help with wiring regs - dispute with land lord

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Indeed. And in practice for a domestic environment has proved useful in a way the original design can't have forecast.

[Ben Blaukopf]

That's how a lightbulb works. If you measure the resistance when cold, you conclude that it will end up carring a large current, and will therefore promptly blow. However, by the time it would have blown, it's heated up, and consequently carrying less current. It never carries the large current anyway, because current doesn't start flowing instantly - there's a rampup time due to inductance that I ought to remember from A-level physics, but don't...

[David Hansen]

On Thu, 31 May 2007 09:27:42 +0100 someone who may be John Rumm wrote this:-

There might be one or two circumstances in which it would be acceptable, but not many. A lightly loaded circuit in an office where the hob is just going to be used to warm up food for one or two people might be one of these, though something like Baby Belling plugged into a socket would be far more sensible.

My greatest concern would actually be whether the diversity calculation was adequate to avoid nuisance trips in the particular circumstances of the hob and its use. Such trips might encourage someone to "upgrade" the circuit breaker.

[manatbandq]

A bit OT but car tail light bulbs have been used as short circuit protection in model railways. If too much current flows the bulb gets hot, glows and limits the current. If the track is sectioned with each section feed having it's own bulb then you also get a visual indication of which section the short is located in.

MBQ

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's also a cheap way of protecting expensive loudspeakers if the kids have a party. ;-)

[Duncan]

For the sake of those who find this thread in the future, this is what happened.

I spoke to environmental health at Camden council, who arranged with me to inspect the wiring, and I informed the landlord of the inspection date. This prompted the landlord to send round a real electrician, who installed a new radial circuit (with isolating switches) to supply the hob and oven. The electrician also did some other work, presumably to bring other (Bob installed?) parts of the wiring in the flat into compliance. This included decommissioning a very old extraction fan, and moving a wall-mounted heater in the bathroom away from the bath. I'm satisfied that the new wiring in my flat is safe, and now I have a functioning hob again. But the council are now interested in inspecting the wiring in the other flats in the building. So I think the landlord is facing some big bills but I'm not very sympathetic, given the way that he's treated me.

thanks again for the help I got from people on this group.

Duncan

[tony sayer]

In article , Duncan writes

Old proverb..

.."Squeakiest hinge gets most Oil"..

[AT]

Expect an increase in rent soon, he'll probably want revenge and compensation.

AT

[John Rumm]

Thanks for the update. Glad it turned out ok in the end.

How long did he leave you without cooking facilities? (might be worth a claim for some rent back!)

[Owain]

Excellent.

Bear in mind you may have prevented another tenant getting electrocuted or killed in a fire.

Owain

[ST]

Try this, if no consent is forthcoming see below.

No it does not. There are established ways of handling repairs if the landlord will not. Basically get 3 quotes, pick the cheapest, tenant pays for the work and withholds it from rent. This pops up on landlordzone.co.uk forums from time to time. Furthermore to withhold the few hundred pounds of rent is unlikely to create an event under which a Section 8 notice will stand up in court - the grounds under S8 are mostly at the judges discretion. 2 months rent owing would be a mandatory ground (ground 8). From a landlords point of view it is far better (if there are rent arrears) to go down the Section 21 route as the judge has no choice but to grant posession (providing the notice is served correctly).

Last resort, surely? Although EH could be used to put pressure on the landlord to bring the wiring up to spec and to provide adequate cooking facilities.

As to the footnote about wiring being up to spec for licensable HMOs, not sure about this - it just has to be safe and having a periodic inspection report, IIRC. I would not think you would need a rewire just because it was done to an earlier version of the building regs.

[Lobster]

In addition to that, at a Section 8 hearing the courts will recognise the landlord's failure to carry out repairs as a legitimate cause (probably the only legitimate cause) to withhold rent anyway.

David