Last month I had my annual Landlord's Gas Safety Inspection. They found and fixed a small gas leak. Yesterday the tenents said their gas bill was a lot larger than they expected. How much gas is likely to have leaked? Enough to have a significant effect on the billable amount?
Thanks
-- JGH
You could Google this newsgroup for figures on the consumption of something as small as a pilot light, which I would imagine might be similar to a "small leak" (but probably larger). It's more gas than you might think.
Where was the leak ? If it was indoors, and no-one smelled anything, chances are it was really tiny.
Could be your tenants are trying it on.
-- "Every purchase has its price."
Given the rise in gas prices I would check that they do mean their consumption was higher rather than the price they were charged!! ... if they didn't smell it then it probably wasn't very much.
Peter
Sweet FA - we had a very small gas leak once when we were tenants - could only smell the gas if we left house unoccupied for a week or so! - Once our gas bill was less than a fiver for a qtr
Jon
Near as dammit nil. Anything big enough to affect the quarterly bill would stink the place out and kill everyone in it.
Only if it exploded surely ??
In article , Stuart B writes
It could have suffocated a small child on a bunk bed in a draught free room . . .
The plumbers detected the leak when servicing using their thermometer thingy they connect to the meter. I couldn't smell anything, the plumbers couldn't smell anything, but the tenents said they thought they could smell something.
Having another look today I noticed the tenents have set the clock to turn the heating on every fifteen minutes through the night. That's probably why their bill is so high. When I had it installed I set it to 07:00-09:00 + 17:00-22:00. They have it effectively running almost 24 hours a day!
-- JGH
Boiler (and the leak) is (was) in the kitchen, main house entrance.
-- JGH
Sorry, that was a piss take.
I agree that a leak that is only found with the gas man's sniffer would be minimal and that the main reason for the high gas bill is that it is winter . . . and as you say the fact that the heating is on all night (effectively).
If they're looking for a subsidy to pay for the leak, tell em to bugger off.
If they weren't smelling the leak and all the pipes are internal then the leak could not have been that big.
Since you had the gas tested only 12 months before then they would have to show that there annual actual (not estimated) consumption was vastly different. If they can make a good case (unlikely) and if they are model tenants (?) and if you wish to keep them happy (?) then you might be lenient. It could make them more cooperative on something you need their help with. However the most likely case is they are trying it on; they signed the bit that says "...to pay or indemnify the landlord against all such charges ... as arise ... gas.... " ; end of story.
I've wondered what that signature means for ages - enlighten me please?
It's descriptive, it took me ages to think of a way of describing them without using expletives.
As an ISP I regard them as fine if you wish to surf (lightly) and do little else. They are offering only one flavour, hence vanilla (only). Raspberry ripple and (heaven forbid) chocolate flavours are only available elsewhere.
The full explanation of why I think they are a bad ISP (for non vanilla use) is best found on the google archives of uk.telecom.broadband but there is so much rabid opinion posted about them that here's my take from late 2005:
"There is a degree of bad feeling against them as they have been shown to vary their terms of service dramatically and without notice. Earlier this year they reduced the cost of their premium 2Mbit service from (IIRC) 29.99 to
21.99 in an attempt to boost their client base (which has doubled) but they appear to have done little to prepare their network for the resulting increase in traffic. The result was a frantic scrabble to control bandwidth at peak times which left some with connection speeds little better than dial-up. In my own experience, my moderate use of usenet was throttled, without notice, such that access to this and other groups was painfully slow. Technical support blanked complaints of slow connections until it was finally admitted that access to all external news providers was being restricted, in my opinion a total lack of honesty and openness.As a light user you may not experience any of the problems that can arise with Plusnet but my experience suggests an outfit that is not to be trusted and who I would not recommend to anyone."
IMO, little has changed.
How much was their bill? =A3200? =A32000?
I once left a gas fire on for 24 hours, unlit, and I couldn't smell anything at all, presumably because the gas was going up the chimney.
If they're staying put, tell them you'll monitor the actual usage for the next 12 months of their tenancy and if there's a material difference (say 20%) compared with the past 12 months consumption, then you'll refund them (or not).
MBQ
I hope the utility companies don't start going down that route!
Mathew
On 21 Mar 2007 08:36:29 -0700, " snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com" mused:
I wouldn't. They may decide to not use any gas for 12 Months, or if they've been informed about their wasteful use of resources by having the heating on through the night then they may turn that off, or down. All depends what they're like as tenants, if they're a PITA tell them to get bent, if they're worth keeping then bung them a few quid to keep them sweet. Just say you can't really calculate whether or not the leak would have made any difference to the bill and slip them 20 quid. ;)
I'm not sure that's wise; it could be seen as an admission of liability, leading to much worse aggro.
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