House Rental - Oven keeps tripping the electrics
Discussion
My daughter is renting a house with friends in Scotland (not sure how Scottish system differs if at all from England but possibly relevant). She has been in residence for 2 months now and the oven has never worked. More specifically if it is switched on it blows the electrics. The property is let unfurnished but has a built in fridge and cooker. The landlord has sent someone out a number of times but they have never fixed the issue.
I assume something is wrong with the cooker causing a short. I am unsure whether the cooker is properly fused on its own circuit as it should be. I am seeking to clarify whether my daughter means all the electrics are blown or just the cooker fuse.
Does she have any rights to get it sorted? What action can she take? Can she get a new cooker put in and charge the landlord after a certain period of time? Electrical survey?
Any pointers appreciated.
Pip
I assume something is wrong with the cooker causing a short. I am unsure whether the cooker is properly fused on its own circuit as it should be. I am seeking to clarify whether my daughter means all the electrics are blown or just the cooker fuse.
Does she have any rights to get it sorted? What action can she take? Can she get a new cooker put in and charge the landlord after a certain period of time? Electrical survey?
Any pointers appreciated.
Pip
Possibly down to a faulty cooker element tripping the electrics, if your daughter can both detect and isolate using part of the cooker that is tripping the electrics, the same allowing the landlord time to either repair or replace cooker.
I had the same a few weeks ago, tenant reported cooker hob tripping electrics due to the age of the hob, and the low cost of replacing the same, I simply replaced old/faulty with new replacement hob.
Your daughter needs to report fault to landlord, allowing the landlord reasonable time to respond to the same.
I had the same a few weeks ago, tenant reported cooker hob tripping electrics due to the age of the hob, and the low cost of replacing the same, I simply replaced old/faulty with new replacement hob.
Your daughter needs to report fault to landlord, allowing the landlord reasonable time to respond to the same.
Pip1968 said:
More specifically if it is switched on it blows the electrics.
I assume something is wrong with the cooker causing a short. I am unsure whether the cooker is properly fused on its own circuit as it should be. I am seeking to clarify whether my daughter means all the electrics are blown or just the cooker fuse.
It's probably not "the fuse" - it's not drawing too much current and overloading the cooker circuit. What it's almost certainly doing is tripping across to earth, and knocking the RCD for the "fuse box".I assume something is wrong with the cooker causing a short. I am unsure whether the cooker is properly fused on its own circuit as it should be. I am seeking to clarify whether my daughter means all the electrics are blown or just the cooker fuse.
My money's on the heater element.
Pip1968 said:
Does she have any rights to get it sorted?
She has other ways to heat food? Then that's all the law requires.2CV, she could light a room with candles and not use a light that keeps blowing too. She could get a gas heater instead of using central heating if the boiler did not work. Surely this is not the point.
I too could live in the garden if the roof was leaking and electricity had ceased to exist but if she is renting a property you would expect everything to work - No ?? I would like to know at what point can she get it fixed and get the money back from the landlord. Are there any alternative solutions to ensure she can cook in an oven.
She has had two months of giving the landlord a chance to fix it. From what I gather it is the oven and not a ring on the hob causing the fuse to blow (or all the electrics to cease*)
Pip
Edited for typos.
I too could live in the garden if the roof was leaking and electricity had ceased to exist but if she is renting a property you would expect everything to work - No ?? I would like to know at what point can she get it fixed and get the money back from the landlord. Are there any alternative solutions to ensure she can cook in an oven.
She has had two months of giving the landlord a chance to fix it. From what I gather it is the oven and not a ring on the hob causing the fuse to blow (or all the electrics to cease*)
Pip
Edited for typos.
- awaiting clarification
Edited by Pip1968 on Tuesday 13th February 17:59
She should have been given a copy of the EICR - there's an obligation to get this done every 5 years and provide tenants with a copy, along with the annual gas certification.
Is there any reference to the oven in the lease or inventory? If not I'd say that you're entitled to assume anything present is in working order and will be repaired. However if the landlord drags his feet there's not much you can do apart from nag him. It may well be a case where the simplest solution is for dad to pay for a proper electrician to swoop in and sort it out.
How legit is the landlord? Is he registered (you should be able to find his name very easily on the local council site, for example
https://www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk/se... )
Has he given them the EICR, gas safe cert, put their deposit in a protection scheme?
Is there any reference to the oven in the lease or inventory? If not I'd say that you're entitled to assume anything present is in working order and will be repaired. However if the landlord drags his feet there's not much you can do apart from nag him. It may well be a case where the simplest solution is for dad to pay for a proper electrician to swoop in and sort it out.
How legit is the landlord? Is he registered (you should be able to find his name very easily on the local council site, for example
https://www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk/se... )
Has he given them the EICR, gas safe cert, put their deposit in a protection scheme?
Pip1968 said:
I would like to know at what point can she get it fixed and get the money back from the landlord. Are there any alternative soluttions to ensure she can cook in an oven.
Did you miss where I said "That's all the law requires"?There is no requirement for an oven in a rented property. There is no requirement for everything in a rented property to work perfectly. She moved in with no working oven... The oven is not electrically unsafe - the RCD protects the property from whatever the fault is.
