This is my first year in the UK. 1 week ago it got cold so I tried to switch on my heating system. The red light on boiler was red so I decided it was broken. I informed the agency about it and they discussed it with the landlord. Yesterday a serviceman visited us and he found out that a control panel which is located in a utility room is off. So he just switched it on and after that the boiler was fine.
Now the landlord says I need to pay the bill because there was not any problem. What do you think? Is it my problem that I could not make it to work? My Landlord did not try to help me by phone, so it was his decision to call the service.
to be honest, LL should have checked and switched it on themselves. Also, when you complained, they should have visited and inspected first (or at least trouble-shooted you on the phone). But I understand that LL pays for the agency to do so, and EA can never be bothered. I’d never waste my money on “full management”. Not fair on T, either.
I lived in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and there is no boiler/thermostat in apartments… There are central heating systems without any control panels etc. So it was not obvious to me how to make it work.
There is a legal obligation on the LL or the Agency to give you a booklet called “How to Rent” at the start of the tenancy. Inside the booklet are a list of a tenant’s responsibilities. Included within this list is the responsibility to understand the heating system.
If you did not get this booklet then you have the possibility of proving you were not given the correct information - understanding the heating system - so you can argue with the LL or the agent about the cost.
You should get a copy of this book, as it lays out what you need to know and what landlords have to do. Telling you about the heating is not a landlord’s responsibility. Giving you the booklet is.
Isn’t it a LL’s respoinsibility to show T where the controls are? How to rent booklet won’t help with specifics for each individual case. We have instructions printed on the boiler. We also send a link to read (and save).
Sergei, did the LL show you where the controls are? Is the instructions leaflet on your boiler?
Any government booklet like the How to Rent one will have been poured over by the lawyers on the basis of what they say is lawful rather than logical. It would be logical for a LL to give details on some of the trickier aspects of the property but not necessarily required in law i.e. the money may eventually come out of the deposit.
The underlying case law for a T’s responsibilities comes from Warren v Keen. Since the OP may not have experienced our local customs, they still have to act in a lawful manner, however illogical it may seem.
But what does it mean, “to use the premises in a tenant-like manner”? It can, I think, best be shown by some illustrations. The tenant must take proper care of the place. He must, if he is going away for the winter, turn off the water and empty the boiler. He must clean the chimneys, when necessary, and also the windows. He must mend the electric light when it fuses. He must unstop the sink when it is blocked by his waste. In short, he must do the little jobs about the place which a reasonable tenant would do. In addition, he must, of course, not damage the house, wilfully or negligently; and he must see that his family and guests do not damage it; and if they do, he must repair it. But apart from such things, if the house falls into disrepair through fair wear and tear or lapse of time or for any reason not caused by him, then the tenant is not liable to repair it.
TBH I have not seen my LL, I talked with an agent from the agency. She knew a little about my house, so I was not demonstrated how everything works. So at the beginning, I had problems with my dishwasher, washing machine, fridge, etc. All these things were disconnected and were not working. I made it work by myself.
Sergei, I really feel for you. I’m from Ukraine myself, and as EmanNeerc said, there’re things here that are legally correct but not logically (or morally). Do you mind if I send you a pm? There’re some things that I don’t want to talk about publicly.