Tenants paying for gas safety check

[internetCrazies]

I've just been visiting my mum's rented house and a friend who is a plumber was there doing the annual gas safety check. Mum said it was £75 she could do without having to pay right now as she's skint. Plumber asked what was the £75 for and apparently that's the landlord's charge each year to tenants for the check. She will be invoiced soon. Plumber friend scoffed at that seeing that he doesn't even charge that much!

She's in Scotland and the landlord company is based in Nottingham. Charging tenants is illegal, right? Surely?

Tenant here. Never ever had to pay for the annual gas safety check... and my LL is a shit.

Why sorry but why was a plumber doing the gas check? Surely it should be a gas/heating engineer?

I've lived in rented accommodation in Scotland for many years both in a house share (HMO) and on my own. I've never had to pay for gas and electric checks. Does your mum have a copy of the tenancy and kept all her previous receipts? Get her to make an appointment with her nearest citizens advice (CAB) for assistance. They may be able to put a stop to it and claw her previous payments. Depending on who you get, they can help to draft a letter on your mums behalf.

@Crushsick He's a gas safe engineer plumber. Perfectly able to do both. Can fix your sink and your boiler.

Does her tenancy agreement specify that she will pay for the check? Although it is obviously the Landlord's legal responsibility (and for this reason I pay for it because I know it has been done then) I don't think it is illegal to pass the cost on to the tenant.

When we set the rent we charge we take into account the expenses we have to pay eg. mortgage interest, insurances, repairs and gas checks and then set the rent so in effect it is accounted for in the rent.

Sorry to derail, but PineappleScrunchie if you're in Germany, you should already have paid for your gas check as part of your operational costs and this should be stated in your annual Betriebskostenabrechnung. However, your landlord should not be billing you for repairs and maintenance work; this is (apart from a very few exceptions where the costs are very strictly limited) illegal. If you do get a giant bill at the end of the year, take that straight to your local Mieterverein!

It’s tax deductible for the landlord. No excuse for them not to pay!

It's ripping her off. No tenant would expect to pay this. I very much doubt that her rent is any cheaper to take account of her having this additional cost.

Very unusual but it depends on the terms of the tenancy, if she’s agreed to pay it she can’t go back in that because it’s ‘not the norm’.

My DH does a lot of gas safety checks and they have all always been paid by the landlord.

Also £75 is a lot to pay. My DH charges £50

The law in Scotland is very different and it is illegal to charge a tenant anything other than rent. Letting fees are definitely illegal. I would seek clarification on the gas cert - I think the landlord has to pay.

Also yes I do a lot of rental accounts - £50 is definitely the norm for this.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/housing/renting-a-home-s/common-problems-with-renting-s/

It’s the LL’s responsibility. See above link.

@InternetCrazies Ah I see!

My engineer charged £50 for a gas safety check this week and I pay as ll. I wouldn't dream of asking my tenants!

If I were her I wouldn't pay. At all. It's the LL's responsibility to do it.
God, some LL's are cheeky cunts aren't they?