Would you ask freeholders permission if you were me?

by Readers Question

10:25 AM, 14th December 2014, 11 years ago 21

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Landlord News Landlords Questions

I have a top floor flat and urgently need a new boiler as its broke down and the tenants are getting a bit grumpy.

I’ve arranged this to be done but they need to erect scaffolding to access the flue as the building is quite high.

My question is do I need the freeholders or the management companies permission to erect scaffolding for 1-2 days? I would normally just ask but I’m in a hurry and knowing what my freeholder is like they will take ages to get back to me and then they will do all they can to claim the shirt of my back in fees for giving permission!!

Should I just go ahead and hope no one finds out or is there a better way round this?

Thanks

Rob

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Alan Loughlin

Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 264 - Articles: 1

12:06 PM, 20th December 2014, About 11 years ago

not personally, but the site managers here hire them from time to time to do work, they say it saves a fortune, and negated the need for scaffoldong, they hire it with driver, I think it needs a special licence.

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Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118 Read Full Bio

Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12220 - Articles: 1422

12:22 PM, 20th December 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by “David Mensah” at “20/12/2014 – 11:53“:

My brother uses them all the time, the hirers can usually recommend operators if you are your contractors don’t have the necessary experience.

Most contractors hire them as opposed to owning them so the hire shops will often be able to recommend contractors who are able to do the entire job for you.
.

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Rob

Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 186 - Articles: 2

12:52 PM, 20th December 2014, About 11 years ago

Ive been looking into this obviously as its my post, I was told by all the cherry picker companies that you only need a licenced operator if its being used on a commercial site, if its a residential site then you can operate it yourself with no licence and the guy delivering the cherry picker will show you how to operate it. How true that is I dont know but ive been told this 3 times by 3 different companies. But I have opted for scaffolding because the boiler company refuse to use a cherry picker themselves and to hire a licenced driver is £35 per hour.

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Alan Loughlin

Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 264 - Articles: 1

1:34 PM, 20th December 2014, About 11 years ago

i did not know that, thinking about it yes, the maintenance guys here use it and are not licenced. cannot understand why the heating guys will not use it, so much easier.

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Zlatko Zimonjic

Member Since July 2014 - Comments: 4

5:54 PM, 20th December 2014, About 11 years ago

Hi Rob,

Normally you can install a boiler without having to get to it from the outside. I could recommend you an excellent guy who is not expensive who could take a look at this and give you a quote. However, he lives in London and I don’t know where you are.

Good luck.

Z

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Rob

Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 186 - Articles: 2

9:56 PM, 20th December 2014, About 11 years ago

Thanks Zlatko it’s in reading, I’m told because I’m upgrading from a big old ideal istor to a valiant combi my existing flue won’t fit so needs to be changed.

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Zlatko Zimonjic

Member Since July 2014 - Comments: 4

1:31 PM, 21st December 2014, About 11 years ago

Hi Rob,

I am a bathroom fitter and have seen many flues fitted without having to access the wall from the outside. Boilers nowadays come with a special collar for this purpose. It may not work in your case but I am very surprised that your gas engineer didn’t even run this past you. If you open the pdf below, at the bottom of page three, in fig. 4 called ‘fitting the flue from inside’ you will see how this works.

http://www.alpha-innovation.co.uk/custom/upload/instructions/EasyFlue/CD%20EasyFlue%20with%20PM%20Instructions%2002-10.pdf

Best,

Z

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David Mensah

Member Since June 2014 - Comments: 106

1:47 PM, 21st December 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by “Zlatko Zimonjic” at “21/12/2014 – 13:31“:

I have also had several flues fitted in this way, it works just fine.

On a more general note, I use one gas engineer in my properties who is a genius at figuring out what is wrong with boilers & fixing them. But he makes a big fuss when installing new boilers if some kind of building work is needed, e.g. climbing up a tall ladder etc… So I use a different gas engineer for that, who is more of an out of the box thinker for such work.

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Zlatko Zimonjic

Member Since July 2014 - Comments: 4

2:13 PM, 21st December 2014, About 11 years ago

David,

my experience is very similar to yours. Not all gas fitters will do the same type of thing, and also, their prices vary wildly. I recently asked for a quote for a boiler replacement from 4 gas fitters who I have worked with before. The quotes ranged between 1,000 and 3,200 for absolutely the same work. Actually the lowest quote I got from the the guy with most experience. Nothing beats asking for quotes.

Best,

Z

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David Sanderson

Member Since October 2014 - Comments: 13

12:56 PM, 22nd December 2014, About 11 years ago

Hi,

used loads of these on low and hi rises.
http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/cache/file/38/high-level-horizontal-flue-installations.pdf&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ei=PxOYVLikHKTC7Aams4CQDw&ved=0CCwQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNHj5HS3ofste0MN9UNqrZ8qD083nQ
Drill from inside out. Just needs a spotter outside to ensure core drilled plug falls into a safe zone.
Oh, and why would you need to consult Freeholders- no cost implications or impact on them?

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