Now, the obvious thing to do is unplug everything to find out what is causing the trip. Apparently, the tenant was incapable of doing that. I went round and found out that the tenant's kettle was faulty. Once she threw that away, her power was miraculously restored. 

The same tenant complained the heating wasn't coming on. She had the thermostat set to 10 degrees. 

Some people just find life really, really hard, I guess.

GDB2222

bumblebee15 said:

GDB2222, Actually he didn't do a repair! He wrenched the handle off with a claw hammer, disappeared for two hours, came back, took the window out off its hinges (leaving me without a window and freezing cold!) before disappearing again for another two hours returning with a friend of his who is a drug addict/alcoholic and claiming that the shops were all closed! there are 5 shops that specifically deal with double glazing installations and repairs at the end of my road!! He came back at nearly 6 pm with a roll of gaffer tape, screwed the window back on its hinges and told me to gaffer tape it. As a single female living in a ground floor, street facing room with nothing but a bit of tape standing between me and a possible intruder - I find it utterly disgraceful! I barely slept a wink because my safety and security has been compromised.

I sympathise. The thing is that, had he called in one of those companies to fix the window, they would probably not have come round for several days. I think you have to accept that things break, and all you can expect is a reasonably timely repair. In this context, reasonably timely means a few days.

If you had your own house, you would find out just how hard it is to get good workmen when you need them.