To Ask A Tenant To Wait Til Morning For An Electrician?

[MeantToStopAtTwo]

It's nearly 10pm. Tenant (a youngish bachelor type who lives on his own) just rang to say he has lighting but the rest of the electrics are out. He'd like to have a power shower before he goes to bed and is worried about the stuff in his freezer. Can he call an emergency electrician out?

I told him no. He'll have to make do with a bath instead tonight and wait til morning. Unless of course he's prepared to pay the excess (over what an electrician's daytime rate would be) himself.

AIBU?

i would phone this time of the night, but thats only because i would be worried about ds medication in the fridge not getting to warm.

however if ds didn't need his medication i would be happy to wait

YANBU. Its not an emergency and the property is still wind and watertight with partial electricity. Apart from the fact I'd almost guarantee that a fuse has tripped due to overloading sockets with extensions, you are only required to act reasonably as a landlord. This doesn't mean supplying a 24 hour concierge service to instantly fix everything that breaks but to respond within a reasonable time. Its late at night, the reasonable thing (and the thing that almost every homeowner would do) is to wait until the morning. After explaining to him how a fusebox works and getting him to check it.

I'm not entirely sure that you would get an electrician out at this time anyway, particularly when you describe the partial electricity supply. And if you did, its going to cost you.

In my leases, I state that I am not responsible for my tenants' personal possessions and that they are advised to take out their own household insurance cover. Which will cover damaged freezer contents.

I do think your being unreasonable. I think you should address the issue immediately at your own cost - he pays his rent and it is your responsibility.

Paying rent does not entitle you to 24 hour concierge service unless you are living somewhere with a quite serious service charge on top. OP has not told the tenant to sort it himself, she is simply waiting until morning to sort this non-emergency, partial power outage. As any responsible landlord would.

And she should not be paying for the contents of his freezer. He should have contents insurance for that.

If he has to go to work in the morning and will lose pay then that is a different matter. It may be his appliance in which case you could ask him to pay part the charge but if it is faulty wiring or similar then you are responsible for his costs, your landlord insurance would cover this. It also depends on whether the heating and cooker is gas or electricity.

All I would say is that your decision should not be based on his individual circumstances. Your decision as landlord should be the same for any tenant.

Im in rented accomodation and rent through an agent, there is no 24/7 call out and if this happened to me I'd have to wait until morning to get an electrician.

I do not think it is unreasonable to have to wait.

You are supposed to give a certain amount of grace time, it is unreasonable to expect an electrician this time of night, however I would say first thing in the morning.

I hope you have an electrical certificate for the property, you are supposed to have if you rent out.

Surely, having to wait at home on occasion for repairs to be carried out (or having to arrange for somebody else to do so) is just part of life whoever you are, wherever you live, tenant, homeowner, anybody. It's not something tenants are normally entitled to compensation for.

Electrical certificates aren't currently required by law although gas safety certificates are.

YANBU....is it beyond him to check the fuse box?. Even I know how to check if a fuse has tripped....If he has lighting it's prob just one of the sockets.

YABU and I say that as someone who has been a tenant and is still a landlord.

I don't like all the "Oh he's a single man". So what? He's still entitled to electricity.

OMFG... Go to House. Reset fuse box. Problem solved

(probably)

"OMFG... Go to House. Reset fuse box. Problem solved."

This. (If nearby.)

YANBU. I say this as a tenant who had something similar happen 2 weeks ago. Our was the oven tripping a circuit. Texted landlord who was out of the country. He offered to get someone out but we said to wait till next morning. I checked the fuse box and reset it and some sockets came back on so we were able to use the microwave but not the oven. Freezer was fine. Thankfully we have a second fridge so moved everything to that.

Did he check the fuses?

It sounds like the fuse box. You need to sort it now if you can or reimburse him for all contents of freezer if it defrosts and you go round and wait for the electrician tomorrow. He is paying off your mortgage so you are responsible for stuff like this as l lord.

YANBU. In terms of the law, most things rely on the concept of "reasonableness". It is not unreasonable for him to wait until morning.

YANBU.

He should have contents insurance for the freezer but it won't defrost until the morning anyway. Can you get over there yourself and check the fuse box before confirming it needs an electrician or talk him through checking the trip switch if he can't.

He needs to check the fuse box, DH1 works for a letting agency (he renovates and maintains their property) he got called out to some stupid woman the other side of London on a bank holiday (no extra pay) to trip her fuse back on because the dozy cow did not know how to check a fuse box, I despair of some people

Speaking as a landlord YANBU - it's no biggie to wait overnight!

Electrical certificates are required NOW for rental properties.

Fabbychic - can you give me a link to this because I thought they weren't (although there was talk of bringing them in)

Yanbu. Has someone been out yet? Was it the fuse box?

Please don't think that I am talking about all tenants but I find that they won't even try to fix whatever the problem is.

Things like a loose floor tile (a small amount of glue). Blown light bulbs (I'm not kidding).

Hot water supply. (A simple matter of the overflow).

The list goes on and on.

I feel like selling up and becoming a tenant.

A dripping shower in the en suite. Couldn't wait one day or heaven forbid change a washer. (Even I can do that). Or better still use the second bathroom.

Firstly - re the freezer door. As others have said, if he leaves it shut, his food should not defrost. *Even if he does open it briefly (to get some food out or to check if things are still frozen) his food should still be fine. Opening the freezer for a moment is not going to instantly make everything thaw - it will only thaw if left open for some time.^

Secondly, no, I don't think you were being unreasonable at all. The tenant could have a bath, still had lighting, and his frozen food was probably going to be OK - under those circumstances, if it were my home and my electrician bill, I would wait.

Hmm - bolding only works if you put a * at both ends of the sentence - rather than an asterisk at one end and a ^ at the other. [needs more coffee emoticon]