UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello all,

Newbie here. I'm a first time landlord and I'm just getting my property ready to let. I've just had a gas engineer over to get a certificate sorted and he's concerned about a tv bracket which I drilled into an upstairs bedroom chimney breast (I used to live at the property). I also have an  electric socket installed on the breast with trunking down the side as electric access is from the loft. I've removed the bolts from the bracket and checked that they haven't go all the way through the brick, but in the mean time he's decommissioned the gas fire. Is he being overly cautious? I'm now faced with either switching a 2 year installed gas fire to electric, getting an electrician in to remove the electric socket and then (as per the gas engineer) replastering the chimney breast, or leaving a non working gas fire in situ.

I welcome all advice please.

Cheers
Sarah

If you're going to be letting it out, you'll need to have a valid electrical installation condition report (EICR) anyway. Do that first and see what the electrician says.

I already have the EICR and this wasn't picked up. I think it is the bracket that the engineer was most concerned about.

Having an electric fire might be better in the long run. For Engineers who do GSCs, you can sometimes find they price based on the number of appliances... not all do... but some will charge more if a property has a boiler and a hob... and less if it's just a boiler. Just something to add to the mix. Otherwise, speak to the Engineer rather than assume... if you can show him the brackets are as he wants then you get your fire back.