At what point can I tell my landlord to call an electrician?!

[aiwfcie]

Hey
So we've had a problem in my flat for the past month or so. The electric to the sockets will go out, and you can't get the overall switch for all of the sockets to go back up in the fusebox until you've turned the kitchen socket circuit switch off (if that makes any sense!). This is true even when everything in the kitchen is unplugged. There's no particular pattern of when it happens, though it's often over night. You can get the kitchen socket switch back up eventually, but it takes ten minutes or so and several attempts.
What I've done to investigate is turn everything off, plug things back in one by one, turn off all the switches then do them one at a time to isolate what circuit is tripping all of the sockets out. My landlord is really reluctant to get a electrician out, and has said if it ends up being our fault we'll have to pay - which I can't afford at allllll!!

I wanted to ask if there's anything obvious I might have missed? Or anything else that would be safe and reasonable for me to do to test out whats going on?

I'm a bit concerned as it's an old property that seems to have been looked after by a bit of a cowboy handyman for ages, and there was a leak a few months ago and I know we have a cellar... Does it sound as though it would be reasonable to demand an electrician?!

Would reeeeeally appreciate your thougths x

 

[stillp]

Does it sound as though it would be reasonable to demand an electrician?

Yes.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Yes, of course.

 

[RichA]

Did you have any luck narrowing down where the fault might be?

The issue for you would be if it turns out that it is one of your an appliances that is causing the fault - in which case it would not seem unreasonable for you to pay.

Are any of the electrical appliances yours? How often is it tripping out? Could you unplug all of your appliances to see if it still occurs when only the landlords appliances are connected?

 

[JohnD]

It would be very useful for you to post photos of your consumer unit ("fusebox") pointing out the breaker that trips.

a photo showing the wires around and between the meter and the consumer unit will also give clues about your installation.

 

[aiwfcie]

Did you have any luck narrowing down where the fault might be?

The issue for you would be if it turns out that it is one of your an appliances that is causing the fault - in which case it would not seem unreasonable for you to pay.

Are any of the electrical appliances yours? How often is it tripping out? Could you unplug all of your appliances to see if it still occurs when only the landlords appliances are connected?

Of course - it would make perfect sense for us to pay at that point. So I want to be as sure as possible that it's not ours first and wasn't sure if I was missing anything obvious ahah!

All of the toaster/kettle etc bits and pieces are ours and they don't seem to be the issue as far as I can tell; the electric will still go even if they're not plugged in. The fridge and freezer, tumble drier and washing machine, and oven are all the landlords. The fridge/freezer and washing machine/tumble drier are on separate circuits from the main kitchen circuit though. The oven is permanently turned on (as the plug is behind the oven which we can't move!) and does seem to be on the kitchen circuit - the switches in the box are reasonably well labelled and there's no obvious specific oven switch in the fusebox

It trips out multiple times a week - not quite every day but nearly everyday really.

 

[aiwfcie]

It would be very useful for you to post photos of your consumer unit ("fusebox") pointing out the breaker that trips.

a photo showing the wires around and between the meter and the consumer unit will also give clues about your installation.

Ooh I didn't realise you could post pictures! I'll pop some up here once I'm back at home

 

[deadshort]

Do you have a central heating boiler ?

DS

 

[aiwfcie]

Do you have a central heating boiler ?

DS

I need to learn a bit more about my house I think We do have central heating... and the boiler is involved in it somehow!? Like if the boiler breaks (which it has, multiple times lol) the heating doesn't work. Does that answer your q?

 

[deadshort]

Hi, if the central heating boiler is powered from the kitchen circuit it could be the culprit as it will be powered over night?

DS

 

[aiwfcie]

Hi, if the central heating boiler is powered from the kitchen circuit it could be the culprit as it will be powered over night?

DS

Ah okay tht would make sense! I'll have to have a look.

 

[john4703]

If you have nothing belonging to you plugged in and it still cuts out then tell your landlord. That is what you pay rent for. I look after two properties for a landlord and if a tenant said this was happening I'd have an electrician there the next day. There can be many explanations but it is your landlord's responsibility to ensure that the electrics are safe, compliant and working.

 

[aiwfcie]

If you have nothing belonging to you plugged in and it still cuts out then tell your landlord. That is what you pay rent for. I look after two properties for a landlord and if a tenant said this was happening I'd have an electrician there the next day. There can be many explanations but it is your landlord's responsibility to ensure that the electrics are safe, compliant and working.

Your tenants are very lucky to have a landlord like you! I'm renting in London and have been through 4 landlords now and I've not managed to get a specialist out to look at an issue without a battle and a few angry emails ever! So you start to lose sight of what's reasonable to expect from a landlord. Thanks v much

 

[EFLImpudence]

It does work the other way round, too.

I used to look after fifteen flats and on one occasion I had a report that the immersion wasn't working so went round right away in the evening to - switch it on.

Nevertheless, it should be looked at. The landlord would soon complain if you got fed up waiting, tried to repair it yourself and caused more trouble.

 

[seasickstevie]

... had a report that the immersion wasn't working so went ... to - switch it on.

Similar thing - 188 mile round trip - happened to me recently. When I explained to the gentleman what the 'issue' had been, it seemed he'd rather not take his eyes off the television screen.


However in the OP's case, I strongly suspect it's likely to be the landlord's responsibility.
When you moved in, were you given access to any (recent) electrical certificate? On the consumer unit, is there a sticker which has the date that the last electrical test was carried out?