Landlord lied about doing routine safety checks on gas + electricity sockets

[Tom87]

I'm writing on behalf of a not so happy friend.

She moved into the property last September. When going through the routine check-in conversation with the landlord, he assured her and her housemates that he had performed all the safety checks on the mains electricity sockets and on the gas hobs and oven a few weeks previously and it was all fine.

The property received the yearly visit from the gasman a few days ago. The gasman concluded that the gas cooker/oven hadn't actually been checked for a long time, and was in such a dangerous condition that it had to be removed from the property and taken away instantly. The gas company told them the next day that the cooker could well have exploded in the very near future if it hadn't been noticed by the gasman - gas was leaking slowly out of it and everything.

When my friend phoned the landlord and asked why he'd told her that he'd checked everything when he actually hadn't, he jovially laughed it off and said he just didn't think he needed to bother, there won't be a problem, no point in making her worry, etc. He clearly didn't realise how close the equipment was to causing a serious accident.

Although the unuseable things have now been removed from the property and there is no longer a danger, is there anything that can be done to make sure the landlord does not deceive his tenants like this again? Equally can any action be taken against him at this point even though nothing happened in the end?

[Aequitas]

Failure to obtain a gas safety certificate is a criminal offence. I am not quite sure who you should report this to, but I would try your friend's local council.

Apart from that, there is no action you can take against the landlord as your friend have not suffered any injury or loss. ( I am assuming that new equipment was put in place quickly.)

[Daphne_sam]

Your friend should report the landlord to the Health & Safety Executive. There's a helpline phone number here:

Domestic gas health and safety homepage

[Tom87]

Hi, thank you for the replies and the advice, will pass it on. Yes, all equipment has now been replaced.

The 4 tenants of the house were not expecting anything to be able to be done about the landlord's lying and complacency about an accident happening; they were all just rather in shock about knowing that their house could have gone up in smoke if they had left it maybe a few weeks longer, and that the landlord was so relaxed about it.

[jessop]

I take it that the 4 firends are not related and therefore are 4 seperate households living together.

If this is the case get them to contact the local authority, what the landlord is renting appears to be a HMO (house in multiple occupation) and if this is the case it is has always been a legal requirement to have the gas installation, gas safety checked and ongoing maintenance. These are two seperate issues and the majority of landlord I see only think their legal requirement is to have a landlords gas safety check.

With regards to the electrics if it is a HMO (which it appears to be) it is now a statutory requirement to have the fixed electrical installation, tested and inspected at intervals not greater than 5 years.

[Tom87]

Originally Posted by jessop

I take it that the 4 firends are not related and therefore are 4 seperate households living together.

That is correct - it is a student house in a university town and they are 4 undergraduate friends living together. Being a student sadly makes it harder to assert one's rights, even if they are just as entitled to them as anyone else in society, but thank you very much for the information, it will be passed on.

[Steve__M]

jessop,

There is a slight confusion here. While the OPs house is an HMO, only HMOs with 5 or more unrelated tenants and 3 or more storeys need to be licensed...unless the local authority have decided to also license smaller HMOs.

As far as I'm aware, the requirement to submit electrical safety tests only applies to licensed HMOs. I have tried and failed to find information to the contrary a number of times.

[jessop]

Originally Posted by Tom87

That is correct - it is a student house in a university town and they are 4 undergraduate friends living together.

Good so it is a HMO. so management regulations apply.

Originally Posted by Steve__M

As far as I'm aware, the requirement to submit electrical safety tests only applies to licensed HMOs.

I shall assist then Steve, regardless if it was a licensable HMO or not, the property Tom's friend shares would most probably fall into the category of a section 254 HMO pursuant to the Housing Act 2004. Therefore and as it is a sec254 HMO the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 (SI372) apply.

These are specific duties that the person managing (usually the landlord) has to adhere to. The local authority do not have to issue any type of notice, basically there isn't one! All they have to do if they so wish is to write a letter and highlight the 'disrepair' and set a reasonably timescale for the repairs to be completed, if they so wish. Failure by the person managing upon a summary conviction is liable to maximum fine of upto level 5 on the Magistrates Courts Rules, i.e £5000 per offence.

Back to the original point, The above regulations (regulation 6, duty of the manager to supply and maintain gas and electricity) require the person managing must:-

(a) ensure that every fixed electrical installation is inspected and tested at intervals not exceeding five years by a person qualified to undertake such inspection and testing;

(b) obtain a certificate from the person conducting that test, specifying the results of the test; and

(c) supply that certificate to the local housing authority within 7 days of receiving a request in writing for it from that authority.

It is also a statutory requirement to have the fixed electric installation tested and inspected for section 257 HMO of the above act. Following the introduction of last years regulations.

Hope that assists

[Tom87]

Thank you very much for the really detailed advice!

One question though:

Originally Posted by jessop

Therefore and as it is a sec254 HMO the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 (SI372) apply.

The property is in Wales. Does this make any difference? As far as I am aware, most legal things get categorised as "England and Wales" - does this apply here too or not?

[jessop]

No Tom, the Welsh regs are the same as England, link below

The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Wales) Regulations 2006

[Tom87]

OK, thanks

[Steve__M]

jessop,

Thank you for the link. I really did try to find this info, but most electricians seem to focus on trying to sell PAT testing and seem to ignore this. I shall get in touch with my electrician...

[submissiveguy]

Originally Posted by Aequitas

Failure to obtain a gas safety certificate is a criminal offence. I am not quite sure who you should report this to, but I would try your friend's local council.

Apart from that, there is no action you can take against the landlord as your friend have not suffered any injury or loss. ( I am assuming that new equipment was put in place quickly.)

Hello sorry ti interrupt, but someone i know had a same problem but this time a woman i know was electrocuted due to bad electrical wiring.
YDL come out and said close the premises down as its not safe the ring meter dose not have an earth reading on the ring
what could she do regarding this? it was a commercial lease and the land lord said" its your job to get the cheks done ect??
please advice us

[barella]

This is interesting:

Originally Posted by jessop

I shall assist then Steve, regardless if it was a licensable HMO or not, the property Tom's friend shares would most probably fall into the category of a section 254 HMO pursuant to the Housing Act 2004. Therefore and as it is a sec254 HMO the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 (SI372) apply...

...It is also a statutory requirement to have the fixed electric installation tested and inspected for section 257 HMO of the above act. Following the introduction of last years regulations.

I have an ongoing dispute with my ex-landlord and I contacted my local authority regarding electrical inspections because I had previously read about the requirement for testing every 5 years.

They said there was no statutory requirement to have the fixed electric installations tested unless it was a large industrial building.

(It is an HMO but not one that is required to be licensed)

I'll go back to the council and quote these regulations and ask them to double check.

Thanks!