Electrician Bill From Letting Agent

MiNdGaM3

Hello.

Need a little advice.
Moved into a new apartment with my girlfriend last month. When we got there we realised none of the sockets were working. I was in a bit of a rush as I had to attend college, but I had a quick look at the fuse box but with it being so high I couldn't read the labels and didn't have time to figure out what was what so I left.
While I was gone my girlfriend phoned the letting agent and they asked if the fuse box was checked and she told them I'd had a quick look at it but was unsure.
They sent out an electrician who spent about 2 minutes at the fuse box, confirmed it was the trip switch, fixed it and left.
Today we recieved a letter from the letting agents with an invoice from the electician for almost €40!
Do we really have to pay this? Other than the fact that €40 seems extremely high for 2 minutes work, I thought the letting agents payed for these things?

uberwolf

you're paying €40 for the time it takes for the electrician to get to you as well, and the availability of his expertise.

TBH it seems reasonable to me that you should pay this bill. A trip switch is so basic and they asked whether you had done that much before authorising the call out.

omega666

MiNdGaM3 wrote: »

Hello.

Need a little advice.
Moved into a new apartment with my girlfriend last month. When we got there we realised none of the sockets were working. I was in a bit of a rush as I had to attend college, but I had a quick look at the fuse box but with it being so high I couldn't read the labels and didn't have time to figure out what was what so I left.
While I was gone my girlfriend phoned the letting agent and they asked if the fuse box was checked and she told them I'd had a quick look at it but was unsure.
They sent out an electrician who spent about 2 minutes at the fuse box, confirmed it was the trip switch, fixed it and left.
Today we recieved a letter from the letting agents with an invoice from the electician for almost €40!
Do we really have to pay this? Other than the fact that €40 seems extremely high for 2 minutes work, I thought the letting agents payed for these things?

hmm not sure. flicking a trip switch is a pretty basic thing to do and probally
should have been checked properly before ringing the letting agent.
I would think its the tenants responsibility to do at least do some basic investigation work when theres a problem of any sort before involving a landlord or letting agent.

Penguino

Really you should have checked the fuse box a bit more before calling the letting agent.

However I would object to paying the invoice. The landlord is paying the letting agent a monthly figure to manage the place, so they really should have gone through a number of check with your before sending out an electrican.

D3PO

Penguino wrote: »

Really you should have checked the fuse box a bit more before calling the letting agent.

However I would object to paying the invoice. The landlord is paying the letting agent a monthly figure to manage the place, so they really should have gone through a number of check with your before sending out an electrican.

eh read the thread again. Letting agent asked was the fuse box checked. tennant said yes.

this is 110% the tennants bill to pay

AvonEnniskerry

I would have to say i disagree with you all. Yes he should have checked if the switch had tripped but as the letting agent handed over the keys to the apartment evreything should have been in working order. Meaning water switched on, fuse board checked, etc. I would not pay this bill although I would recommend that your girlfriend not be so hasty in calling help nexxt time. To make sure there really is a problem first...

Penguino

D3PO wrote: »

eh read the thread again. Letting agent asked was the fuse box checked. tennant said yes.

this is 110% the tennants bill to pay

Letting agent asked the tenant to check the fuse box - fair enough. Is the tenant an electrician? I don't think she is

Should the letting agent maybe have called to the premises to check before sending out an electician? I would

Would a landlord check a problem first before calling an electrician? I would

MiNdGaM3

Cheers guys.
Really hoping I don't have to pay this!
I know the trip switch should have been checked properly before calling them, but I really didn't think we'd get a bill like that.
Part of the lease mentions that for every black refuse bag that's left in the apartment when we leave, we'll be charged €20. When we arrived, there was 2 bags of rubbish still here which I got pictures of. Could I then charge them €20 for each bag?
Thought that might be a bargaining chip I could use if it comes to it?

