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Social housing electrical check.

158 replies

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 13:08

Has anyone had this done and what did it entail.

Ive just received a letter saying that if i cancel the electric check with less than 24 hours notice this will be treated as failure to provide access to your property and legal action may follow. God forbid i have an emergency with my elderly mum or finally get the GP appointment to get my change in bowel habits looked into and i havent even booked the appointment yet. So there was no need for the bully boy tactics.

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JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 15:20

@kitsuneghost NO they said if i cancel it with less than 24 hours notice it will be seen as me refusing access. Gaslight much.

If they dont turn up i shall take it as them refusing to attend

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AllIsWellish · 08/01/2024 15:29

Mine took about 2 hours, they only come every 5 years. The gas one every year annoys me, they said you an appointment and then get arsey when you have to change it due to working

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 15:30

Thats why they love their druggies More laid back

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kitsuneghost · 08/01/2024 15:30

Gaslighting - really?!?
Get a grip of yourself
Your reaction was so over the top that it seemed you were given no option at very short notice of their attendance.
As for their 'threat' of not cancelling within 24hr. This is a standard notice not a threat.

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 15:33

direct quote

"if you cancel your appointment with less than 24 hours notice this will be treated as failure to provide access to your property and legal action may follow"

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Comefromaway · 08/01/2024 15:38

All perfectly reasonable.

Incidentally we prioritise landlord customers for emergency call outs because it makes sense to give good service to our regular client rather than Jo Bloggs who may never use you again.

A situation such as you describe on a Saturday night IF an electrician was available then it would simply be isolate the electrics to make sage (ie turn the electric off) and wait until Monday.

Why should an electrician not be paid because someone isn;t there for a pre-arranged appointment.

And as for the druggie comment, well you just sound unhinged.

BoobyDazzler · 08/01/2024 15:38

If you’ve lived there 30 years and have never had any electrical work I’d start preparing yourself for that possibility now because that won’t be 3 hours and you’ll definitely have to move your furniture.

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 15:39

A rewire would mean we would have to move out

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kitsuneghost · 08/01/2024 15:40

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 15:33

direct quote

"if you cancel your appointment with less than 24 hours notice this will be treated as failure to provide access to your property and legal action may follow"

Yes. That looks fairly standard.
We private rent and they state a similar thing.
Even my dentist has a statement that I will be struck off if I repeatedly cancel less than 24h.

The truth is normal people don't bar an emergency and that would get taken into account.
It is to prevent people refusing access because they have something to hide.
Do you have something else going on that you don't want them in?

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 15:42

Of course i dont. Your confirmation bias is showing. I did not want possible damage to my property if it needed to be moved

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BoobyDazzler · 08/01/2024 15:45

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 15:39

A rewire would mean we would have to move out

Why?

Social Housing rewires are done with the tenants in situ. They may arrange some storage for some stuff, but they probably wont.

Maverickess · 08/01/2024 16:02

AllIsWellish · 08/01/2024 15:29

Mine took about 2 hours, they only come every 5 years. The gas one every year annoys me, they said you an appointment and then get arsey when you have to change it due to working

This is the issue, at least for me, I have an appointment made for me, and as they've not bothered to actually clue me in so I am totally unaware until the day comes and I'm either in and they knock, or out and they leave a card that tells me I've failed to provide access and a nice list of concequences for that like court, turning the gas supply off and eviction.

I know it's due in a certain month, but short of never leaving the house for that entire month, if they don't tell me when they're coming how on earth can they expect me to grant them access? And I have tried to contact them to arrange in the month before and I'm told they contact me, when I say they don't until they turn up and then threaten my tenancy if I'm not in, I'm told they often drop by if they're in the area and you can rearrange if you're not in - absolutely fine, they have caught me in before like this, but, if I'm not in then don't start threatening stuff - just a 'We called on the off chance and you were out, please call this number to rearrange'. If you don't, or you don't keep the appointment or rearrange then is the time to start saying well this needs to be done and there's concequences if you don't arrange something.

Oh and it has to be someone named on the tenancy present for my ha and that's just me, because I have to sign for it, and yes, I've had more than one no show for these appointments and other appointments - one was while another contractor was actually there, the jobs were conveniently arranged for the same day (absolutely great and much appreciated idea!) Only one didn't show and then I got told I hadn't granted access and would be charged for the missed visit - until I sent copies of the paperwork of the first contractor showing that actually I was in because they were already there and that guy was there for the entire time of the window of the supposed second visit.

It's not hard to treat people decently and actually give them the opportunity to comply with you and not make stuff up. I pay rent, I'm paying for a service, people would be up in arms if you got that sort of service from anything else you were paying for, but HA tenants? Nah, they don't deserve to be treated decently.

It's like a home owner ringing an electrician, they say they'll come out that month, fail to provide you with a date or time, turn up whenever and then charge you for the appointment anyway. Can't see many people accepting the concequences in those circumstances.

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 16:08

@Maverickess YY The amount of no shows ive had in the past three decades............... and its the same here Its the tenant who has to be there for it not a neighbour. 11 years ago i had a very memorable visit from a gas safety engineer who talked about his and his wifes gambling habits.

