to think that a gas meter shouldn't smell of gas?

[startingmylifeagain]

Ok this incident was not in the UK but in Hungary where we've just returned from.

Had to change accommodation for a number of reasons, one of the reasons being that the apartment we'd booked was FILTHY (think grime on the work tiles, huge cobwebs on the ceiling and a mattress stained with blood); however the main reason was that the apartment smelled very strongly of gas.
The smell was coming from the gas meter which was inside a cupboard in the kitchen. We noticed it as soon as we arrived.

The landlord was called and was totally NOT bothered. He (grudgingly) agreed to come round that night and check.

We opened all the windows and waited.
When he arrived at 11pm, he stuck his head inside the cupboard, muttered something in Hungarian, and said "is fine" to us. I replied that it's not fine, it stinks of gas, and a meter should not smell like that.
He sulkily said"ok I will return tomorrow and sort it out" and disappeared out the front door and ran away.
We were shocked and disappointed. We called him again but he didn't answer.

The smell was very strong and I was really worried. DH booked us into a hotel down the road.
The next morning we called him at 9am and he didn't answer. We spent the morning sitting in the apartment smelling the gas with the windows open and not knowing the best course of action, until he finally turned up at 1pm with another chap who turned out to be the caretaker of the building.

He too stuck his head in the cupboard, said "is fine" and then proceeded to flick a lighter and then held it up next to the pipes?!
DH asked him what he thought he was doing, and the guy replied "Look no gas!"

I said to the landlord, "You do realise that if there had been a gas leak we'd have just been caught in that explosion??"
He smirked and said "yes but there wasn't."

They eventually left after repeatedly telling us "no gas."

Ok so the "lighter test" proved there was no gas leak, however after they left the smell became even stronger and we could smell it everywhere. Bathroom,bedrooms, kitchen. It was very very strong next to the meter.

I couldn't relax and after we discovered how filthy the apartment was we packed and left after 3 days.
The landlord has been totally ignoring our calls.
On the day we packed and left there was a strong smell of burning in the apartment as well!!

In the UK the Gas network would come straight out to that.

If you called the company that supplies you gas they would be legally obliged to place an emergency call to the gas network and then they would come out very quickly.

It's quite considered quite dangerous here. Especially when the gas meter is inside.

I used to work for British Gas and we would have to tell you to leave the property until the gas network people arrived.

I hope you didn't book the apartment directly with him.

Ive reported the smell of gas before and got told to not light a match and leave the property and stand outside as standard response. The smell was outside on the pavement. A man from the gas board was there within 10-15 minutes. Saw him sitting in his van 5 minutes later doing nothing so i went out to aplogise for wasting his time. He told me i hadnt as all gas smell needs to reported and in this case the gas pipe under the road must be cracked due huge smell and he couldnt move from that space till his back up came. Within 5 minutes three gas vans, traffic lights and a digger arrived and blocked the road. They worked through the night with floodlights on and closed the road to make it safe. So op you not incorrect if you smell gas report it!!!!

Don't know. Because in our old house the meter was in an outside cupboard and it dud smell of gas,especially when cold. We had it checked several times and it was fine.

We had exactly this with our meter here - gas board came out, checked it, found leak and replaced the meter. New ones has no gas smell at all

i reported a gas smell around an outside meter and the gas was shut off. It was off for 3 days until i paid $4000+ to a repairer in the coldest winter Canada had for decades. I found out that you cannot think properly when you are freezing for days?

Holy shit OP. He actually held a naked flame up to it???? You could have all been blown to bits!!! Report him ASAP to someone -- anyone !!! FFS that could have been lethal.

Olivia - the OP was in Hungary when this happened. Doubt she's going to have much luck finding someone relevant to report him to, and presumably doing it in Hungarian as well?

Make sure you put on this on Tripadviser so that other people can be warned not to stay there.

yes that's what I meant. Complain to whoever you can - this bloke is likely to kill someone.

Thanks for your comments. We fully intend to take this further.

Does anyone have any information or knowledge of gas safety laws in Hungary at all?
Long shot I know but just thought it's worth asking.