Letting Agent renewed boiler without telling me!

Letting Agent renewed boiler without telling me!

12:55 PM, 20th September 2013, About 11 years ago 25

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I am a long-time reader (and I suppose a ‘silent supporter’) of property118.com (and previous Money Centre client) having been a landlord since 2004. I have three properties which I rent out, one of which I manage myself, the other two are with two different letting agents. This is, however, the first time I have posted anything on the site

This isn’t a particularly complicated issue to explain, basically I got a phone call a few weeks ago from the letting agent for a flat I have in Glasgow, which is a one bedroom flat built in 2007, telling me the client had reported that there was no hot water. They asked me if I wanted to deal with this myself, or if I wanted them to go ahead and get someone out to see what the problem was. Wanting to minimise the inconvenience to my perfectly good tenants, I told the agent to go ahead and get an engineer out, and then heard nothing further about the matter. I assumed that it had probably been a straightforward repair on a six year old boiler (which had previously been completely trouble-free), and in my mind I was expecting a charge of maybe £100 or so to appear on my statement. Letting Agent renewed boiler without telling me

This morning in the post my monthly statement arrived, and I was stunned and angered to see an entry relating to a replacement (new) boiler, at a cost of £566! Although that doesn’t sound particularly expensive to me for a boiler, my concerns are numerous:

Was the problem really so bad on a six year old boiler that it needed replaced? If I had known I’d have got a second opinion at the very least! I may have had some recourse to go back to the builder (for example) I bought the property from.

Why was I not informed that the boiler was condemned? I would have thought this is a fairly major event.

Even if this was the only course of action available, why was I not given the opportunity to have any input into which new boiler was fitted? (after all, I am paying for it as it stands)

I simply cannot believe the complete lack of communication from my letting agent over this, and wondered if any members here had had any similar experiences, or could offer any professional (legal?) advice, please. The way I am feeling as I type this, I feel I should not have to pay for this new boiler at all, given the appalling way the matter has been handled, although perhaps this is a little extreme and just my state of shock at today’s news.

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Regards

Gary


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Comments

Neil Robb

9:36 AM, 24th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Hi

I have a few properties in Scotland and you can get grants to replace them if certain conditions are met.

One thing I do know there is not a plumber out there who will supply and fit a boiler for that price.

Is it a case when the admin person typed in new boiler by mistake when a repair was carried out. It could have been the master board or some other fault. the question I would ask is why when the repair was so expensive they did not come back to check with you.

It sounds to me the agent has dealt with this wrong. I would get your new boiler checked to see if it has indeed been replaced if not is this fraud obtaining money by deception.

Adrian Jones

9:53 AM, 24th September 2013, About 11 years ago

It sounds like your dealings with your agent were over the phone.

In order to avoid "misunderstanding" I always send intructions by email now.

Amazing how quickly contentious bills were almost eliminated.

Good luck.

Roy B

19:21 PM, 24th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Emergency repairs is the get out clause. If the boiler was unsafe then there is no come back - but what was wrong with the boiler and if the agent had not fixed it you would have had to yourself - would this have cost you more? also agent could claim authorisation as you told them to go ahead and sort it rather than just investigate.

247 Home Rescue

12:16 PM, 3rd March 2014, About 10 years ago

You can find information about taking your letting agent to the small claims court here:
https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

There's a good chance you'll find yourself using this service; for a 'small' sum of money solicitors will likely be excessive and too costly:
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Best to start claiming asap, any delays will be beneficial to the letting agent rather than you. Inform them you wish to take them to small claims court and they might come to some kind of agreement so they can avoid court costs / bad publicity.

John Daley

12:34 PM, 3rd March 2014, About 10 years ago

Well well, there's a lot of people here looking for a row.

The first thing to do is ring the agent and ask them to check the invoice, it's probably a mistake.

The amount billed is reasonable for a range of repairs on a modern boiler. If the agent confirms the boiler has been replaced then there is an issue. Simply no boiler change can be done for that money so there is something wrong here. Ask to see the engineers report condemning the old boiler.

The gas safe rules require a report if the installation is unsafe etc. Then ask for the works invoice, the original, not a copy. If they can't produce these then I'd be inclined to ask to meet with the manager to discuss why they can't justify your bill

There are not likely to be any handouts to replace a six year old boiler.

Finally every landlord should have an agreed letter of delegation with their agent stating what can be spent and when. If you have not set any limits and you say just deal with it, you have empowered them to spend whatever it takes to resolve the issue.

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