Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 10 11

Original poster

To be pissed off with my tenants changing plugs on my appliances

253 replies

ReallyTired · 15/02/2016 08:05

They aren't electricians. Am I legally responsible for their stupidity if they electrocute themselves? (Gawd forbid!) They did not contact me about any maintained problem.

If there is a problem with an electrical appliance I would rather they told me so I can get someone with half a brain to fix. I have a condensing tumble dryer in the flat. They moved out the dryer and complained it has water in it. Duh! It's a condensing tumble dryer and you are expected to empty the bottle. There are instructions about all appliances. For some stupid reason they decided to change to plug and now they have tripped the electrics.

OP posts:

OurBlanche · 15/02/2016 09:33

Ah! Rent to amateur letters can also be a nightmare

cleaty - I refer you to my previous posts regarding 10 year old regulations!

BarbaraofSeville · 15/02/2016 09:34

It can be useful to 'change' a plug if you need to fit the wire through a hole that a plug is too big to get through, such as for appliances etc that are sited in TV or kitchen units.

Before all the non-removable plugs nonsense, you simply take the plug off, feed the wire through and put the plug back on - job done.

Now you would have to piss about with wire strippers and find a normal removable plug, making the job more difficult and time consuming - can you still buy normal plugs or do I need to start hoarding the ones I have?

Snoopadoop · 15/02/2016 09:35

OP... You clearly know as little about electricity and appliances as the tenant. You can wire white goods directly, there would therefore be no need for plugs that they can 'fiddle with'.
I am assuming as you are so keen on electrical safety and the safety of your tenants that you have ensured all equipment and appliances undergo electrical safety testing annually.

landrover · 15/02/2016 09:35

The appliance is ten years old, so possibly didn't come with a wired on plug (things have changed a bit now). Plugs are very easy to change, done it lots of times. Reason for changing a plug? Ive dropped and cracked plugs quite often (typically a tiled floor). You should always replace a damaged plug for safety reasons. maybe something was spilt on it? Lots of reasons that plugs may need to be changed.

cleaty · 15/02/2016 09:35

The regulations said you can not do rewiring yourself, and that a LL needs equipment PAT tested. It does not say you can not change a plug or change a fuse yourself.

hufflebottom · 15/02/2016 09:37

What was their reason for changing a plug? Sorry if it has already been asked and answered.

A fuse in the plug yes, but the plug itself? I'd be questioning why they had felt the need to change the plug. But they must of fluffed it to trip the circuit. But all they would need to do is flip it back on.

As for your legal responsibility for the tumble dryer, (which most landlords in my experience don't supply and tend to only do the cooker and fridge if they do supply white goods) did you check it wasn't a dodgy one from whirlpool etc if it is I'd be changing it regardless.

cleaty · 15/02/2016 09:38

Reasons for changing it given above.

shazzarooney99 · 15/02/2016 09:38

Whats wrong with them changing a plug? if the fuse has gone? surely better that than chasing you to come do the job?

In the olden days we were taught how to change plugs.

cleaty · 15/02/2016 09:40

OP have you had it PAT tested every year? This is a legal requirement for LL.

landrover · 15/02/2016 09:40

I remember when to change a fuse in the fuse box you had to change the actual fuse wire itself! Anybody remember that?

OohMavis · 15/02/2016 09:41

land I still have to.

DrDreReturns · 15/02/2016 09:41

landrover my parents still have a fuse box with actual wires in it!

ItWillWash · 15/02/2016 09:43

I've only just had my fuse board changed from one of those Landrover

My boss showed me how to change the fuse wire when I first moved in. Every time a light bulb went I had to change the fuse wire. I got fed up of it and asked the LL to update the fuse box. The electrician's apprentice had never seen a fuse board like it

OurBlanche · 15/02/2016 09:46

cleaty - you are wrong. The regs are not well defined but any commercial premises, including residential lets, it could negate an insurance if a solid wired plug is changed by someone without the relevant certification - as per the quote in my previous posts, in response to pp sayig they had 'fixed' the cooker plug.

