My tenant has not followed government advice been all over the place and just returned from large funeral in Ireland how the hell can I ask gas engineer to enter the property
keep a record of all events to protect your back
I’m seriously thinking of phoning environmental agency and explaining the problem as they are the ones who will prosecute should they decide to
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Its not just the risk of prosecution. You probably won’t be able to issue a s21 notice either. The reality is that any household could have covid without even knowing. People who need to work in these properties need to assume that someone may have the virus and take sensible precautions.
As always the best way to create a defence against prosecution is to create a defence before you need it. If you’re a member of a suitably related organisation like the NRLA, take advice from them. Make sure it’s written advice. I remember reading on a similar, but not identical situation some time ago. The advice was to explain the situation to your gas engineer & have him respond in writing if he’s not prepared to complete the checks on grounds of personal safety. I know this is hard to get, but the advice was to get 5 written refusals. Yes I know, tradespeople are unlikely to want to do this, but my solution was to pay for their time & effort. Make sure it’s a reasonable fee. You do not want to open yourself up to accusations that you were paying for requested negative responses. You shouldn’t have to go to these lengths, but it’s far better to spend a few quid covering yourself than not to have proof that you tried & couldn’t reasonably find a solution. I would follow up a phone call to the engineers with an email that they can reply to in just a few words. There is also the Gas Safe organisation that the engineers are registered with. I’m absolutely sure this will not be the first time they’ve been asked this question. Why not put a call in to them. I’m sure they will have a case to call on that can be used as advice. You never know, they may even write to you directly with a statement to cover you.
Thank you I am a member of NRLA and waiting for them to get back to me also sent email to covid team at environment health in port Talbot . Awaiting there response . Personally I wouldn’t go in that house at the moment they are travellers and cannot get the hang of one household its one family as far as their concerned and it’s a big family . They’ve had pool parties birthday parties all through lockdown in the last month they’ve been to London Essex Bicester and last week large funeral in southern Ireland and that’s what I know about it’s crazy oh and baby shower for 17 year old son and 16 year old girlfriend . Neath port Talbot has the highest case rate in UK and is going up by the day and I can quite see why . Fortunately it’s a comby boiler and just coming up for 2 years old . Thanks for the advice I’ll see how many plumbers I can contact 