Money Moral Dilemma: Should my tenant pay for missing the gas engineer's appointment?

MSE_Kelvin

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

I'm a landlord and have to get a yearly gas safety certificate for the property I let. With my tenant's agreement, I gave the gas safety engineer her telephone number, so they could arrange the visit. On the day itself, my tenant forgot the appointment and was out at the arranged time, and the engineer has now issued a call-out charge to cover his time. But who should pay: me or the tenant?

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MeteredOut

This isn't a moral decision, but a legal one. Can a landlord legally charge a tenant for such a missed appointment. I suspect not. The safety certificate is the landlord's responsibility, so the onus is on the landlord to be there, or ensure someone is there.

DE_612183

The landlord - you should have been there and not relied on your tenant to do your job.

silvercar

The engineer should have phoned you from the property, so that you could either have tried to get in touch with the tenant or dashed over with a key. 

anselld

It is not an allowed fee under the Tenant Fees Act, therefore it would be illegal to charge the T.

FlorayG

Morally, the tenant should pay as the tenant made the appointment. Legally however I'm pretty sure it's the LL responsibility

mlz1413

This year you have to pay it as you didn't set any ground rules other than it will be easier for tenant to arrange directly.
But next year you will have learnt the lesson to organise yourself and be there yourself, plus tell the tenant in plenty of time so they can arrange to also be there if they want.

theartfullodger

Landlord's responsibility.  Don't give the decent landlords a bad name:  please.

bargainbarrett

What if the tenants had said that they would prefer to be there? This happened to me. Fortunately the electrician had my number and I went down and let him in. 

benedictadams

As a landlord you are legally required to have a gas safety check in order for you to be able to rent your property 

Therefore you should be the one who is arranging the appointnent not your tenant 

What if there was an issue discovered in the check with the boiler or cooker would you be expecting the tenant to be sorting out times for the repairs to be done

It's your responsibility, you couldn't be bothered to do a very important part of your job as a landlord. 

Shell1989

Interesting... I think it depends. My tenants always want to be at home when work is being carried out, and never allow me to go there and attend to the appointment in their absence. If this is the case with yours, that she opted to be the one at home for the gas appointment instead of allowing you to enter in her absence, then she should pay, morally. However, if you 'delegated' this to her to save you from going, then you should pay, since it's not your tenant's problem, legally.