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My son and his partner moved into a rented flat in April, they had their baby girl in May and have been happily settled there. The tenancy was initially on a 6 month contract, with the option to continue onto a 12 month contract thereafter. In October they agreed to a further 12 months, since then they have had a problem with the boiler. They reported the problem to the Letting Agents, who arranged for an engineer to contact them. He phoned and asked my son's partner to press certain buttons on the boiler and decided there was a problem. She presumed he would contact the Letting Agents to tell them, but she had a call from the Letting Agents for her to give them feedback about the problem. The Letting Agency said they would be sending an invoice for a 'call out charge' of £70, she protested that was ridiculous surely that was the responsibility of the landlord or the Agents, but was told they would have 5 days to pay or it would be passed to a debt collection agency! They now have another problem as the washing machine has broken down and are worried to report it for fear of further 'call out charges'. Obviously with a 6 month old baby the washing machine is essential and have had to rely on the family to do their washing and drying. They are on a tight budget and are really stressed about this. I've told them to get their contract and bring it round for me to have a look at tomorrow. Its an unfurnished flat, but the kitchen had a cooker, washing machine and fridge. Could anyone advise please.
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Re: Call Out Charge
you need the read your tenancy agreement to see if this is right most landlords would use a company to service their boilers and carry out a gas safety check is there a current gas safety certificate on the property this should have the name of the company is this the company you called out -
Re: Call Out Charge
Have now read through the Tenancy Agreement and cannot find anything specifically referring to a call out charge. There is a Landlord/Home Owner Gas Safety Record 29/5/15 recommending a 'full manufacturers service' of the boiler and there is also a copy of the previous one from 23/5/14, which was carried out by the same person/company again recommending a 'full manufacturers service'. I doubt that was ever done.
It would seem I got the chain of events wrong in my first post. A gas engineer came out from the company who carried out the Gas Safety Record and said it was not an efficient boiler and dreaded having to deal with them, would normally recommend that it was replaced, but also knew that Agents/Landlords wait until they have no choice. He advised them how to use the controls better (there was no users manual and no-one has ever shown them how to operate it). A few days later they reported the washing machine and an engineer rang as stated in the 1st post and to date have heard nothing more. It was during the call to the Agents about the washing machine that they were told about the call out charge for the boiler. The reason for the charge was because there was no fault found! I've got quite a bit of ammunition to fire at them, I'll ring them tomorrow and let you know how I get onComment
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Re: Call Out Charge
OK I spoke to the Letting Agents and discussed all the issues. In regard to the washing machine, as the cost of the part needed for the repair is expensive, they are going to email the landlord to advise it would be more cost effective to replace the machine. I suggested that they also advise that the boiler needs replacing and maybe he would consider this too. They want to investigate that further with the engineer. They said there was a manufacturer service carried out in November 2014, but not since. I made it very clear my son would not be paying the call out charge. I'll give them an opportunity to get back to me with their decisions, before taking any further steps.Comment
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Re: Call Out Charge
Boilers should be serviced one a year, though that is not enshrined in law, unless there's something that Landlords have to adhere to? Old, inefficient boilers are death-traps. Surely it's in their own interest to have them serviced, rather than have deaths on their hands?Comment
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Re: Call Out Charge
Quick update - a second gas engineer came out to service the boiler and found the combustion unit needed replacing, but due to the age of the boiler this part was no longer obtainable. The Landlord is now getting quotes for a new boiler. We were promised that a new washing machine would be delivered and installed by Friday or over the weekend, but that has not happened. So back to the Agents on Monday to find out whats going on.Comment
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Re: Call Out Charge
New washing machine now fitted. So far had one heating engineer round to do quote for new boiler. We're getting there slowly. ThanksComment
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