Landlord not paying for a boiler service

Leslie91

Morning all...

The gas bolier in the house we are renting had not been serviced in ages. Our landlord who had asked us to get a registered gas installer to check on an issue with the gas asked us to get the guy to service the boiler also. We paid the guy on the day and sent the bill with a covering letter to the landlord asking him to pay it.

He has always said he'd rather us not take such expenses from the monthly rent, instead he would pay these by cheque. Almost 2 months have passed and no cheque. We've texted him a couple of reminders.

Am I right?.... shouldn't the landlord be paying for this sort of work?. Should I take it from the rent which is due in a week? I'm thinking he is going to be difficult with our deposit if I do what he asked us not to do but at the same time he has not delivered on his end.

djimi

Absolutley; this sort of work is the landlords responsibility and you should not be paying for it. You should not have even paid the guy on the day, but that is neither here nor there now.

My advise would be to send a registered letter to the landlord requesting payment for the work done (enclose a copy of the invoice if you have one) and suggesting that if the money is not forthcoming you will have no choice but to deduct if from next months rent (do not deduct anything from this months rent). If you get no response in 7-10 days send another reminder letter. Keep copies of all correspondance and do everything through registered letter (not text/email as they are worthless).

Whether or not you should actually deduct the money from the rent is another matter; I would suggest contacting Threshold to find out. The first letter that you send may be enough to either get your cheque or written confirmation that you can deduct the money from the rent, but if its not you need to take advise on what is the best course of action. Withholding rent money is usually considered a big no-no, and if you need to take a case with the PRTB to recover your money/deposit they will see it as a black mark against you. Your written registered letters however may show evidence that you made every effort possible to recover your money.

One other thing I would ask is have you any proof that the landlord asked you to pay the repair man and that he would give you your money back?

Leslie91

Tx so much for the advice. We will not deduct from the rent so, did not know this was a big no-no. We will send a registered letter and let him know that if we get no reply to the letter we'll deduct it from next months rent.

Sorry, to answer your question, no we've no proof that he asked us to pay it and he'd pay us back, it was done on a phone call.

handlemaster

Leslie91 wrote: »

Morning all...

The gas bolier in the house we are renting had not been serviced in ages. Our landlord who had asked us to get a registered gas installer to check on an issue with the gas asked us to get the guy to service the boiler also. We paid the guy on the day and sent the bill with a covering letter to the landlord asking him to pay it.

He has always said he'd rather us not take such expenses from the monthly rent, instead he would pay these by cheque. Almost 2 months have passed and no cheque. We've texted him a couple of reminders.

Am I right?.... shouldn't the landlord be paying for this sort of work?. Should I take it from the rent which is due in a week? I'm thinking he is going to be difficult with our deposit if I do what he asked us not to do but at the same time he has not delivered on his end.

How about ringing him instead of texting. Anyhow it is totally his responsibility to service the boiler. I bet if you say your going to take the bill out of the rent plus 'hassle' money he won't be long contacting you.