Sending electrician invoice to landlord --

ry250

I noticed two weeks back, on an early Sunday morning (of all times), I woke up to find my electricity had tripped and not the individual circuit switch, I mean one of the main dark red switches on my Memera 2000 unit. 

I got in touch with my landlord and he came round within the hour really and told me to do something I had, by that time, already done, which was switch off all circuits, slowly switch them back and do the whole unplug socket, test appliances and essentially isolate the issue. All to no avail, since it tripped again.

In regards the immediacy of it, I told him I needed an electrician round and he said "my guy is not around today" which meant nothing to me, so I took it upon myself to call an electrician round and he was round for all of five mins and said the same "turn of all appliances" (which I had done, twice). He wasnt much use and told me to perservere with the isolating and turning appliances off and said he "suspected" it to be a faulty appliance and left.

They have since billed me £78 for all of a five minute call out and I have forwarded this to my landlord for either for them to pay this or for them to wipe it off my next months rent.

My thinking is : 
(1) It is an ongoing issue, and no cause has been ascertained thus far so it is not definitley an appliance issue
(2) it could be an appliance belonging to the landlord thus their duty
(3) I had to get a leccy round in the first place, to even tell me this, after my landlord was not able to provide an immediate solution, incurring a cost not payable by moi.

Anyone got experience with this? And does this sound okay and logical that I forward the invoice on to my LL?

anselld

It sounds more logical that you would challenge the "electrician" invoice as they have done nothing to resolve or isolate the problem other than turn up and state the obvious.  Did they not even apply a test meter to the faulty circuit?

It may ultimately be a Landlord issue to resolve but I dont imagine they will be too happy paying you to employ an idiot.  You need to let "their guy" fix it.

ry250

anselld said:

It sounds more logical that you would challenge the "electrician" invoice as they have done nothing to resolve or isolate the problem other than turn up and state the obvious.  Did they not even apply a test meter to the faulty circuit?

It may well be a Landlord issue to resolve but I dont imagine they will be too happy paying you to employ an idiot.

He did bring his fancy testing box out of his van, test it (whatever that means), and said "just keep on keeping on, isolate appliance issue, okay cya" so I am guessing if he had his fancy kit, then that then says it was not the meter. 

I guess, to play devils advocate almost against myself, the £78 fee is for the out of hours call out on a sunday morning, I guess?

ry250

Its worth mentioning two days after this my landlord finally brought his own electrician guy round and said the same "could be anything" were his words so

silvercar

You have a duty to  behave in a responsible manner. So turning everything off and switching back on in an ordered fashion is what I would expect a tenant to do. The landlord suggested it and it was what the electrician of your choosing actually did, so I can't see why you couldn't have done this for yourself.

Given you took it upon yourself to call this electrician out and he did nothing more, I don't see how the landlord is responsible for paying someone to do something you were capable of doing for yourself.

Even if the cause was an appliance supplied by the landlord, it doesn't stop you turning it on and off yourself.

anselld

The red switch is an earth leakage device so it is more likely to be an appliance where water is present - kettle, immersion heater, washing machine, outdoor socket, outside light, etc, etc.   Although even damp in an ordinary indoor socket can cause this.   As can degraded or faulty wiring insulation.  The tester should pick it up but only if the fault is active at the time.  It can be difficult to detect if the fault is intermittent.

How often has it tripped in the last two weeks?

ry250

And behave in a responsible manner I did, by doing what you just stated, and then again, to yet more trips, so at that point, I think any person with mild cerebral function would ring someone qualified. 

And since my landlords option was out of the question, I had to look elsewhere  

If you enact the whole advice of "have you tried turning everything off and on and off and on and off on again?" multiple times over, then you call a leccy. Simple. 

user1977

I think your electrician bill is for you to swallow. 

Do the electrics trip even if no appliances are plugged in? 

Section62

ry250 said:

...I got in touch with my landlord and he came round within the hour really and told me to do something I had, by that time, already done, which was switch off all circuits, slowly switch them back and do the whole unplug socket, test appliances and essentially isolate the issue. All to no avail, since it tripped again.

How many times?

ry250 said:

In regards the immediacy of it, I told him I needed an electrician round and he said "my guy is not around today" which meant nothing to me, so I took it upon myself to call an electrician round and he was round for all of five mins and said the same "turn of all appliances" (which I had done, twice). He wasnt much use and told me to perservere with the isolating and turning appliances off and said he "suspected" it to be a faulty appliance and left.
...

When the landlord said that, did you reply "Well I need the power working properly today, so are you Ok picking up the bill if I call someone else out myself on a Sunday morning?" (or words to the effect) ?  If not, what did you agree with him?

ry250

user1977 said:

I think your electrician bill is for you to swallow. 

Do the electrics trip even if no appliances are plugged in? 

No but tell you what, it also can trip even if a landlord owned appliance is plugged in.

ry250

Section62 said:

ry250 said:

...I got in touch with my landlord and he came round within the hour really and told me to do something I had, by that time, already done, which was switch off all circuits, slowly switch them back and do the whole unplug socket, test appliances and essentially isolate the issue. All to no avail, since it tripped again.

How many times?

ry250 said:

In regards the immediacy of it, I told him I needed an electrician round and he said "my guy is not around today" which meant nothing to me, so I took it upon myself to call an electrician round and he was round for all of five mins and said the same "turn of all appliances" (which I had done, twice). He wasnt much use and told me to perservere with the isolating and turning appliances off and said he "suspected" it to be a faulty appliance and left.
...

When the landlord said that, did you reply "Well I need the power working properly today, so are you Ok picking up the bill if I call someone else out myself on a Sunday morning?" (or words to the effect) ?  If not, what did you agree with him?

In total, since the 10/11, it has tripped in total around six times. But very intermittent and not something that is easily noticeable