UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all,

Looking for a bit of advice. It's recently come to my attention that during our almost 3 years tenancy only two gas safety inspections were done, meaning that there was, in fact a period of almost 9 months where we were living in a property that had no gas safety certificate. I understand this is illegal to let a property what is not gas safety inspected. Therefore, would I have grounds for a civil case to take my landlord to court for damages?  To be honest I would not normally be so petty but things have broken down with my soon to be ex-landlord who is being extremely arrogant and offensive and I wanted to know if this is an avenue worth exploring?

Many thanks in advance.
SS

Quote from: SilentSniper on August 27, 2019, 07:06:18 PM
Therefore, would I have grounds for a civil case to take my landlord to court for damages?

Nope.

Okay while we are on single word replies.

Why?

https://www.thetenantsvoice.co.uk/advice_from_us/gas-safety-check/
"Not upholding gas use standards, as required by the law, is a serious offence. Letting a property that doesn't safely use gas is absolutely illegal and can be viewed as a criminal offence. The penalty for renting a property without a gas safety check includes a substantial fine and/or imprisonment:

Invalid insurance
Up to £6000 in fines
Six months in prison
Court action from a tenant who is suing for civil damages
Manslaughter charges if a tenant dies as a result of poorly maintained / unsafe gas appliances or system"

You haven't suffered any financial loss or injuries for compensation. Non compensation penalties are either preventing the landlord from evicting a tenant, criminal conviction and associated sentence, or civil penalties (if any) payable to someone else.

Quote from: SilentSniper on August 27, 2019, 07:06:18 PMTherefore, would I have grounds for a civil case to take my landlord to court for damages?  To be honest I would not normally be so petty but things have broken down with my soon to be ex-landlord who is being extremely arrogant and offensive and I wanted to know if this is an avenue worth exploring?

If you would not normally be so petty then don't be now. By all means, bring it to the attention of the relevant authorities, to potentially cause significant trouble for the Landlord (not unreasonably so in my opinion) but forget about lining your own pockets. If you still want to go ahead when you know you'll not benefit yourself - you'll know in your heart whether your motives are correct, or not.

Because, if the Landlord has no GSC, then the next Tenant they let to might actually die... right? How would you feel then, if they didn't know because they were ignorant, but you knew? It's not about the money due, or not due, you at the end of the day. Having no GSC is a serious matter and it betrays a Landlord isn't operating above board in all things... for example... taxation, Deposit protection.

A Tenant can cause a lot of trouble, if so inclined... but far more often it's best to move towards a position whereby you disengage from a bad tenancy and just live a better life, not because things aren't wrong, but because you can't afford the time and stress of letting it affect you.