Her only real comeback against the landlord is to threaten to move out at the end of her initial fixed-period tenancy if he doesn't fix it.
"I would like to know at what point can she get it fixed and get the money back from the landlord."
If she does this - tell him in advance. Get at least two quotes and take the cheapest. Do not deduct it from rent. Treat it as separate issue.
There's no "90 day" rule or anything. If it came to small claims court, it'd be judged on reasonableness - how long would a property owner take to sort it out in their own house, or something like that.
Edit:I'd ignore the above poster, btw.
If she does this - tell him in advance. Get at least two quotes and take the cheapest. Do not deduct it from rent. Treat it as separate issue.
There's no "90 day" rule or anything. If it came to small claims court, it'd be judged on reasonableness - how long would a property owner take to sort it out in their own house, or something like that.
Edit:I'd ignore the above poster, btw.
Edited by rgf100 on Tuesday 13th February 16:17
OP you say your daughter is renting a house with friends, then it sounds as though the house is a licensed HMO, a House in Multiple Occupation, therefore registered with the local council’s environmental health department. Therefore your daughter should consider offering the landlord one more request to attend to the oven, if no response from the landlord, then make a complaint to the council’s environmental health department.
If your daughter happens to be a student, then her university should have an accommodation office, who again would also assist your daughter in dealing with the landlord.
If your daughter happens to be a student, then her university should have an accommodation office, who again would also assist your daughter in dealing with the landlord.
TooMany2cvs said:
Did you miss where I said "That's all the law requires"?
Probably just ignored it on the grounds that it's incorrect.TooMany2cvs said:
There is no requirement for an oven in a rented property.
No, but anything supplied in the property must work to a reasonable standard. If it doesn't then the LL has to repair/replace within a sensible timescale.TooMany2cvs said:
There is no requirement for everything in a rented property to work perfectly.
Perfectly, no. To a reasonable standard yes.TooMany2cvs said:
She moved in with no working oven...
I'm willing to bet that the LL didn't tell her that, probably because he didn't know as LLs rarely cook in their rentals.TooMany2cvs said:
The oven is not electrically unsafe - the RCD protects the property from whatever the fault is.
I have an electrician who's been around a very long time & knows pretty much everything about electrics- even he has to actually be in the same room as the cooker to decide whether it's electrically safe or not. I doubt you can do it via the internet.TooMany2cvs said:
Her only real comeback against the landlord is to threaten to move out at the end of her initial fixed-period tenancy if he doesn't fix it.
Or to get it fixed after a reasonable waiting period & deduct sensible costs from the rent.I'm unfamiliar with Scottish law but I'm willing to bet it's pretty similar to English law in this respect.
"Popular myth, there is no obligation, only for the gas."
There is now, in Scotland. Unless I'm misunderstanding.
https://beta.gov.scot/publications/electrical-inst...
There is now, in Scotland. Unless I'm misunderstanding.
https://beta.gov.scot/publications/electrical-inst...
Rovinghawk said:
r to get it fixed after a reasonable waiting period & deduct sensible costs from the rent.
I'm unfamiliar with Scottish law but I'm willing to bet it's pretty similar to English law in this respect.
1) My understanding is that you don't deduct costs from the rent without the landlord's agreement. If you do, and he disagrees, he can present that as you being in arrears, making it easier for him to terminate your tenancy. Keep the two issues separate. I'm unfamiliar with Scottish law but I'm willing to bet it's pretty similar to English law in this respect.
2) Scottish law has changed recently and even up here people are still figuring out what's what. There are notable changes, like (if I remember correctly) a three-month notice period for rent changes and in certain circumstances landlords having to wait 6 months to get a property back.
https://beta.gov.scot/publications/repairing-stand...
Not only is it obligatory to conform to the terms of the above, it is also obligatory to provide every tenant with a copy of 'the repairing standard' at the commencement of every tenancy.
TooMany2cvs said:
Did you miss where I said "That's all the law requires"?
There is no requirement for an oven in a rented property. There is no requirement for everything in a rented property to work perfectly. She moved in with no working oven... The oven is not electrically unsafe - the RCD protects the property from whatever the fault is.
Her only real comeback against the landlord is to threaten to move out at the end of her initial fixed-period tenancy if he doesn't fix it.
How do you know there is an RCD fitted? It could be a Wylex fuseboard for all you know. It’s a while since I did my BS7671 inspectors course but if someone told me they had an appliance that kept operating the protective device, RCD or not, my conclusion would be that there is a good chance it’s electrically unsafe.There is no requirement for an oven in a rented property. There is no requirement for everything in a rented property to work perfectly. She moved in with no working oven... The oven is not electrically unsafe - the RCD protects the property from whatever the fault is.
Her only real comeback against the landlord is to threaten to move out at the end of her initial fixed-period tenancy if he doesn't fix it.
An RCD won’t protect against whatever the fault is - they are an earth leakage device only. If the fault is an overcurrent fault you’re relying on the fuse/MCB, how confident are you that this will always trip before burning damage or fire risk occurs?
Edited by foxbody-87 on Saturday 17th February 22:03
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