Landlord's responsibilities - boiler service?
 

Does a landlord who rents out a part furnished flat on a private basis have a legal duty to make sure the boiler is properly serviced and not spewing out CO for example?

If anyone knows about these things and can give me a link to the regs I would be most grateful.

Thanks, David

you need to have a gas certificate speak to one of your local plumers make sure they are corgi/gas safe registered. it shouldnt cost more than 60quid. they will come down and test the efficency of your boiler as well as how safe it is to use. if it passes then you will be issued with a cp12 its compoulsary to have a gas cert in place as a lond lord aswell as epc.

legaly it has to be inspected every 12 months. if you report a fault they have a duty of care to come out and sort it, or at least get it checked out

Yes you are legally obliged to have all gas appliances within the property tested and/or serviced annually and the Gas Safe registered plumber must give you and your tenants a copy of the certificate to say it's been done.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/faqlandlord.htm

I would definitely adhere to this rule due to all the press about anyone who has been killed by a dodgy appliance in a rented place or holiday accommodation, chances are you will end up doing time if the worst were to happen.

p.s. there is no requirement for any carbon monoxide sensors though as i understand it.

just read the link, recomended to landlords but not a legal requirment

As above GSI is needed yearly, I have my boilers serviced once a year as well. If it's part furnished the soft furniture will have to comply with regs as well.

And of course the ever useful EPC will need to be present. :Whatever_

Thanks everyone,

Background is that we had a boiler serviced yesterday at out home and I got chatting to the guy about gas appliance safety (ours was fine).

My wife wondered about our daughter who rents a flat in London and I am pretty sure the (fairly ancient) boiler has never been looked at in the two years they have been there.

So I want to arm her with correct legal information and tell her to politely request a boiler service/check.

My father-in-law very nearly died from CO poisoning from a faulty boiler some years ago so I am perhaps more conscious of these things.

Thanks for speedy help ;)

David

the gov link will do it, just print it out and jobs a fish, also worth going through and seeing what else the LL hasn;t done by the sounds of it

Funnily enough it's CO Awareness week this week.

http://covictim.org/tiki-index.php?page=HomePage

Tell the landlord you noticed its awareness week and wonder what he's going to do about servicing the boiler, nice easy non-confrontational way to raise it.

Also I'd get a carbon monoxide detector (like a smoke alarm) for safety.


P.S I am your personal research bitch this week :lol1:

Good information above,especially about it needing inspections.

Les

Would a canary do?

Thanks PRB :D :D

d

Good idea about using CO week as a reason btw

To be honest if the Landlord has not had it checked out in 2 yrs you need to get your daughter out of there .
They have a legal duty to have it inspected EVERY year without fail .
If this has not been done he wants reporting .

landlords are responsible for any health and wellbeing regarding their tenants. any illness etc. contracted as a result of non-maintenance etc, is a case of liability in the eyes of a court. seek proper legal advice straight away. my missus has just said with this concern as well as the previous one she would be inclined to think that your daughters deposit is unlikely to have been put into a "Deposit Protection Scheme" which is LAW. get her out of there, cut your losses and reduce your worries!

OK guys, let's not jump the gun. I don't know for certain that it hasn't been done but I have mailed my daughter about it along the copy of link given above.

Having said that it wouldn't surprise me at all if landlord hadn't bothered. Perhaps the letting agency did a check on this which I guess they should have done so all may be well.

Better to be safe than sorry especially as far as CO is concerned plus I am an overworrying dad :D

d

edited for accuracy david:thumb:

This is easily checked, whoever paid the deposit over should have been given a certificate, either by the letting agents or the Landlord if the deposit is being held by him. If no certificate has been issued along with an information pack for tenants (within two weeks iirc), then the Landlord can be ordered to pay the tenants up to three times the deposit value as compensation.


What needs to happen is somebody to ask the Landlord to see a copy of the GSI, there should be a tenants copy in the property anyway, but the LL should have no issues producing a copy for your peace of mind. Before this is done, you may be worrying about a non issue. I always pin the copies on the inside of a cupboard door in the kitchen. Not all Landlords are evil.;)