Electric problems ?

[Margaritte]

I'm not sure if I've posted in the right place? DH cooked crumpets under the grill for DC this morning., and I washed up when they had finished. When I washed up the tray that had been used, I put it behind the draining board upright & as it touched the tap, I got a shock. I wiped down the kitchen sides, and when I wiped over the top of the oven I got 2 ore shocks. So I switched it off at the wall, and that also gave me a shock

What does this mean? DH came in & tried and he didn't feel anything, although he didn't have a soapy hands / damp cloth.

From the Shelter website:

Emergency repairs

Emergency repairs to your home could include:
total loss of water or electricity supply
total loss of heating during cold weather
gas leaks
if you have been burgled, and your doors or windows are no longer secure
fire damage
any electrical wiring or installation faults which are causing sparks or shocks

here

Also Refusal to repair

Carry on like this someone is going to end up seriously hurt or dead. Do you want it to be your children?

Then stop playing amateur sparkie and insist your landlord comply with his statutory obligations. Via environmental health if necessary.

Don't blame the OP. She just feels stuck - she is in a difficult position. Either she has to confront the landlord and insist on something that the LL isn't happy to do, thus putting her tenancy under stress (no one wants a 'difficult' tenant) or she has to get someone out to it herself.

She's doing her best.

As I said - find an electrician with free call out, or get someone from the council to come over asap. Free electrician option would be quickest. Don't tell them your LL doesn't want to pay, they may well do once they have evidence it's required.

what Psipsina has said. Please use no electrical device except the phone to make these calls and complaints.

your landlord could have taken out home emergency insurance for the property for not much money which covers all these things. He didn't - his problem, not yours.

Oh I know it's completely the landlord's fault here. I'm cross about that but also genuinely worried about the safety of the family. So OP if you think my posts are getting at you I'm sorry, I'm sure you're doing your best, it's just frightening how unconcerned your landlord is.your

Thank you for all replies. So if I call out an electrician with free call out (how do I find these please?) and they find a fault, will they insist on doing it there & then? If they don't find a problem, will they charge me for that?

By the way, I am asking for just the OP to be deleted (it's very outing) Though I am still coming on here to update & get advice

please don't call out your own electrician as you will be liable for the bill. Insist that the landlord calls one, OR that you have written (email at least) permission from him to call one out and deduct the cost from the rent.

this is a start:

www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk/Choosing-An-Electrician

but I still don't think it is for you to do.

It's Ok, don't worry. Have it all deleted if you like - but PM me first so I can carry on offering advice, also PigletJohn might be amenable to this (he is a pro, I'm not!) but I can't say how busy he is.

You can find an electrician by googling electrician and your area, or looking in the yellow pages, or the best way is one of those trusted trades websites. Checkatrade, is it? I can't remember. They only list people that are honest and recommended.

Also the council will be able to recommend an electrician who is certified as a competent person. You can also look on the competent persons website to find someone near to your postcode. Ring one or two of the numbers and see if anyone is available today, explain it will have to be a free callout as your landlord is responsible for the work.

If they do find a fault, they will shut down your electricity (using the switches) and you won't be allowed to use it till you have it fixed. To do so would invalidate your insurance if anything happened, also the landlord's buildings insurance.

TBH you're invalidating that now as is your landlord - should someone be injured or a fire start, no one would pay out if you knew there was a fault.

The electrician will be very wary of tenanted houses where neither the landlord nor the tenant wants to pay (it is very common). So tell him/her beforehand that you have had a shock and need a quote for fixing it which you will pass to the landlord. Ask if there will be a charge for the quote. Then neither of you should feel awkward or let down.

You need a qualified person who must be a member of a government-approved "Competent Person" scheme such as www.niceic.com/

There are several schemes. www.competentperson.co.uk/

Try to get a personal recommendation, don't use an interweb "recommendation" site as they are usually full of paid-for adverts. Do not phone an out-of-area or 08nn phone no as it will be an agency that passes out the work to any contractor who pays them commission (which goes on your bill). If you use an ad in the parish magazine or local paper, look for a company name that you can verify is local, with a real address and landline phone no (not just a mobile) and the badge of a Competent Person Scheme. For some reason Parish Magazines are usually a good source of established local tradesmen.

Yes that is a website that will serve you well.

However there is no harm in getting a free callout, it might help you persuade the LL to do something.

If you can persuade the LL to act that would be far preferable.

I don't think checkatrade is just ads is it PJ?

The problem is, that any site which charges advertisers traders for a listing, has to keep them sweet. So such a site might be quick to remove an unfavourable review if their paying customer doesn't like it. Sometimes reviews are screened first, and unfavourable ones never appear. Sometimes favourable reviews are composed by the trader and their friends and family.

A site which takes requests from punters and sends them off to traders may charge £25 for each referral, even if they don't get the job. Traders get very disheartened if their quote is then rejected, or the punter is just fishing. All those £25 charges have to get loaded onto the bills.

I find established traders boast that they have plenty of satisfied customers and don't need to pay for leads. A satisfied customer is the best recommendation.

BTW postings which are unfavourable to recommendation sites often disappear, because their lawyers write to the website and demand removal. Even if they're true.

OP just ring your landlord back and insist they get a professional to look at it.

This thread is a good reminder, that whilst a lot of landlords think it isn't a specific legal requirement to have electrical safety checks carried out, without these checks, you cannot guarantee a house is electrically safe, which is a legal requirement.

Unfortunately I know of an incident where a woman was sadly killed in the bathroom of a (rented) property due to an electrical fault/bonding issue. I also have personal experience of the HSE inspector arriving at a property where there had been a fire caused by an electrical fault - their first request was for copies of the electrical safety certificates. Luckily there were no fatalities but it is a stark reminder of the seriousness of this issue.

It is peoples lives that are at stake, and a good landlord will always have an electrical safety check on installation and appliances. I personally think the checks themselves should be mandatory in the same way as gas, with timescales etc specified, then there wouldn't be this disconnect of landlords having to guarantee electrical safety but the checks themselves not specified.

Margaritte, you and your husband should do no more than visually inspect the electrics. Your landlord is out of order by asking your husband to rebound earthings. The more I read of this trail the more concerned I become. It's Monday morning so everyone is at work. Call your landlord and give him 2 options - either he gets a competent electrician to inspect the fault today or you will but deduct it from his rent. When the electrician visits, ask him what his competencies are? He should be 17th Edition qualified as it is a rental property.

You said previously that you had a good landlord. I'm sure many other posters would question that with his response to this matter. Maybe you've just been lucky before. Please update us with progress.

Margaritte, is your fridge and freezer full of food? Have you had to switch it off? Are you able to use your cooker?

all for electrical safety checks, but as an aside make sure it is not just PAT testing on appliances. As a landlord have been caught that way before, paying out for a fairly useless check that doesn't look at the main wiring of the property!

OP - hope your landlord sees sense before you turn the big guns on him.

MNHQ have got back to me - I asked to delete my OP as it would 'out' me (should have name changed really) Only way to do that is to delete the thread or change details. I'm going to ask that the thread by removed, and will take up Psipssina's offer to PM them for advice. Thank you to everyone who has posted on here, has been very helpful. As a quick update - nothing has really changed since earlier - still in the same situation