Contractor left us without a cooker

Eldi_Dos

I would say it is not acceptable for a tenant to be left without cooking facilities for more than a week especially if this was planned work, if it was a emergency repair that would be another matter. I would keep receipts for extra expenses incurred and present them to your landlord.

Do not attempt to fit cooker yourself.

Could you tell us if this work is ongoing only in your property or part of a wider renovation scheme.

keith94

DullGreyGuy said:

keith94 said:

I have kept all receipts from takeaways bought during this time, should the contractor reimburse us? 

It is highly unlikely anyone will reimburse. 

For the sake of a week whilst still living in the home it would be anticipated that people can live on cold food and/or microwave etc. 

In my world if we put you in a hotel as your home is uninhabitable we would consider the difference between cost of home made food and eating out but we'd still expect you to be reasonable (eg supermarket meal deal for lunch not a 4 course meal/big takeaway) 

I wouldn’t expect to be fully reimbursed, as you said the difference between costs of home made and eating out I think would be sufficient. The main point being we’re spending a lot more than we normally would because of the circumstances whilst still trying to be careful with what we’re spending 

Bookworm105

So you "needed" a new floor
The contractor moved the cooker whilst doing the work
Your contract is with the council

Fill in the next bit yourself.

saajan_12

You still have a duty to mitigate your losses. Do you have an oven or is that part of the cooker that was disconnected? For a week, meal deals, things you can make by boiling water and microwave should probably cover most of your meals, with only a couple of take outs. 

rob7475

keith94 said:

rob7475 said:

does the gas cooker use a flexible hose with a bayonet fitting? If so, can you not connect it back up yourself? It's simple to do.

I couldn’t tell you as I’m not at home at the minute. Would it not need to be someone who is gas registered or qualified? 

I'm sure you're allowed to disconnect the bayonet end temporarily yourself. As long as you are fitting the same cooker back, it should be fine. You can test for leaks with some soapy water.

if you were replacing the cooker or the threaded end of the hose, you would need a gas safe fitter to do the work and pressure / leak test afterwards.

MysteryMe

I personally wouldn't be reconnecting gas cookers, it might be straightforward most of the time but it's when it's not that people can get into a lot of trouble if you don't know what you are doing.

subjecttocontract

You have the option of contacting your local councillor and to ask him to get involved to resolve the issue urgently. I never bother contacting my local council about anything because they are slow and inefficient. I always find my local councillor gets matters sorted quickly.

GDB2222

MysteryMe said:

I personally wouldn't be reconnecting gas cookers, it might be straightforward most of the time but it's when it's not that people can get into a lot of trouble if you don't know what you are doing.

I’m struggling to figure out how it could possibly not be straightforward?  

However, I can envisage pushing the cooker across the new screed and damaging It! So, maybe it’s horses for courses.

keith94

Bookworm105 said:

So you "needed" a new floor
The contractor moved the cooker whilst doing the work
Your contract is with the council

Fill in the next bit yourself.

Don’t have a clue what your getting at here

keith94

Update

the contractors came back on the 12th and reconnected the cooker. They also came the following day to collect the rubbish they left behind. 

I didn’t want to attempt connecting the cooker due to it being gas. We’ve got receipts for most food purchases for the period the cooker was disconnected. 

The council have said we can apply online using their website to have the food purchases reimbursed. We will see where we get with that