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JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 16:12

Only one didn't show and then I got told I hadn't granted access and would be charged for the missed visit

Some people simply dont believe that contractors sometimes lie

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Flopsythebunny · 08/01/2024 16:18

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 16:08

@Maverickess YY The amount of no shows ive had in the past three decades............... and its the same here Its the tenant who has to be there for it not a neighbour. 11 years ago i had a very memorable visit from a gas safety engineer who talked about his and his wifes gambling habits.

Why are you so aggressive?
If you don't like conforming to the rules of being a social housing tennant (it sounds like you've been one most of your adult life), leave and find a private rental

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 16:21

It's not hard to treat people decently and actually give them the opportunity to comply with you and not make stuff up. I pay rent, I'm paying for a service, people would be up in arms if you got that sort of service from anything else you were paying for, but HA tenants? Nah, they don't deserve to be treated decently

From Maverickess post above. Wanting to be treated decently is not being aggressive

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JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 16:23

"if you cancel your appointment with less than 24 hours notice this will be treated as failure to provide access to your property and legal action may follow

Tenants on zero hours contracts who get called in with no notice will have to say no. HA will still want their rent though

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kitsuneghost · 08/01/2024 16:29

Are you on a zero hours contract?

BoobyDazzler · 08/01/2024 16:33

Everyone has to have maintenance on their homes whether they own it or rent it. It is sometimes inconvenient but has to be done to ensure a home is safe to live in.

The HA sound like they can’t do anything right -

Don’t maintain the property = arseholes
Try and maintain the property = arseholes

You are being aggressive.

Elleherd · 08/01/2024 16:33

I understand knee jerk reactions from decades of poor maintenance, cowboys, no shows, and contractors going missing from major jobs so you're left living in a building site for months, while the landlord demands you use up all leave being available for often all day call outs that don't happen. Poor treatment leads to see the logo, and the warning, and it all becomes one more of the same.

However, read it more carefully. You're being warned before you choose an appointment date, that you need to have arrangements in place so that if a disaster happened in the last 24 hours, it can go ahead still.
Actually relatively reasonable, though hard if no friends or neighbors that can cover you in emergencies. Different from them issuing dates then threatening.

How long can depend on the condition of the property. Ours is poor, generally worsened by their cowboy contractors, only doing things they have government grants for, and so badly, that I then have to try and fix to make livable.

I used our EICR (believe still not actually compulsory for SH landlords btw) and an actual electrician for the first time in decades, to force action on long term outdated dangerous wiring, lack of earthing, ancient overloaded fuse board, and a damaged 30 amp socket.
I'm disabled dependent on electrical disability equipment, and electrician had seen the crap standards in other SH properties. He looked at my situation and was brilliant, issuing enough C1's to finally force an electrically safe home.

The rewire etc was ugly butchering most walls, with us in situ. Admittedly I've been living in a ripped apart building site with contractors MIA/ subcontracting to each other to cover not actually fixing it ever since. But, having had wall fires (and non tripping fuse board) it's a huge relief to know no matter how messy and damaged, it's now safe, and no live wires near any leaks!

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 16:54

(believe still not actually compulsory for SH landlords btw)

Its not despite what we are being told. However it IS in the new Social Housing Bill. Along with the fact that owner occupiers WILL have to have this done by SH contractors if they have bought a flat in a building where there are SH flats. Cant wait for those threads to appear Will be interesting to see the replies.

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Elleherd · 08/01/2024 17:44

If that happens I'm sure the contracting organizations will manage to treat owner occupiers professionally. 😁
At a guess I'd suggest the owner occupiers will pick their dates and the SH tenants will then be given those days as an unmovable appointment.

Have frequently had contractors turning up without an appointment because someone else in the building has an appointment and they just expect access from everyone else because it's convenient for them.
I don't mind them trying it on, and most are fine, but have had a couple insisting I was "obstructing work" for not letting them and going off to work leaving them to let themselves out when done!

Have also had a 'you refused access we may take legal action' letter, when no appointment was made and oddly dressed bloke had no ID, just kept pointing at his tool bag. (Was surprised he turned out not to be a doorstep conman)

LindorDoubleChoc · 08/01/2024 17:49

Good Lord, what a FUSS over something you won't even have to pay for. It's like you're looking for problems over this for some reason.

Tumbleweed101 · 08/01/2024 17:56

They are a legal requirement and they get a tenants who book then don't bother to be there so now they just try to make the consequences sound serious enough that people take them seriously and are in when they have said they will be. In a real emergency just call and apologise and rebook. I've never found adjusting appointments for things like this a problem so long as you communicate with them.

JenniferBooth · 08/01/2024 17:58

If that happens I'm sure the contracting organizations will manage to treat owner occupiers professionally. 😁
At a guess I'd suggest the owner occupiers will pick their dates and the SH tenants will then be given those days as an unmovable appointment

Id lay money on it. The Social Housing Bill isnt to help tenants

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