Question Re: Liabilility for Electrician callout while renting

neil_hosey

Hi,

I need some advice as I am just received a very annoying email from Sherry Fitzgerald who are representing our landlord ( we are renting).

3 of us moved into a house a month ago, which was flooded last year, in ballsbridge. When we moved in we noticed 2 bulbs were already gone, one was blackened, and the other just blew. We replaced them.

Then 2 weeks later another bulb went, but this time in the kitchen, and scorched the fitting on the ceiling, melted the lightbulb and cracked off onto the floor, it did not look too safe. I done a bit of googling, and considering the house was rewired, and some site were saying that it could be dodgy wiring, we let sherry fitzgerald know that it happened and they sent out an electrician. He said there was nothing wrong.

Then today, sherry fitz emailed us saying we have to pay for the electrician as it was our fault we left the light on too long. I was annoyed by this as 2 lightbulbs had already gone since we moved in and we deinfately didnt leave any lights on all night or anything..

Is this normal? Are they allowed do this?

Thanks in advance,
Neil

TheDriver

a lightbulb left on too long??????????? are they serious???????

GoodisonPark

It is not normal and they cannot do this.
Maintenence is the landlords responsibility , send the letter back along with a note saying that its not your responsibility.

neil_hosey

well thats a relief!

so they cant do anything no?

djimi

Tell them to either come back to you with some concrete proof to back up their claim or to get real and get the landlord to pay his own bills. Ridiculous carry on.

djimi

neil_hosey wrote: »

so they cant do anything no?

They cant come around and demand the cash off you, but if the LL wants to be a prick about it then he will probably try and take the charge from your deposit when you leave. You can of course dispute this with the PRTB but it will probably take a long time to get sorted.

My advice would be to take no **** from either letting agent or landlord and get this sorted ASAP. Make sure that you get everything in writing so they cannot turn around at a later date and try and bring it back up as an issue again.

Have you reciepts/invoices or some kind of written proof to show that this wiring had previously been worked on?

neil_hosey

djimi wrote: »

They cant come around and demand the cash off you, but if the LL wants to be a prick about it then he will probably try and take the charge from your deposit when you leave. You can of course dispute this with the PRTB but it will probably take a long time to get sorted.

My advice would be to take no **** from either letting agent or landlord and get this sorted ASAP. Make sure that you get everything in writing so they cannot turn around at a later date and try and bring it back up as an issue again.

Have you reciepts/invoices or some kind of written proof to show that this wiring had previously been worked on?

thanks a million i will do that.


we have no receipts etc as we just moved in. but the house was completely revamped cas it was under 4 foot of water, they told us this. we are the first tenents since the flooding

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Left the light on too long :rolleyes:

If it wasn't so serious i'd laugh.

wonski

djimi wrote: »

They cant come around and demand the cash off you, but if the LL wants to be a prick about it then he will probably try and take the charge from your deposit when you leave. You can of course dispute this with the PRTB but it will probably take a long time to get sorted.

My advice would be to take no **** from either letting agent or landlord and get this sorted ASAP. Make sure that you get everything in writing so they cannot turn around at a later date and try and bring it back up as an issue again.

Have you reciepts/invoices or some kind of written proof to show that this wiring had previously been worked on?

The email from an agent would be enough to prove that landlord/agent are wrong(and bit insane tbh).
The tenant does not need any receipts/invoices. And as long as the tenant didn't mess with the wires there is no way to withhold deposit, not to mention paying for electrician callout.
What kind of cowboys are these???

neil_hosey

wonski wrote: »

The email from an agent would be enough to prove that landlord/agent are wrong(and bit insane tbh).
The tenant does not need any receipts/invoices. And as long as the tenant didn't mess with the wires there is no way to withhold deposit, not to mention paying for electrician callout.
What kind of cowboys are these???

its Sherry Fitzgerald aswell! I would maybe expect it from some landlord chancing his arm but not them. Thinking of making a complaint to the PRTB if we dont get an apology. The only reason being that who knows who else they are trying this on with!

Annabananna

Hi I would recommend that you print off email and rescan it to the manager of the letting office advising how his staff are treating the tenents and how said behaviour is damaging their office reputation.

I did this when renting off a letting agent in Dublin when a start up trainee told me that I should only use the washing machine once a week and the fact i was overusing it meant i had to pay half for a replacement. When the manager got my email i got an written apology as well as a bunch of flowers and chocolates from the letting agent.

neil_hosey

haha brilliant! ill see how it pans out and i might just do that.

Graces7

Annabananna wrote: »

Hi I would recommend that you print off email and rescan it to the manager of the letting office advising how his staff are treating the tenents and how said behaviour is damaging their office reputation.

I did this when renting off a letting agent in Dublin when a start up trainee told me that I should only use the washing machine once a week and the fact i was overusing it meant i had to pay half for a replacement. When the manager got my email i got an written apology as well as a bunch of flowers and chocolates from the letting agent.

