Landlord refusing to 'earth' electrics.

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Hello forum members. :)

Ok, so I'm living with my mum in a privately rented house through estate agents and last year, we had problems where we found the gas and electric to be unsafe for many reasons. The boiler had to be replaced and fitted with a new (and accessible) flue and an RCD board had to be fitted as there previously wasn't one. (The landlord wasn't very pleased with being caught out with all of this and initially refused to do it.)

However, there still isn't any earthing on any electrics in the house or on the gas meter. We have been told that there's also a 'live' and exposed wire running down from the immersion heater tank into the kitchen underneath it to the boiler. Now, the estate agents have told us before that there isn't any 'safety standard' for electrics that have to be enforce like with gas because certificates aren't required. All the landlord has done to address the earthing problem is to replace the light fittings with plastic single bulbs and left it like that, the house also needs rewiring.

The landlord is unreasonable, he's a self employed 'gas fitter' and he faked our service certificate for the old boiler, passing it even though he hadn't been near it when he claimed to have serviced it and the flue was boxed in and inaccessible. We had a gas leak as soon as we moved in 2 years ago, but don't know whether that was connected to the neglect by the landlord (he certainly wasn't bothered.)

So my question is, is there any way to enforce this as a (potential?) safety issue, I don't know anything about electrics, but the earthing came up on the inspection report as an important aspect to be fixed and it hasn't been done.. We have a shower fitted (by the landlord who isn't a trained electrician) and that hasn't been earthed and in the manual, it says 'do not use under any circumstances without earthing.' If this is an urgent matter that needs immediate attention, how do you recommend doing so? We can't afford to take him to court and Health and Safety have said that they can't help unless there has been a fatality (which luckily there hasn't!)

Any help will be appreciated, thank you.
 
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Local authority Environmental Health Officer is the person to see.
 
Now, the estate agents have told us before that there isn't any 'safety standard' for electrics that have to be enforce like with gas because certificates aren't required.
That's true but he has a duty of care to ensure it is safe.

All the landlord has done to address the earthing problem is to replace the light fittings with plastic single bulbs and left it like that,
That will be satisfactory if there is no CPC(earth) in the lighting wiring.
However, it is extremely unlikely that there is no CPC in the other circuits.

How did you get him to do the 'repairs' that have been done?

the house also needs rewiring.
Ok.

The landlord is unreasonable, he's a self employed 'gas fitter' and he faked our service certificate for the old boiler, passing it even though he hadn't been near it when he claimed to have serviced it and the flue was boxed in and inaccessible. We had a gas leak as soon as we moved in 2 years ago, but don't know whether that was connected to the neglect by the landlord (he certainly wasn't bothered.)
Not good.

So my question is, is there any way to enforce this as a (potential?) safety issue, I don't know anything about electrics, but the earthing came up on the inspection report as an important aspect to be fixed and it hasn't been done..
Who commissioned the report?
Are there any C1 defects marked.

We have a shower fitted (by the landlord who isn't a trained electrician) and that hasn't been earthed and in the manual, it says 'do not use under any circumstances without earthing.' If this is an urgent matter that needs immediate attention, how do you recommend doing so? We can't afford to take him to court and Health and Safety have said that they can't help unless there has been a fatality (which luckily there hasn't!)
It is extremely unlikely that it isn't earthed.
That would mean leaving the CPC unconnected on purpose for no reason.


If by some of the references to lack of earthing you mean 'bonding' then it is likely now you have an RCD board that it is not required.

You have had an Electrical Installation Condition Report carried out so you have a note of all the defects.
Who were 'Health and Safety'?

Take the report to the Citizens Advice Bureau.
 
Local authority Environmental Health Officer is the person to see.

We had them round last year, but they seemed perfectly happy with a house with no RCD board or safe gas appliances as long as the safety concern areas were disconnected, leaving us with relying on kettles for hot water and using lamps and portable heaters on the extension leads. They deemed it 'livable' as long as we knew not to go touching dodgy wires or anything.
 
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Now, the estate agents have told us before that there isn't any 'safety standard' for electrics that have to be enforce like with gas because certificates aren't required.
That's true but he has a duty of care to ensure it is safe.

All the landlord has done to address the earthing problem is to replace the light fittings with plastic single bulbs and left it like that,
That will be satisfactory if there is no CPC(earth) in the lighting wiring.
However, it is extremely unlikely that there is no CPC in the other circuits.

How did you get him to do the 'repairs' that have been done?

the house also needs rewiring.
Ok.

The landlord is unreasonable, he's a self employed 'gas fitter' and he faked our service certificate for the old boiler, passing it even though he hadn't been near it when he claimed to have serviced it and the flue was boxed in and inaccessible. We had a gas leak as soon as we moved in 2 years ago, but don't know whether that was connected to the neglect by the landlord (he certainly wasn't bothered.)
Not good.