D3PO

Penguino wrote: »

Letting agent asked the tenant to check the fuse box - fair enough. Is the tenant an electrician? I don't think she is

Should the letting agent maybe have called to the premises to check before sending out an electician? I would

Would a landlord check a problem first before calling an electrician? I would

as the well know saying goes ignorace is not an excuse. if somebody hanst the knowledge to check if a fuse has tripped then frankly they shouldnt be living away from their parents.

people renting need to act like grown ups that means knowing the basics about living on their own.

that means being able to use a plunger if theres a minor blockage in your sink, knpwing how to check if a fuse has tripped etc.

if your helpless and want to ring somebody for help ring your parents. if you ring a landlord or agent and make them send out a professional for something that isnt faulty and a bill arises then thats your bill.

welcome to the world of grown ups

MiNdGaM3

D3PO wrote: »

as the well know saying goes ignorace is not an excuse. if somebody hanst the knowledge to check if a fuse has tripped then frankly they shouldnt be living away from their parents.

people renting need to act like grown ups that means knowing the basics about living on their own.

that means being able to use a plunger if theres a minor blockage in your sink, knpwing how to check if a fuse has tripped etc.

if your helpless and want to ring somebody for help ring your parents. if you ring a landlord or agent and make them send out a professional for something that isnt faulty and a bill arises then thats your bill.

welcome to the world of grown ups

I see putting yourself in someone elses shoes ain't your forte...
As I'd said, a rushed situation. They didn't have to send out a professional. I've dealt with trip switches, blocked pipes and things of the sort before, just never on the day of moving in, so wasn't really expecting it.
I just think if they're going to be tight a***s about this then I should find any way I can and any rule they've broken to get some money back.

Doop

Well to be honest I kinda think you should pay it,

Looking at it another way, what did you think the result of calling the letting agent would be? .... obviously they were going to call an electrician. So its as good as calling the electrician yourself. Naturally if theres a genuine problem the landlord through the agent foots the bill. There wasnt a genuine problem in this case.

If you owned the house yourself, would you of taken a quick glance at the fuse box and rang an electrician? (I suspect not)
which in my opinion is essentially what you did in this case.

pooch90

Have to agree with majority of posters. It was a ridiculous thing to call letting agent about. I know it was unintentional and am in no way trying to insult OP. You should pay this. It could have been avoided by you and therefore is your responsibility.

Ciara22

I agree, a trip switch is one of the basic things you should know. And you certainly dont need to be an electrician to know what it does.

And I think €40 is a bargain as the standard callout fee for any contractor is roughly €70 and upwards.

Tough life lesson but you'll remember it next time.....

Coriolanus

I think you got off light. Last time I needed an electrician there was a 50 euro minimum charge just for the callout.

Tell your girlfriend to ring her father next time, though to be honest there's something a bit off about not being able to recognise and rectify a tripped switch at an age to be living alone.

mikemac

MiNdGaM3 wrote: »

Do we really have to pay this? Other than the fact that €40 seems extremely high for 2 minutes work,

40 euro is cheap to callout a tradesman, most would charge you more.

You'll have to pay it, agree with most of the others.
Next time you or your girlfriend maybe give a quick call to your dad or a friend who can give you an opinion.

Now and again we all miss obvious things but someone else sees it instantly.

MiNdGaM3

Will probably pay it so.
I know it must sound ridiculous not noticing the tripped switch, it was just moving in day, rushing a bit and probably only half looked, not expecting to see the switch down and presumed it was something else.
As was already said, definitely a lesson learned there.
Cheers for the majority of the replies!

AvonEnniskerry

I do agree though that 40euro is a cheap call out fee. My fiance is an electrician and it is amazing how much they can charge for the simplest of procedures. If people have a lack of understanding about something, prepare to be ripped off. though i still stand by the letting agent should have had the house 'ready to go' for it's new tenants.
family members arnt always around for these things. you have to take into account ppl moving away to new cities etc. And you learn to live on your own by making mistakes. most ppl learn things from experience!

Graces7

No way should the tenant pay; there should be clear written instructions by the fuse box and the agent should have been more helpful also.

The first time this happened to us, we had no idea, being new to Ireland, what was wrong, and called the landlord. He told us the reason and then came to show us what to do and ever thereafter we managed fine.

