Can a landlord fit central heating without asking me?

PoloMint

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I rent, unannounced, this morning the gas people started digging up the pavement to run a gas line to the house.

The landlord (well rental agent) last week told us someone was coming to give an estimate for gas heating, said he didn't know anything else as the owner had arraigned it. I don't know if these people have been (they have a key and I've been out quite a bit).

Now, however nice gas central heating would be, I'm far too busy at the moment to have people taking up the floors. Six months ago this would have been ok (and quite good coming up to winter).

The contract says I have to allow access for maintenance and repairs deemed necessary by the agent. Surely tearing up the house to fit something that was never there doesn't fall under this?

Phoned the agent, got an assistant who said they would phone back after asking someone who might know whats going on.

It could be the owner has just ordered gas and plans to fit the heating later (after I've left the house in June) but it still would have been nice to be warned that someone was going to dig up the garden.
 

rolfw

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Not sure what the situation is PM, but I would guess that for anything disruptive to your tenancy, they would need to obtain your agreement and probably make an allowance on your rent.
 

2cvbloke

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Just be glad you have a central heating system!!! I have nothing but a gas fire fitted in my house!!! And the bloddy landlord wanted £65 a week for a freezing cold house...:-Nooo
 

PoloMint

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At the moment we have no central heating, just individual electric heaters and one working storage heater. And the rents double that a week...this is a cheap place, rent is rising in this area fast.

Anyway, the gas people have gone and the garden is back to normal. But no word from the rental agent.

Annoyingly at just about any other time this would have been a really good thing, and will probably push the rent up for the next tenants, but the next eight weeks are the worst possible time for interruptions like this. A cut in rent would be tempting, but even with that I think I would still say no if possible.
 

2cvbloke

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PoloMint said:
At the moment we have no central heating, just individual electric heaters and one working storage heater. And the rents double that a week...this is a cheap place, rent is rising in this area fast.

Anyway, the gas people have gone and the garden is back to normal. But no word from the rental agent.

Annoyingly at just about any other time this would have been a really good thing, and will probably push the rent up for the next tenants, but the next eight weeks are the worst possible time for interruptions like this. A cut in rent would be tempting, but even with that I think I would still say no if possible.

It's extortion really, I have just a single convection heater to heat the whole house as the gas fire makes everything damp, but the house is damp anyway (no wonder the landlord's selling it!!! It'd cost them way too much to even think about repairing & refitting the house!!!), but the thing is I can't afford more than £65 rent, and low and behold, there are no houses or flats for that price!!!

But anyway, I don't think a landlord should be allowed to just rip the house apart without the consent of the tenant first, maintanence is fine if it's a minor thing, but not pulling up the floorboards and disrupting your everyday life just so they can make more money!!! :-Nooo
 

leighpreece

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2cvbloke said:
But anyway, I don't think a landlord should be allowed to just rip the house apart without the consent of the tenant first....

Why - who owns the place? It's his/her property and can do with it as they wish. Be careful though - is this a move towards him/her possibly selling up?

Leigh...
 

2cvbloke

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leighpreece said:
Why - who owns the place? It's his/her property and can do with it as they wish. Be careful though - is this a move towards him/her possibly selling up?

Leigh...

Yes, but who pays to live there undisturbed? ;)
 

rolfw

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I don't think that the landlord can do what he likes, the lease will have access restrictions written into it and the tenant's privacy/comfort will also be protected.
 

brewby

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rolfw said:
I don't think that the landlord can do what he likes, the lease will have access restrictions written into it and the tenant's privacy/comfort will also be protected.

This is true, I do property maintenance for a letting agent, it may be that the landlord has had to arrange the gas supply, Transco would give a date to do the job and if not accepted it could be months later when they get another one, I have had this kind of experience myself, the law protects a tenant and the landlord or agent only has right of unattended entry when a court order for possession has has been issued, contact the agent ask them to ask the landlord to contact you before entering the house whilst you are not there.
 
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