Slightly O/T Landlord Gas Check

[Sean Yewdale]

Hi all, Living in local authority housing for many years opens your eyes to what Council contractors do. This years gas test was different to previous years. The engineer did not service the combi boiler only checking that it fired when the hot tap was turned on and that it fired for heating.No covers were removed or any visual or physical checking of pipes including the gas. The gas hob was looked at but no visual or physical check of the gas connection. The gas fire, well he did not know how to remove the cover so removed the front glass, removed the logs and hovered it and that was it. Not knowing what they are supposed to do for the test can anyone advise? I have read that the test only covers equipment owned by the Landlord so the fire and hob will not be covered. Any web sites out there that list what should be done or is it possible that previous engineers have done more than what is required?

Regards

Sean

[Owain]

"Sean Yewdale" wrote | Living in local authority housing for many years opens your eyes to what | Council contractors do. | This years gas test was different to previous years. The engineer did not | service the combi boiler only checking that it fired when the hot tap was | turned on and that it fired for heating.No covers were removed or any visual | or physical checking of pipes including the gas. The gas hob was looked at | but no visual or physical check of the gas connection. The gas fire, well he | did not know how to remove the cover so removed the front glass, removed the | logs and hovered it and that was it. | Not knowing what they are supposed to do for the test can anyone advise? I | have read that the test only covers equipment owned by the Landlord so the | fire and hob will not be covered. | Any web sites out there that list what should be done or is it possible that | previous engineers have done more than what is required?

You should have been given a Landlord's Gas Safety Record CP12 by Mr Corgi.

AIUI *Every* appliance in the property should be listed and all the boxes ticked/crossed or Pass/Fail. The box Gas Installation Soundness Test should also be pass/fail. The CORGI form also has a column for Landlord's Appliance Yes/No, so it appears that tenant's appliances must also be included in the test procedure.

However a gas safety test is not a full appliance service.

Owain

[Space Cowboy]

I agree every appliance should be checked. They also be checking for carbon monoxide spillage. I have heard of a large contractor who also supplies gas has done landlords tests just by using a carbon monoxide detrctor.

[Ed Sirett]

The law imposes two duties on Landlords: 1) to maintain gas appliances & flues 2) to have a safety inspection performed and certificate issued annually.

These are distinct duties which may well be conveniently carried out togther on an annual basis.

Whilst servicing may be reduced or expanded depending on the condition of the appliance, the certificate requires a subtantial amount of investigation which will include testing the appliances and the installation pipework. Depending on its type the gas fire will likely require a subtantial number of checks to be performed.

By way of analogy does anyone know the process by which MOIT testers are kept from cutting too many corners?

-- Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter. The FAQ for uk.diy is at

Gas fitting FAQ CH FAQ

[Phil]

do you mean MOT or is MOIT some sort of gas jobbie? if so i can tell you HTH phil ex motor trader

[IMM]

Send a strong letter to local authority, copied to the local councillor, MP and CORGI. Explain what you saw and that through some simple inquires you know this was checked according to the laws.

[Ed Sirett]

Sorry that was a typo sloippiness - again.

The process by which registered gas fitters are kept honest is

1) Any cusomter can complain to CORGI who have powers to make a work inspection. 2) Periodic visitations by the CORGI inspector who asks to see recent jobs of various types (but of course you take him to the finest examples of your work... 8-).

The reason I was asking was because the above do not seem to work for the Mr. Slap-dash Corgi that the OP had visit and I was interested to see if there are parallels.

[RichardS]

The big difference between MOT and CORGI checks and balances will be one of the likelihood of customer complaint.

Sounds like Phil knows the exact mechanisms for MOT checkups, but I know that periodic unannounced inspections do take place because a back-street garage that my brother used to work in many years ago lost their MOT inspection station certificate due to passing unfit cars (well, their one and only registered tester did).

CORGI are probably more likely to receive complaints because people will scratch their heads and think "well, I've just been charged £xxx and they don't seem to have done a proper job - I wanted a safe and reliable gas appliance". For landlord certificate tests there will be the tenants that are concerned about a safe appliance, and as they're not paying for repairs they don't care whether the appliance needs work or not. In the case of poisoning due to incompetent or negligent work, the HSE will be down on them like a ton of bricks, so that's an incentive.

With MOTs customer complaints will be more about ripoff repairs than inaction and failure to spot things (unless it's being used to wriggle out of fault for an accident). People paying for MOTs are likely to be the car owners, and therefore just want to hear that they've paid the £40 (or whatever) and got the certificate without any further work being necessary. Folks with the real horrors on the road are unlikely to be the sorts to complain - they went to a dodgy MOT garage purely to get a stamp of authenticity to keep them legal. People buying £250 cars don't look too far into authentic certification.

Frightening, really.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[Ed Sirett]

I find the parallels between the MOT and the Landlords inspection useful.

For instance if someone tries the argument why I am I failing to pass as a safe an appliance which has not harmed anyone in xx years. The reply is that you would not get very far arguing with the garage that the brake should have passed the MOT because they always have stopped the car so far.

It would make an interesting (from my perspective) a TV program do setup a house of horros style 'sting' for negligent Landlords' gas inspections.

[Sean Yewdale]

Hi all, Firstly thankyou to everyone who replied with suggestions and advice.

It would appear that the Engineer in question has been completing up to 30 of these tests a day, not bad when the council expect each test to take up to one hour. Anyway the quality services manager has attended and agreed that this engineer has failed to provide the boiler service and failed to complete the gas check as required. The engineer has been suspended until tomorrow and a full service and gas check is to be carried out by a Senior Engineer.

Once again thanks to all who responded.

Regards