Bad agent.

complicit

No way should you pay for this . The apartment should be in working order when you arrive - thats what you pay for .
The letting agent should have a handy man on staff to deal with call outs like this in the first instance . It is between the landlord and his agent to sort out the maintenance of the property , not the responsiblity of the tenant .

complicit

D3PO wrote: »

eh read the thread again. Letting agent asked was the fuse box checked. tennant said yes.

this is 110% the tennants bill to pay

Clearly a landlord .

Coriolanus

complicit wrote: »

No way should you pay for this . The apartment should be in working order when you arrive - thats what you pay for .
The letting agent should have a handy man on staff to deal with call outs like this in the first instance . It is between the landlord and his agent to sort out the maintenance of the property , not the responsiblity of the tenant .

Tenants should be at least making basic attempts to rectify a problem, so for example, checking fuse boxes, trying to unblock a sink with a plunger etc.

Anyone who can't do that should never have cut their mammys apron strings.

complicit

Yes and if they are unable to fix it themselves then the landlord must do so . If the landlord chooses not to personally fix the problem and instead chooses to pay someone else to do so , this is not a bill for the tenant to pay .

pooch90

Why should the landlord have to pay for the tenants' lack of life experience? I mean, it's not as though the fuse board had to be re-wired. It was a bloody trip switch! I knew how to flick a switch by age 3 and a trip switch by aged 14. They probably should have talked the OP's OH through this on the phone. But one would assume a grown adult, obviously mature enough to live with their partner would have the requisite life skills/experience to check for something so basic.

The argument that the apartment should have been 'ready to go' does not apply in this case. Perhaps something tripped it after LL had checked the apartment. The agent asked was the fuseboard checked, tenant said yes. This was misinformation on tenants' part. Of course they will send out an electrician to investigate (good agent). However this is not the agent's bill to cover.

ztoical

pooch90 wrote: »

Why should the landlord have to pay for the tenants' lack of life experience? I mean, it's not as though the fuse board had to be re-wired. It was a bloody trip switch! I knew how to flick a switch by age 3 and a trip switch by aged 14. They probably should have talked the OP's OH through this on the phone. But one would assume a grown adult, obviously mature enough to live with their partner would have the requisite life skills/experience to check for something so basic.

The argument that the apartment should have been 'ready to go' does not apply in this case. Perhaps something tripped it after LL had checked the apartment. The agent asked was the fuseboard checked, tenant said yes. This was misinformation on tenants' part. Of course they will send out an electrician to investigate (good agent). However this is not the agent's bill to cover.

+ 1 Totally agree...exactly how much spoon feeding do people think they should be getting? Should the LL/Agent come over and change light bulbs? Empty the hoover bag perhaps?

A trip switch is the most basic of electric know how I would expect any adult to have. Last year we moved apartments [from Ireland to London] My flatmate went to check the apartment with the agent while I went to sort the paperwork...apartment was fine when he went but by the time we'd signed everything and got the keys a couple of hours later the trip switch had gone, took two seconds to climb up on a chair and flip it back....had it gone again I would have been on to the agent straight away but it didn't.

OP says they looked but not really at the fuse box and had to rush off but the GF rang the agent....why didn't the GF check the fuse box correctly as she was in the apartment? If she didn't know how I'm sorry but tough, maybe if she'd said that on the phone to the agent the agent would have walked her through checking the trip switch rather then telling the agent they had checked and getting the electrician called out. I'd say be happy the bill was only 40.

astrofool

MiNdGaM3 wrote: »

Will probably pay it so.
I know it must sound ridiculous not noticing the tripped switch, it was just moving in day, rushing a bit and probably only half looked, not expecting to see the switch down and presumed it was something else.
As was already said, definitely a lesson learned there.
Cheers for the majority of the replies!

If something electric isn't working, the most likely thing is a tripped switch, I don't know why you wouldn't expect a switch down in that scenario.

What exactly did you think could have happened to all the sockets at the same time?

astrofool

Graces7 wrote: »

No way should the tenant pay; there should be clear written instructions by the fuse box and the agent should have been more helpful also.

The first time this happened to us, we had no idea, being new to Ireland, what was wrong, and called the landlord. He told us the reason and then came to show us what to do and ever thereafter we managed fine.