So my question is, is there any way to enforce this as a (potential?) safety issue, I don't know anything about electrics, but the earthing came up on the inspection report as an important aspect to be fixed and it hasn't been done..
Who commissioned the report?
Are there any C1 defects marked.

We have a shower fitted (by the landlord who isn't a trained electrician) and that hasn't been earthed and in the manual, it says 'do not use under any circumstances without earthing.' If this is an urgent matter that needs immediate attention, how do you recommend doing so? We can't afford to take him to court and Health and Safety have said that they can't help unless there has been a fatality (which luckily there hasn't!)
It is extremely unlikely that it isn't earthed.
That would mean leaving the CPC unconnected on purpose for no reason.


If by some of the references to lack of earthing you mean 'bonding' then it is likely now you have an RCD board that it is not required.

You have had an Electrical Installation Condition Report carried out so you have a note of all the defects.
Who were 'Health and Safety'?

Take the report to the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Thanks for your reply.

Although there isn't any standard certificate for electrics, the lease contract (signed by both landlord and letting agents) states that the electrics must be checked either every 10 years or every time there's a new tenancy, which hasn't been done.

On the electric report, there's a tick/cross section for "Bathroom/shower room supplementary bonding" and "hot & cold pipes", "shower circuit", "radiator pipes" and "lighting circuit" all have crosses next to them - which hasn't been rectified other than fitting the plastic lights in.

The repairs were eventually forced by Environmental Health with a lot of arguments to them about it as they were unwilling to do anything until we had an electrician who did the inspection report argue on our behalf for the repairs to be done. The C1 defects were about the lack of RCD board coupled with no CPC protection.

The Health and Safety I referred to were from the local council, we contacted them about the problems and they replied saying they can only get involved if there has been a fatality. The landlord doesn't have any electrical qualifications and he admitted to fitting the kitchen and bathroom with his friends and he's shown that he doesn't have any problems with cutting corners in regards to safety to get the job done.

P.S. There's also an exposed wire leading from a 'pump' by the immersion tank to the boiler, I'll upload pictures so you can see.
 
On the electric report, there's a tick/cross section for "Bathroom/shower room supplementary bonding" and "hot & cold pipes", "shower circuit", "radiator pipes" and "lighting circuit" all have crosses next to them - which hasn't been rectified other than fitting the plastic lights in.
This will most probably have been rectified or nullified by the fitting of a board with RCD protection of all the circuits which will, with a couple of other conditions, mean that the bonding is no longer a necessity.

So that may remove one of your worries.


P.S. There's also an exposed wire leading from a 'pump' by the immersion tank to the boiler, I'll upload pictures so you can see.
Please do.
 
On the electric report, there's a tick/cross section for "Bathroom/shower room supplementary bonding" and "hot & cold pipes", "shower circuit", "radiator pipes" and "lighting circuit" all have crosses next to them - which hasn't been rectified other than fitting the plastic lights in.
This will most probably have been rectified or nullified by the fitting of a board with RCD protection of all the circuits which will, with a couple of other conditions, mean that the bonding is no longer a necessity.

So that may remove one of your worries.


P.S. There's also an exposed wire leading from a 'pump' by the immersion tank to the boiler, I'll upload pictures so you can see.
Please do.


Hope the images are uploaded right, this forum is all new and confusing to me at the minute.

So basically, in your opinion with knowledge of electrics, the shower may be safe? We haven't used it in a few months because we heard the unit making unusual noises and when the landlord inspected it, he claimed he didn't hear anything but it made the noise still after he left. We could be too paranoid about it, but the bad experience with the electrics and gas in this house has made us wary of it. [/img]
 
Sounds like you're making a big fuss over nothing to be honest. If you don't like the way your landlord runs his business then move somewhere else.
 
Yep, surely a big "fuss over nothing" when it was his negligence that caused all the problems in the first place. :rolleyes:

Thanks to those who posted helpful responses. I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to the electrics as I'm sure any reasonable electrician would understand. :)
 
Local authority Environmental Health Officer is the person to see.

We had them round last year, but they seemed perfectly happy with a house with no RCD board or safe gas appliances as long as the safety concern areas were disconnected, leaving us with relying on kettles for hot water and using lamps and portable heaters on the extension leads. They deemed it 'livable' as long as we knew not to go touching dodgy wires or anything.

That is disgusting and not acceptable. The Housing Act 1985 (& later regs) requires hot water, heating and safe services. Try again and, if no joy, go straight to your MP. Motto of EHOs is "Friend of the Human Race" -- chase them.
 
The shower is 8.5kW. :)

Yep, it was disgusting when they said that, especially when you can bet they go home to perfectly safe houses while denying people help. The rep from Env Health also tried to claim that there wasn't a need for an RCD board and that the disconnected areas should be switched on asap as he didn't deem it necessary.
 

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