Appliances

Appliances & Utilities - Dangerous Gas Fire

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QUESTION:
I am currently renting a home for myself and family, and have had no problems for the first four months. But recently when moving some furniture around in the bedroom above the lounge I spotted what looked like some smoke damage. I was very worried and contacted my landlord who said that he previously had an old fire before installing the gas fire and that this was probably where the smoke had come from. However he sent someone over to check out the fire as well as the heating system in general. On his arrival, I showed him the mark on my bedroom wall and he suspected a hole in the chimney. He then checked over the gas fire and told me that it was the worst job he had ever seen. He said that when the person fitted the gas fire in the lounge, he or she had realised that the lounge floor was solid and so had run the gas pipe from my garage on the other side of the house, routing it between the first and second floors into and down the inside of the chimney to the gas fire below and had there been one leak the entire house could have been blown up and destroyed. He immediately disconnected the gas supply and told us not to use the gas fire again as it was a criminal offence to turn it on as it was so dangerous. He contacted my landlord who brought a new electric fire to the house the next day and simply put it against and in front old gas fire. This time the landlord claimed that the gas fire had been in the house when he moved in 18 years ago though it does not look 18 years old. The repair man also said that there was further damage to the top of the chimney which was not venting properly, and that someone had put a further hole in the chimney to rectify this. The result was that it did not vent at all and dirt was escaping into the house. Although there is now no apparent danger posed by the gas fire, I feel totally cheated and scared that I have been living in a house for four months when at any moment my whole family could have been killed. Is there any further action that I can take against my landlord? I wonder whether he might have changed his story about when the gas fire was installed so as to limit his liability for the poor installation. Is he liable to pay compensation as he did not check the property before renting it out? Or can I get a further remedy from the original installer of the gas fire?

ANSWER:
I think I would discuss with Environmental Health or the Health and Safety Executive. I don’t see that when the fire was installed is an issue - he should have had the whole system thoroughly examined when he bought the house. Did he have regular gas safety checks done? This should be done annually. If he did, and it was not spotted because of the way the furniture was arranged, I can’t see that there is much ground there, as of course, he would not have chosen to have his house in an unsafe condition. I think you should put it in writing to him that you rented the property on the basis it had a safe gas fire, which you no longer have. I think you can ask for compensation for this, though he may respond that he has replaced one source of heating for another so compensation is not required. I’d see if there is a solicitor locally that does a free surgery and see if he thinks you have any grounds.

Appliances & Utilities - Certificate Applicability

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QUESTION:
My brother recently bought a property from me which I had previously let out. He kept the same tenants and gave them a new tenancy agreement. I had the electrics checked just before I sold the property. Does he now need a new NICEIC certificate with his name as landlord or is the one I had good enough? The gas man told us we needed a new corgi certificate, but the electrician told us that as long as the tenant stayed the same, the certificate was fine. How can we find out for certain?