Bad agent.

Instructions on a fuse box? are you insane?

Firstly, the most basic thing you can put is:
If no power, make sure switches are in "on" position

But then you leave yourself open to idiots who'll keep pushing it up, even if there is a trip, how electricity works is something everybody learns in school at a relatively young age. Finally, what country were you from that doesn't have trip switches, or fuses, or electricity?

Coriolanus

complicit wrote: »

Yes and if they are unable to fix it themselves then the landlord must do so . If the landlord chooses not to personally fix the problem and instead chooses to pay someone else to do so , this is not a bill for the tenant to pay .

ONLY if the problem is something a person couldn't reasonably do themselves. Changing a socket, sure, I'd expect the ll or agent to pay for that (even tho its simple).
Flicking a switch up, sorry no.

mikemac

If it was one of those old style fuse boxes where you plug in a new fuse it's reasonable to ask for help and be talked through it.
Though they went over 30 years ago, lots and lots of houses still have them.


Not flicking a trip switch though.

You might give details of that electrician too OP, €40 callout is an excellent rate

ztoical

feelingstressed wrote: »

If it was one of those old style fuse boxes where you plug in a new fuse it's reasonable to ask for help and be talked through it.
Though they went over 30 years ago, lots and lots of houses still have them.


Not flicking a trip switch though.

You might give details of that electrician too OP, €40 callout is an excellent rate

It doesn't matter what type of fuse box there was, the OP's GF claimed to the agent that they had checked the fuse box and it wasn't a simple problem. Had she said it to the agent at the start that the OP hadn't had a chance to check the fuse box fully and she either [a]hadn't bother to look herself or that she didn't know anything about fuse boxes the agent may well have asked her to go check and talked her through checking the trip switch [I've talked people through flipping a switch over the phone myself several times and the first time it ever happened to me when I was 12, home alone and my dad talked me through it via the phone]. The agent called the electrician based on the information given to them by the tenant therefore it is the tenants bill for not providing the correct information when asked.

Graces7

astrofool wrote: »

Instructions on a fuse box? are you insane?

Firstly, the most basic thing you can put is:
If no power, make sure switches are in "on" position

But then you leave yourself open to idiots who'll keep pushing it up, even if there is a trip, how electricity works is something everybody learns in school at a relatively young age. Finally, what country were you from that doesn't have trip switches, or fuses, or electricity?

As they say on the weather board.. who pissed on YOUR cornflakes?

After some of the wiring we have endured in Irish rentals, we would never touch a fusebox unless and until a landlord had done so first. If anyone is going to get a shock, let it be him..;)

YOU may know the wiring is safe.. we do not until that is proven And now good agent or landlord would send the tenant a bill.

Trip switches trip for a reason. In one case it was a dangerously faulty washing machine.

There were issues here with sockets not working and we made sure the electrician was called for safety reasons. In this case, there were safety issues. And we were not sent a bill...... If it had been something simple, we still would not have expected or paid a bill.

We pay a high rent and expect a good and respectful service. According to the standards laid down in the Tenancy Act.

astrofool

Graces7 wrote: »

As they say on the weather board.. who pissed on YOUR cornflakes?

After some of the wiring we have endured in Irish rentals, we would never touch a fusebox unless and until a landlord had done so first. If anyone is going to get a shock, let it be him..;)

YOU may know the wiring is safe.. we do not until that is proven And now good agent or landlord would send the tenant a bill.

Trip switches trip for a reason. In one case it was a dangerously faulty washing machine.

There were issues here with sockets not working and we made sure the electrician was called for safety reasons. In this case, there were safety issues. And we were not sent a bill...... If it had been something simple, we still would not have expected or paid a bill.

We pay a high rent and expect a good and respectful service. According to the standards laid down in the Tenancy Act.

I'm sorry, but no, if a trip switch trips, it is safe to untrip it. If it trips again, then you could be justified to call an electrician. Anything else is just bat loopy insane.

There can be many safe reasons why a trip switch is tripped, let alone, that the previous owner or landlord may have tripped it manually to prevent electricity usage when the place was lying idle.