The regs are vague enough to count in your own home too. Do you not remember the furore when they were introduced? The modifications to the regs in 2013 did not remove that, see parts 1.6 and 1.7 and, specifically, part 2.8a installing a built-in cooker is not notifiable work unless a new cooker circuit is needed So you can plug a new cooker in but cannot meddle with the wall socket as that forms part of the circuit!

Lauren15 · 15/02/2016 09:49

I can't believe the people who are disagreeing with the Op. As landlord, she is held responsible for the safety of electrical appliances so she has every right to say who changes the plug. The dryer itself is 10 years old so out of guarantee but changing a plug would invalidate a guarantee.

Marynary · 15/02/2016 09:49

Regardless of whether the tenants should or shouldn't have changed the plug, it is unlikely that they caused the damage to the tumbler. It is ten years old and probably past it's life span anyway. Charging them for a new one when you have no evidence that they broke the old one is outrageous. You haven't even checked the plug!

Sirona · 15/02/2016 09:50

Landrover my last rented place had one of them - and I only moved out a year ago. I had to contact the landlord as I was totally flummoxed when I went to change the fuse and was faced with one of them. Never came across one in my life and I'm late 30s.

cleaty · 15/02/2016 09:53

The wall socket is different from the plug.

I have actually just read the regulations, it does not say that it is illegal to change a plug yourself in domestic or homes rented out.

diddl · 15/02/2016 09:54

I thought that for quite a while now appliances had sealed plugs on.

So surely if they have buggered sbout with a sealed plug they are totally in the wrong?

cleaty · 15/02/2016 09:55

If I were your tenants, I would now call you every time a fuse tripped. I would show no initiative at all.

cleaty · 15/02/2016 09:56

diddl - A 10 year old appliance probably does not have a sealed plug.

OurBlanche · 15/02/2016 09:57

I didn't say it was, cleaty. I pointed out that I was mainly referring the the cooker socket poster. And I am fully aware of the difference between a wall socket and a plug, I was quite clear in a couple of posts.

Also, a LL does have further legal repsonsibilities when it comes to electrical good in their properties. Which is why tenancy agreements state that any such needs must be referred to the landlord, so that they can have their own goods serviced/fixed to their own standards.

LBOCS2 · 15/02/2016 09:59

I change plugs when things stop working. It's the first thing I do when things go wonky. Change fuse, change plug, check that switch is wired tightly and hasn't come loose. When that fails Google. Only then do I bother calling anyone or replacing something.

This. It's basic home maintenance surely?

The OP hasn't actually clarified which order these things have occurred in. Because frankly, I find it surprising that the tenants would have faffed about with the plug, located at the rear of their tumble dryer, presumably necessitating moving white goods about if there wasn't a problem in the first place. Whereas, if, for example, the electrics in the property had tripped out, they'd reset them, it had done it again and they'd then started looking at the fuse/plug on the tumble dryer - surely that's being a little disingenuous about the cause of the electrical fault, and indeed the increase in rent to them? The fact that they'd fiddled with it is neither here nor there...

OurBlanche · 15/02/2016 10:00

diddl, that would be the logical take on it. That's why the were made mandatory.

And cleaty, the regs are 11 years old, there was a 12 month 'grace' period for new appliances to be manufactured to met them and regulated premises to meet them. They had done so for a couple of years by then. So a 10 year old appliance would have a sealed plug

WoodleyPixie · 15/02/2016 10:02

Honey you wouldn't buy a plug?its a couple of £ , I don't get not doing small jobs because it's a rental. Our landlord told us about a previous tenant who would call her to change a lightbulb as she said it wasn't her responsibility!

I do small jobs such as change a washer/fuse change light bulbs etc but then that works to my advantage as well as I don't want to be taking days off work to wait for people to come and do jobs that take me five minutes.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 10 11