Illegal boiler installation, legal risks for the landlord?

[Resident]

What are the legal risks for a landlord if a new boiler is fitted by someone who isn’t a Gas Safe Register engineer? For example, if the fitting was mostly done properly with the exception of some smaller errors as well as paperwork that is not properly filled in. This is not a situation where the boiler could cause a fire or an accident but just breaches of formal code and regulation.

If someone reported the landlord, would the authorities actually react and follow through with fines and/or prosecution? Or is it possible for the landlord to get away with blaming the company/engineer and claim that they were unaware of the fact that the engineer who did the job wasn’t certified?

 

[Agile]

You don't make it clear exactly your position in asking this.

Many landlords, particularly those from third world countries, do use cheap unregistered installers and often from their own country of origin.

Then they call legitimate engineers to give a gas safety certificate for renting out the property.

In these cases the boiler is not notified to Building Control and there are fines available for this. It is not a high priority for Building Control and few are actually fines.

In theory Environmental Health should be addressing this problem but in reality they don't seem to take any interest either! They do have big fining powers though.

Not a very goon situation in my view!

Tony

 

[CBF]

report your concerns to gas safe & ask for a free inspection, if you feel that gas work has been done by someone un-registered then i would report them everytime

 

[dcawkwell]

What are the legal risks for a landlord if a new boiler is fitted by someone who isn’t a Gas Safe Register engineer? For example, if the fitting was mostly done properly with the exception of some smaller errors as well as paperwork that is not properly filled in. This is not a situation where the boiler could cause a fire or an accident but just breaches of formal code and regulation.

If someone reported the landlord, would the authorities actually react and follow through with fines and/or prosecution? Or is it possible for the landlord to get away with blaming the company/engineer and claim that they were unaware of the fact that the engineer who did the job wasn’t certified?

Nothing will happen. If it was dangerous and got reported they would follow up otherwise no one cares.

 

[Agile]

Nothing will happen. If it was dangerous and got reported they would follow up otherwise no one cares.

He has not declared his interest!

For all we know he could be a dodgy landlord wanting to know if he can get away with it!

There can also be a lack of warranty cover too but that was not what was being asked about.

Tony

 

[Resident]

No, I am not a dodgy landlord. I am the tenant in this property and ended up in a serious conflict with the landlord (want to break the 6 month lease immediately due to myriad problems and the landlord's refusal to do anything about them). I am asking to get an idea of how much trouble I can cause for the landlord by threatening to report him.

 

[Agile]

Ooh!

I don't usually advise tenants who want to cause landlords problems.

But do you have a gas safety Certificat?

If he provided that then I don't think you will get far with other issues.

As the resident you can invite Gas Safe to inspect and say you suspect an illegal installation.

But that's likely to fall flat unless you have the installer's details.

You can also ask Building Control if the installation was notified to them.

Tony

 

[Resident]

The old boiler was condemned in August just before we moved in. We have not seen a Gas Safety Certificate. We know the installers name and company but would prefer not to cause trouble for the guy who did the job, if possible.

 

[Agile]

If you think they are not Gas Safe registered you have a duty to the rest of the world to report them.

Ask the Landlord for the Gas Certificate.

If he does not report it to Environmental Health. They will write a letter giving him about 14 days.

Tony

 

[Dean744PiN5]

Seems to me like there is a hidden agenda here. So the guy who illegally installed your boiler you don't want to get into trouble but the landlord you do, looks like your safety isn't top priority here.
You say the installation is safe apart from a few small errors, how do you know this? Do you know the ins and outs of gas appliances and there safe installation? The flue might not be fitted properly. The gas pipe could be undersized ect.
This should be about concerns for you and yours safety not a vendetta against your landlord!
Get gas safe in of the illegal installer gets in trouble well so be it, it's his bed he made it and he bloody well lay in it!
We don't pay thousands in training and registrations fees just so we can be undercut by cowboys.
Rant over.

 

[SimonH2]

With my part time (NLA Accredited) landlord hat on, it really annoys me that a lot of the hoops I have to jump through and regs I have to deal with are down to bad landlords. What's more annoying is that there are plenty more rules and regs likely to come rolling down the turnpike if the letting industry doesn't get it's act together.

You should have a copy of the Landlords Gas Safety Certificate. If you don't have one, then you cannot know if the system is safe - or more correctly, was safe at the time of inspection. That alone should concern you.

I'm with Agile, the regs are there for a good reason - simply that too many landlords took (still take ?) shortcuts and killed people. If you think this installation wasn't done legally, then you have a duty (both legally and morally) to report them so they can be stopped.
Simple question : If you read in tomorrow's (or next weeks's or whatever) local paper that someone had been killed as a result of this installer's illegal work, how would you feel if you knew that you could have saved that life had you not shied away from "making a fuss" ?

Also, if there's that much wrong, it might be worth you reading up on the requirements for deposit protection since that's likely to have been overlooked as well. To start with, has it been protected within the time limit allowed, and have you been given the legally proscribed information in the required timescale ?
https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview