We had a faulty electric meter which eon came out to replace, on arrival the found the meter had been tampered with and bypassed at some point they deemed it dangerous and a criminal offence and asked me lots of questions even though we knew nothing about it. Contacted landlord who wasn’t bothered so contacted estate agent.
The estate agent have in their records an electrical report which included the tampering from 2021 we moved in 2023.
We are looking to take this further but trying to find out if we have a good legal case for endangerment to life as this should have been reported to eon in 2021 when discovered.
Check with a lawyer. Were you given an EICR when you moved in? Thats a legal requirement and it should flag any issues with the meter.
Thank you, we were only given tenancy agreement no certificates.
Are you sure..?
Just incase you are not familiar with the acronym EICR it is a certificate confirming that the electrics have been inspected and is safe. It is a legal requirement that you are given one before the tenancy starts and because your property is managed by a letting agent it is not impossible although very unlikely that they didn’t give you this most basic of legal requirements.
You may not have a paper copy as it may have been sent to you via an email attachment.
I have been through all emails and can’t find any certificates. Also have had 2 gas inspections since living here but no copies of certificates have been sent to us.
the electric meter is not the jurisdiction of the electrician. It is the jurisdiction of your utility provider and the fuse to the house is the responsibility of national grid.
To determine if a meter has been tampered with you have to take it apart and find the paperclip. The cables from the main fuse to the meter may also be burnt if there was a power surge or the fuse blew. Unless there is no electric to the house ( because tampering caused the main fuse to blow) I am not sure how an electrician would know if the meter was tampered with as it’s not part of the EICR and legally they have no right to touch the meter…
The electrician checks from the fuse box on
Tampering with the meter either means you don’t have electric, in which case national grid replace the fuse or you get free electric because the meter was bypassed. It doesn’t make it unsafe per se it makes it expensive for the utility provider!! There’s an epidemic of meter tampering since 2022 with the cost of living crisis. We have changed them because of tenants
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if there’s a valid EICR then the landlord has full-filled their responsibilities. Request it from agent.
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no they haven’t. It’s the LL’s responsibility to ensure the T has one before they move in. If the EICR wasn’t supplied they the LL has failed to fulfil their responsibilities.
If you’ve not had any GSCs prior to or since moving in, then you are in a very good position to make things difficult for LL and agent if they should ever force you to do anything that you are reluctant to do (e.g. rent increase and/or S21). Worth bearing in mind as a no-win-no-fee solicitor will have a field day with this.
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My comment is purely from a safety perspective only. If the landlord hasn’t provided an EICR to tenant, but a valid one exists then it does not impact on safety or “endanger lives”
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Thanks for all your help
What did you mean by “looking to take this further”? Certainly if you are concerned about the condition of the electricity supply, you can speak to your electricity provider and ask them to inspect. You can also contact the local Environmental Health Officer. If, on the other hand you mean you want to sue the landlord, then you would need very good evidence that the current meter/consumer unit is dangerous and that you have suffered a detriment as a result.
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It seems that tenants on this forum seem determined to make problems for their landlords or get some money because of anything that the LL might have overlooked irrespective if it has caused them any hardship. No wonder LL’s are selling up in droves.
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I agree I think this post was trying to claim free money
Tenants that get free electric don’t tend to grumble
It’s the utility companies that are losing out
It’s not dangerous for the tenant it’s free utility
I wonder if temamts make up stories to see how much they can scaremonger landlords into whatever their hidden agenda is
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Too right… we were overseas for years. One day, I happened to notice that a check out document showed the same meter reading as the inventory over 2 years prior. On further investigation, it turned out the meter was “stopped” (it really is a thing!).
Tenants didn’t pay for any electricity for 2.5 years and didn’t say a thing! Took over 6 months to get the meter sorted after that. Free leccy the whole time. Energy company simply wrote it off.
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We had a house with free electric for 18 years
It was a selling point at viewing for students !!
My father spent ages trying to sort it out and died never getting to the bottom of it
When houses are demolished tenants steal the meters and put them in their property
The meter is never registered with the provider at the address so it’s free electric
When he died I wrote to the ombudsman ( offgem at the time ) to ask for help because British Gas customer services were useless
In six months it was sorted and that was the end of free electric
Moral of the story make in haste repent at leisure
It’s a student house and we do the bills now
I could have made a pretty penny
Hindsight is 20 20
I need to switch off my moral compass
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I’m bothered that my landlord doesn’t think it was a problem and didn’t get it sorted before we moved in. I’m not bothered about getting any money I just want them to admit they should have sorted it but there response is we are alive it doesn’t matter.
I now have the old eirc and it expired in April 2024 new one was done last week after eon said we needed an electric to check the rest of the wiring.
Like I said meter tampering is not a safety issue
It’s a cost issue for the utility provider
It is a huge problem at the moment costing energy companies millions
If the electrician has no legal right to touch the meter how can you trust what he says on the EiCR ?
Eon staff are not electricians they change meters so I would not trust what they are saying either
Most of us on here have been doing this long enough to be experienced and some have seen more than others
If the new EICr is a pass what is the problem ?
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I cannot see how you can say this. It is not certified, official nor legal electrical work, & could have been carried out by anyone. It could well be unsafe
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