UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi my tenant can not understand the heating boiler manufacturer's instructions so she keeps causing the boiler to stop heating.  I called manufacturer's  recommended enginner and he checked boiler and said nothing wrong with it . He also had serviced boiler 2 months ago. My agent had said repeatedly its my resposibility to get and enginner out and pay for it.   The enginner tried to explain to her and he said that she just could not understand them.

So am I responsible for this ?

Cheers Dave

You don't give much to go on here. On the face of it it doesn't appear like there is anything wrong with the boiler. However, what is the Tenant doing to "cause the boiler to stop heating"? Boilers - in actuality - are rather simple things... they turn on when told, then turn off. Does the boiler have a thermostat attached to it or is the unlucky Tenant trying to navigate boiler controls on the boiler itself... which can sometimes be harder to work than a thermostat which has a simplistic dial when you want more heat?

I fit Nest thermostats in some properties now. Not because I've ever had a real issue with boilers per se, but because they look nice and they are ultra-simple and - once, when I did have a Tenant who didn't understand the scheduling, I was able to log onto the Nest website and see what was happening (in actual fact, they had manually called for heat at 03:00).

Hi the boiler works percect , however the tenant simply can not use the controls or understand the instructions..  she managed to stop it twice in 2 month.

I  do not understand it either as I used the boiler for years with no issues.  However my gripe is the agent says its my responsability to pay for enginner to  restart it.

The latest is she fitted a new light fitting and blew the fuse.  Agent now says its not her responsability  to check fuse or change it, and it requires a certified electrician to check fuse !

Ive sacked the agent. 

As I understand it,it is not your responsibility to pay call-out fees if the tenant is causing problems where none exist.On a couple of occasions in the past,my LA wrote to tenants informing that he would arrange a workman,but  if the tradesman could find no problem,it would be up to them to pay the bill.They soon stopped reporting faults.In your case,it might be best to say nothing more (lest you be accused of revenge eviction) and just issue section 21.If she is actually meddling with electrics (assuming she is not qualified) I would be very concerned.It would be best to get her out before she does something potentially dangerous. 

Can you re-write the instructions as if a simpleton needed to read them?