Rented house, sweeping the chimney

greensalad

We live in a 3 bed Victorian house with 4 fireplaces/2 chimneys. 

We think only one of these actually works. The living room still has the actual fireplace whereas the others all only have surrounds. 

We have never used the fireplace, as we've never known if they were really working and just haven't had interest in using the living room one.

We've been here 5 years and have just today had a request from the EA to confirm that we have swept the chimneys annually. I'd never even thought about it, as we weren't using them.

Tenancy agreement confirms:

"At least once every nine-months of the tenancy to have any working chimneys, made use of by the tenant, swept by an appropriate person and retain a suitable record, receipt or invoice to demonstrate compliance with this clause."

So not annually like the EA has just said, nor would we fall into this criteria? Also the inventory taken in 2015 mentions a "chimney sweep certificate" and marks it as N/A so it seems like we were never supplied with one.

Are we good do you think to simply say we don't use it and therefore have never had it swept? 

user1977

greensalad said:

Are we good do you think to simply say we don't use it and therefore have never had it swept? 

Yes, I would say so.

AdrianC

greensalad said:

We've been here 5 years and have just today had a request from the EA to confirm that we have swept the chimneys annually. I'd never even thought about it, as we weren't using them.

Tenancy agreement confirms:

"At least once every nine-months of the tenancy to have any working chimneys, made use of by the tenant, swept by an appropriate person and retain a suitable record, receipt or invoice to demonstrate compliance with this clause."

"Dear agent,
As we have not made use of the fireplace, we have not needed to have the chimneys swept, in line with our tenancy contract.
Best, OP"

youth_leader

When I viewed my rental the young man very proudly showed me the log bin full of green wood he'd collected from the woods opposite - he'd been burning all sorts.  I asked the landlord to have the chimney swept before I moved in, the sweep had to empty his Henry bag twice. If you are leaving, I would get them done ready for the next tenant - crows might have posted sticks for nesting.

lookstraightahead

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector in the rooms with the working fireplaces? I'm sure the landlord has a duty to install these, so you can ask the agent to ask them which ones work, as the landlord should know .

greensalad

lookstraightahead said:

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector in the rooms with the working fireplaces? I'm sure the landlord has a duty to install these, so you can ask the agent to ask them which ones work, as the landlord should know .

I think we only have one, at the top of the stairs. 

greensalad

AdrianC said:

greensalad said:

"Dear agent,
As we have not made use of the fireplace, we have not needed to have the chimneys swept, in line with our tenancy contract.
Best, OP"

Thanks, this is pretty much what I thought. I just wanted to get confirmation from a few people because we try to be good tenants and go a little further where possible to maintain a good relationship with our landlord. I guess we could've done it even when not required, but it just genuinely slipped my mind as we never used the fireplaces and didn't consider them as part of any regular maintenance due to that.

Nikkster

I think chimneys are supposed to be swept once a year for buildings insurance. As you've not used them I'd reply back as such - if the landlord needs them sweeping for their insurance they should pay for it.

AdrianC

greensalad said:

lookstraightahead said:

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector in the rooms with the working fireplaces? I'm sure the landlord has a duty to install these, so you can ask the agent to ask them which ones work, as the landlord should know .

I think we only have one, at the top of the stairs. 

That will be a smoke alarm, not a CO alarm.

Mickey666

This sounds like a standard !!!!!!-covering insurance-related exercise.  I've used the same HETAS-registered chimney sweep for many years and a few years ago he started giving me a certificate after sweeping each chimney.  He explained that nowadays insurance companies will want to see a record of regular cleaning if any claims for chimney fires are submitted. 
More regulation . . . more paperwork . . . good job we live in a 'free society'

greensalad

AdrianC said:

greensalad said:

lookstraightahead said:

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector in the rooms with the working fireplaces? I'm sure the landlord has a duty to install these, so you can ask the agent to ask them which ones work, as the landlord should know .

I think we only have one, at the top of the stairs. 

That will be a smoke alarm, not a CO alarm.

There are two contraptions up there. I'm pretty sure one is the carbon monoxide detector and one is the smoke alarm. Also, I'm 99% sure I put the carbon monoxide one up myself... but I can't remember as it was right at the beginning of our tenancy over 5 years ago.