Lack of Earth

[twenty7]

Hi

I'm in a serious pickle.

I live in a rented flat which was once a house, turned into a couple of flats. Recently I discovered that the landlord was not paying council tax as he had agreed (I pay him). The council said there was no record that the house was actually multiple independent dwellings. It turns out he never got planning permission to convert, and I very strongly suspect that all the electrics have been done by someone unqualified.

The main consumer unit is in another flat, which is then fed to a fuse box in each flat via main switches. There is no earth from the consumer unit to the fuse box in my flat.

Before the fuse box in my flat is a pre-pay electric meter that I have to pay the landlord 27p per unit for.

The fuse box in my flat has multiple switches for different circuits, but no RCDs.

I get electric shocks if I touch anything earthed, for example my cooker or coffee machine, at the same time as the sink. The same occurs if I touch the tap in the bathroom at the same time as the shower pipe, although not so strong.

I measure 112V AC between the cooker and the sink using a multimeter.

I complained to the landlord, he sent out his general maintenance guys who are clearly not electricians. They started putting in some earth cable from the main consumer unit to the switches, but never finished. They also discovered that there was some "weird" cross over between flats power. Obviously I feel concerned about the situation, even when he fixes it I don't trust it.

Anyway, the real questions:

1) I have put a spoon between the coffee machine and the sink, thus connecting the two. Is this a stupid thing to do? My thinking was that at least I'd have some earth, but now I worry about making all piping live if a mistake happens. Sparks are generated when I connect/disconnect the spoon.

2) This is all illegal, what can I do? There must be some authority I can talk to?

Thanks and sorry for such a long message!

 

[bernardgreen]

Contact the local council housing department, tell them the situation and they should tell you who to contact if they cannot deal with it.

Also contact the Citizens Advice Bureau who should have the necessary names and phone numbers for the people to contact.

 

[OwainDIYer]

it is also illegal for landlords to resell electricity at a profit, and the meter they use for charging must be OFGEM approved.

 

[ricicle]

Yes it is illegal to sell electricity at a higher unit price than the supplier.
The landlord sounds like a right ar$3hole and I would be on to the appropriate authorities asap.

 

[Spark123]

Start looking for somewhere else to live - if you go the route of reporting him to the authorities then you can probably expect him to get awkward with you.

 

[sparkybird]

I agree with Spark123. But also please check with the other people in the flats and make them aware of the problem in case it might affect them too. Also the more of you that complain to the landlord and council, the quicker the action might be

 

[securespark]

it is also illegal for landlords to resell electricity at a profit, and the meter they use for charging must be OFGEM approved.

I thought all coin-op meters sold electricity at a profit?

At least in the 70's/ 80's?

 

[Spark123]

Think it only came in within the last 10 years or so.

 

[securespark]

I would ask the LL to get in a "proper" spark with the right test equipment.

If he does not materialise, then get your own. You need to know how unsafe the electrical installation is and what it will take to put it right.

Then complain to whoever you can about the LL and if you can afford the time you could prepare a case against him in the SCC to recover all your losses.

But before that, I would pay for half an hours chat with a solicitor who specialises in these cases to see what he says.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And like with the LL from a few days ago leaving the tenant with live wires out of the ceiling, if the penalties for that sort of thing were sequestration of the owners entire property portfolio and a minimum of 5 years in chokey, how many would risk it?

 

[JohnW2]

And like with the LL from a few days ago leaving the tenant with live wires out of the ceiling, if the penalties for that sort of thing were sequestration of the owners entire property portfolio and a minimum of 5 years in chokey, how many would risk it?

...or maybe death, after a long period of brutal torture!

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

No.

 

[JohnW2]

No.

Fair enough - I just thought you were perhaps heading in that direction!

Kind Regards, John

 

[twenty7]

Thanks for your replies. I'll try and talk to CAB, but in the mean time, is the spoon ok? With it there I don't get electric shocks....

 

[securespark]

It's not a reliable connection in the event of a large flow of fault current.

You really need to get someone in to do some EFLI tests. If the EFLI is within limits, get a temporary RCD connected to the tails feeding your consumer unit.