Asking for compensation from Landlord from repeated blroken equipment due to poor electrical power

Johndole25 · 5 November 2019 at 8:49PM

I have been renting from a private landlord for over 3 years. This post is asking for advice on how to go about claiming compensation from the Private letters that have failed to fix a bad (and potentially dangerous electrical issue)

In this property there were some very bad electrical issues to begin with that mimicked brownouts and other things that are very bad for appliances. The light would frequently flicker and things would power down and power up very fast. This is very bad for eletricals as it undervolts and draws more current breaking things.

This varied ins severity until it was unbearable. They sent a "electrician round" who didn't fix it and said they couldn't. Until other started getting it. They send EDF power round eventually who "solved the issue".

Same thing came back with different symptoms, now occasionally the loght would suddenly turn off or flicker for a while.

THREE times they have now sent round EDF power saying he issues wis fixed.

Two computers totalling over $1200 have broken, along with expensive accessories. The food in my fridge went off for a whole evening ruining the frozen food. My air purifier that is expensive has broken along with speakers, VERY expensive headphone and an audio interface and the stress of having to deal with this in the flat.

It's happening again and no way I'm buying more things. It has been a whole year and they haven't solved the issue. I want to claim compensation for my broken goods, but am unsure about how to do it.

I have proof of messaging the regional manager of the letting agents along with their obvious correspondence to EDF.

How do I go about this and will I need a lawyer?

shortcrust · 5 November 2019 at 9:31PM

If this problem is something that EDF are dealing with then I’m guessing it’s a problem with the supply rather than the electrics of the property. If so then it’s not the landlord’s responsibility. You need to try to get compensation from the supplier. In the first instance I’d write a letter explaining the circumstances, the damage caused, and ask them for compensation. Expect an uphill battle with them.

The other option is to claim on your contents insurance.

Johndole25 · 5 November 2019 at 9:53PM

I think you are right about that, the landlord has had them come down multiple times and they haven't fixed the problem fully.

I'll try nonetheless.

FreeBear · 6 November 2019 at 12:37AM

Get EDF to install a power monitor & data logger just after the electricity meter. This will should reveal if the brownouts are a result of the incoming supply or a problem with the wiring in the house/flat.

In the meantime, run your computers from a UPS - They are designed to handle brownouts and protect delicate electronics.

onomatopoeia99 · 6 November 2019 at 8:44AM

FreeBear wrote: »

In the meantime, run your computers from a UPS - They are designed to handle brownouts and protect delicate electronics.

This is good advice in any case. I have a Tesla Powerwall as my UPS for the whole house. Their app records grid outages and I've six since July when it was installed (the unreliability of the grid where I live was a big motivation for installing it).

Robin9 · 6 November 2019 at 8:51AM

Johndole25 wrote: »

...................... The food in my fridge went off for a whole evening ruining the frozen food. ....................

It may be inconvenient but the food is not ruined - chilled food will be fine; frozen like meat will cook; your only loss might be ice-cream.

From the symptoms you describe nothing to do with your landlords installation - lean on EDF

snowcat75 · 7 November 2019 at 9:46AM

If its a supply side then chances are its UKPN, they are responsible for the network. EDF are just the supplier and only provide the bit from the metering head.

Proving damage has occurred will be extremely difficult, Its not improbable but having spent decades running all sorts of equipment of dirty noisy supplies (generators and like) and have never had an issue (except for lightning strikes) then UKPN/EDF will be very very sceptical about such a large amount of damage caused in a short period of time, especially as so much equipment now self protects against surges or loss of phases.

Taking utility company's on for compensation is not going to get you far, they have more money to fight such matters than you do (UKPN are Chinese owned and really don't like throwing there profits out), Pushing your LL hard on a fault that sounds like he's been more than helpful on is likely to end in a S21.

I would pursue UKPN to sort the fault and in the mean time buy some cheep surge protectors, as for compensation put that down to experience and kick yourself for not spending the £25 to do so in the first place, no supply is 100% safe and anyone can lose a phase, get hit by lightning or have a transformer short out...

Asking for compensation from Landlord from repeated blroken equipment due to poor electrical power

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