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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to refuse gas safety check apt on an evening?

146 replies

CrimsonLipstickOnMyGlass · 07/03/2016 21:22

I'm genuinely not sure if I'm being unreasonable or not, basically my landlord use a plumber from the town where he lives which is over an hour's drive away, because the plumbers usual business is in the town where he lives he does not like to come to my town as it means he will be losing 2 hours worth of working time (while driving) which he will not paid for.
Because of this the plumber will not come here unless he has another job nearby or it's outside of his normal working hours, this means I either get a phone call saying 'I'm outside your house right now' or 'i will be in a few hours' meaning he expects me to drop whatever I'm doing and run home even if I'm at work, or he wants to come on an evening, usually with less than a day's notice.

Last year my gas safety check was due in August of 2014 but because of how difficult the plumber is, arranging the appointments was near impossible and it ended up not being done until January 31st 2015 which was in my opinion completely unacceptable and lead to bad feeling between the landlord and myself (as he viewed me resistance to an evening apt as unreasonable).
This year I tried to arrange the gas safety check before it was due but the landlord failed to get back to me. 6 days after it was overdue I came home to find a note from the plumber saying that he had been in the town and came to do the gas check but there was nobody in. The landlord is getting annoyed because he doesn't want a repeat of last year, neither do I, but again, the plumber refuses to come during the working day, I gave him several options of days that I would be in but he didn't even bother to get back to me to let me know that he was unwilling to come on those days.
This afternoon I received a text message which said ''can I come to do the gas safety check tomorrow night???''

AIBU to say no? I know it needs doing and it's urgent as it's overdue again and I do not want a repeat of last year, however, I do not like the idea of it being on an evening, I know that sounds really silly but it just makes me feel uncomfortable think a stranger in my house on an evening, I would just feel much more comfortable if it was during the day.

Is it normal for tradespeople to insist on working on an evening?

Would you allow a tradesperson to dictate that they will only come on an evening or would you allow an appointment on an evening such as this?
I could really use some MN advice on this.

Thank you

OP posts:

xenapants · 09/03/2016 23:15

It's only "inconvenient" because the woman refused to have a workman in her flat in the evening, which is absolutely ludicrous. I haven't misunderstood anything, thank you.

Original poster

CrimsonLipstickOnMyGlass · 10/03/2016 04:15

I didn't refused, I told him he could come and got my next door neighbour to watch for him but he didn't turn up!

OP posts:

Spring2016 · 10/03/2016 05:14

Yabu.

Spring2016 · 10/03/2016 05:48

If you are truly anxious of being alone with him, would you feel more secure if you stayed on your phone talking the entire time he is there?

Whatthefreakinwhatnow · 10/03/2016 05:51

Is this still going on?!

For goodness sake OP it's 20 mins max! Hurry up and let the man in to do his job, or you'll probably find you don't have a hpuse to let him into!
Seriously, two years in a row of obstructive attitude towards a vital, legal safety requirement, not a chance will your landlord make it a third!

PageStillNotFound404 · 10/03/2016 06:21

xenapants (and anyone else thinking the OP is being unreasonable), the OP is out in the evenings. That's why she's uncomfortable at having a stranger in her house unsupervised, which seems sensible enough to me.

The issue isn't with the OP. The issue is with a) the landlord insisting "his" plumber covers an unreasonable area rather than setting up a contract with someone closer to his rental property, and b) the plumber for refusing to take the job during normal working hours, giving insufficient notice on previous occasions that he would be in the area and, on this occasion, not turning up even when the OP had made arrangements to give him access in her absence.

Buckinbronco · 10/03/2016 07:20

I feel like I'm reading a different thread to everyone else but whatthefreak it was the landlords fault the cert was 5 months late last year. And it will be his fault this year if it's late. And next. There is every chance he will make it a third because he doesn't seem to care.

Well, pagenotfound and I are reading the same post at least. Exactly what they said

Whatthefreakinwhatnow · 10/03/2016 08:12

Why is it the landlords fault?!He has a plumber, the plumber wants to come and do it..... The OP is being,frankly,ridiculous and needs to just get it done!!!

whois · 10/03/2016 08:16

It's a bit 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

OP either needs to take time off work and make arrangements to be in for the appointment, or to be happy for the plumber to get keys of the LL and to work unsupervised.

However the plumber is unreliable and flakey and hasn't kept appointments made by the OP.

And the LL is being pretty U not to just use a local plumber who can come during the day.

2016IsANewYearforMe · 10/03/2016 08:19

It's your LL's responsibility, not yours. If you don't want to be there, your LL should arrange to be there.

OurBlanche · 10/03/2016 08:20

What whois said, as I have pointed out a couple of time now. Both sides are at fault, really.

Sadly it is OP who could be on the pointy end of any remedial action her LL might decide to take on the matter. So she really does need to put aside her anxiety and get something sorted with the gas man and her LL.

Buckinbronco · 10/03/2016 08:24

The plumber just keeps turning up at odd times and missing appointments whatthefreak

PageStillNotFound404 · 10/03/2016 08:24

The plumber doesn't want to do it. He'll only do it if he has another job in the area which seems to happen once in a blue moon and usually with insufficient notice for the OP to make arrangements (calls when he's only minutes away / notes put through the door when she's out). And then when the OP has left her keys with her neighbour, he doesn't turn up.

OurBlanche · 10/03/2016 12:56

To be scrupulously fair, as my job description demands

We don't know what the plumber wants. We have no idea what the gas man or the LL's side of the story is. All I can say for certain is that the OP and her LL are not a good mix, as far as the gas safety check is concerned. That leaves the LL in a sticky position and whatever the rights and wrongs of it, he may decide to find a new tenant, to avoid a hefty fine and maybe worse.

If I were the OP, and in the past I have been, I would put myself out once a year and get the gas safety check done: by being in, by arranging for the LL to arrange access or to leave keys or a neighbour at the property (not just keping an eye out.

HelenaDove · 10/03/2016 17:09

Blanche a lot of tenants put themselves out and it turns out to be more than once a year due to all the no shows. Eight no shows in a row is the worst one i know about. Best ive ever had was 2 no shows and then them turning up the third time.

Seems the gas safety check is only important when its the tenant at fault but not actually important enough for engineers to actually turn up.

Cant have it both ways.

#notallengineers

TurquoiseDress · 10/03/2016 19:34

Just popped along here & cannot this debate is still raging on!!

TurquoiseDress · 10/03/2016 19:43

*cannot believe!

sooperdooper · 10/03/2016 19:52

For the love of God I'm surprised the OP, the gas man or the landlord ever get anything done in their day to day lives if this is still being discussed as some kind of major issue

How do you deal with real dilemas??

OurBlanche · 11/03/2016 07:42

Cant have it both ways. Don't say that, Helena! Impartiality is the essence of my job. I have to be seen to be having it both ways, at all times

HelenaDove · 11/03/2016 13:23

HelenaDove · 11/03/2016 13:32

sooper it could very well be a real dilemma for someone on a zero hours contract who has to keep staying in and waiting for no shows from engineers.

Could be the difference whether they get to eat that week or not.

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