Probably the same scenario here. :rolleyes:

questionmark?

neil_hosey wrote: »

Hi,

I need some advice as I am just received a very annoying email from Sherry Fitzgerald who are representing our landlord ( we are renting).

3 of us moved into a house a month ago, which was flooded last year, in ballsbridge. When we moved in we noticed 2 bulbs were already gone, one was blackened, and the other just blew. We replaced them.

Then 2 weeks later another bulb went, but this time in the kitchen, and scorched the fitting on the ceiling, melted the lightbulb and cracked off onto the floor, it did not look too safe. I done a bit of googling, and considering the house was rewired, and some site were saying that it could be dodgy wiring, we let sherry fitzgerald know that it happened and they sent out an electrician. He said there was nothing wrong.

Then today, sherry fitz emailed us saying we have to pay for the electrician as it was our fault we left the light on too long. I was annoyed by this as 2 lightbulbs had already gone since we moved in and we deinfately didnt leave any lights on all night or anything..

Is this normal? Are they allowed do this?

Thanks in advance,
Neil

OP that is one of the funniest lines I've ever heard. Dont worry though they haven't a leg to stand on.

Moonbeam

I would be. Erg worried that the wiring is a fire hazard...and may have been done I the cheap and ntnby a registered electrician.

daltonmd

neil_hosey wrote: »

Hi,

I need some advice as I am just received a very annoying email from Sherry Fitzgerald who are representing our landlord ( we are renting).

3 of us moved into a house a month ago, which was flooded last year, in ballsbridge. When we moved in we noticed 2 bulbs were already gone, one was blackened, and the other just blew. We replaced them.

Then 2 weeks later another bulb went, but this time in the kitchen, and scorched the fitting on the ceiling, melted the lightbulb and cracked off onto the floor, it did not look too safe. I done a bit of googling, and considering the house was rewired, and some site were saying that it could be dodgy wiring, we let sherry fitzgerald know that it happened and they sent out an electrician. He said there was nothing wrong.

Then today, sherry fitz emailed us saying we have to pay for the electrician as it was our fault we left the light on too long. I was annoyed by this as 2 lightbulbs had already gone since we moved in and we deinfately didnt leave any lights on all night or anything..

Is this normal? Are they allowed do this?

Thanks in advance,
Neil

Hmmmm, you notified the agent of a problem, the agent in this case acted as a responsible agent and decided to get it checked out by a professional, fully qualified in this area and found the wiring to be in order - agent then presents bill to landlord who freaks out, tells agent that he'll be paying for it and not him - agent tries to pass the bill to you.

It just doesn't pay for property agents to be responsible and do their jobs!!

But it's nothing to do with you - send a letter back and inform the agent that it's between him and the landlord - not your problem....

(Oh, as an aside - did they provide the report from the Electrician citing that reason? Would love to see that lol)

Ray Palmer

It may actually be the bulb type that is the problem. Had a tenant cliam an electrical fault over blown bulbs. the problem was they were halogen bulbs.
If you get finger prints on them they blow pretty quickly. They get super hot and blow as described. Putting them in wrong causes them to blow. Sometimes days or weeks later.
Claiming that it shouldn't be left on is so stupid.

fasttalkerchat

I would be more concerned about wiring problems. What happens if one blows above your head as you eat your dinner or starts a fire.

I would send a letter to the manager about how money was demanded from you but also include that you still have your concerns as you have heard contradictory advice from another electrician.

daltonmd

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

I would be more concerned about wiring problems. What happens if one blows above your head as you eat your dinner or starts a fire.

I would send a letter to the manager about how money was demanded from you but also include that you still have your concerns as you have heard contradictory advice from another electrician.

No offence but OP do not take this advice. If the agent thinks another person looked at the issue then they could blame any problems on this "other" person.

Ask the agent for a written report from the electiician, who they hired as to the nature of the problem.
If the problem persist, inform the agent that they have two weeks to sort the issue or you will take action yourself and deduct any costs from the rent.

fasttalkerchat

daltonmd wrote: »

No offence but OP do not take this advice. If the agent thinks another person looked at the issue then they could blame any problems on this "other" person.

Ask the agent for a written report from the electiician, who they hired as to the nature of the problem.
If the problem persist, inform the agent that they have two weeks to sort the issue or you will take action yourself and deduct any costs from the rent.

There's no problem saying my unlce's cousin is an electrician and said that its not possible that leaving a light on caused this, I would like a second opinion since it is a big safety risk to me.

daltonmd

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

There's no problem saying my unlce's cousin is an electrician and said that its not possible that leaving a light on caused this, I would like a second opinion since it is a big safety risk to me.

Any electrician worth his salt is not going to give an opinion on a problem without checking out the wiring in the house. They shou;ld ask for a second opinion if they are still having problems, they have no need to lie about it, they are entitled to feel safe in the home.