Cowl for the chimney - landlord or tenant?

Corinne

Hello,

Quick question hopefully someone can answer:

Our landlord is a little scatty and not so up to date on landlord/tenant responsibilities or house maintenance, generally. We get along fine but for example, they didn't think the chimney needed cleaning when we moved it as "the previous tenant lit fires all of the time, with no problem".

Anyway, eventually the landlord decided it was time for the chimney to be swept and it was as well, as there was a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. At the time the chimney sweep also fixed the metal cover thing (cowl?) on the chimney to prevent birds nesting in it.

Now (about a year later) the chimney appears to have a birds nest in it so the cowl must be faulty or broken.

Is this our responsibility to repair, or the landlords?

exaisle

Look at your lease. If the landlord paid for a chimney sweep, it's his responsibility to fix the cowl.

newacc2015

exaisle wrote: »

Look at your lease. If the landlord paid for a chimney sweep, it's his responsibility to fix the cowl.

Its not the law though. No rental housing code in Ireland would have a trivial matter like this in it. They are literally have a 4 ring hob and hot water at most. Most landlord use the generic lease from Easons etc which generally bans naked flames

OP Im surprised your landlord is allowing you to have a fire in the house, as most insurance companies ban them. I would also buy yourself a carbon monoxide alarm.

handlemaster

newacc2015 wrote: »

Its not the law though. No rental housing code in Ireland would have a trivial matter like this in it. They are literally have a 4 ring hob and hot water at most. Most landlord use the generic lease from Easons etc which generally bans naked flames

OP Im surprised your landlord is allowing you to have a fire in the house, as most insurance companies ban them. I would also buy yourself a carbon monoxide alarm.

What are you talking about ins company banning open fires ! Never heard of that ...

Gumbo

Why would an insurance company ban an open fire?
As a landlord, I would want the cowl done so I would consider it my job to do as to protect the house itself from nesting.

Corinne

Thanks all,

According to our lease chimney sweeping is our responsibility after the initial sweep - that's fine. I wasn't sure if a cowl comes into that as it seems less of a maintenance issue and more of a thing to do with the structure of the house. Anyway, I will check with them. They are happy for us to light open fires - the house is very open plan and poorly insulated, so the heating bills would be extremely high, otherwise.

newacc2015

newacc2015 wrote: »

Most landlord use the generic lease from Easons etc which generally bans naked flames

OP Im surprised your landlord is allowing you to have a fire in the house, as most insurance companies ban them. I would also buy yourself a carbon monoxide alarm.

Where do people get this nonsense from. Never did I see a rented place (bar apartments) where a fire wasn't being lit or a gas/oil fire in use.

As for insurance companies banning open fires, it's just never ever going to happen.

Chimney cowl is structural, its for the landlord to fix.

Gumbo

Deleted User wrote: »

Chimney cowl is structural, its for the landlord to fix.

It's not actually structurally, more of a preventive measure.

Pawwed Rig

It is not something you could make a stand on as there is no legal responsibility for one to be provided. Have you tried mentioning it to him?
If he won't pay then either pay yourself or leave it.

Ms Doubtfire1

Well,

I could imagine if there were a fire or smoke damage due to a non functioning cowl the insurance would drag their feet to cover.

But basically, all maintenance of the house is the LL obligation.
So is the repair of the cowl.

claimshandler

Insurance companies do not ban open fires in houses, as long as they are fit for purpose and compliant.

If there was a fire or smoke damage in your property and you needed to make a claim, your insurance company would have grounds for refusal if there was;
1) Lack of maintenance (ie Must be cleaned regularly)
2) Faulty workmanship
3) Wear & tear
4) Gradually occurring cause.

I would be of the same opinion as Kceire, it is not a structural issue.

It may even be the case that the previous tenant fitted that cowl and your Landlord may not be aware of its existance.

If the LL did arrange the chimney to be swept then his chimney cleaner may not have fitted cowl correctly afterwards, if that is the case maybe LL should mention it to his chim ney sweep.

Either way, it is always better to approach matters diplomatically with your landlord

Gumbo

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

Well,

I could imagine if there were a fire or smoke damage due to a non functioning cowl the insurance would drag their feet to cover.

But basically, all maintenance of the house is the LL obligation.
So is the repair of the cowl.

The cowl is there to stop birds nesting or entering the chimney flue and to help prevent rain entering. It has no effect on the performance of a fire.

Ms Doubtfire1

but isn't it true that if a bird does nest the smoke could come into the living room and cause damage?
As such, if the cowl is broken, that could not be prevented?

cruizer101

OP have you a picture of the cowl, you say it must be broken because there is nest there, maybe its just a bad cowl, there are many different kinds of cowl, we've never had a cowl and never had birds nest there.

claimshandler

Is it a H cowl or a "china mans hat". The H cowls are used where there are problems with downdrafts or if there is a lack of pull of smoke on the flue liner....
If you have any issues with your chimney and your landlord is not helpful you could try <mod snip> recommendations by pm only

kceire

kceire wrote: »

It's not actually structurally, more of a preventive measure.

No way! you expect the tenant to climb on your roof??

Gumbo

Deleted User wrote: »

No way! you expect the tenant to climb on your roof??

Where did I say that??????
The cowl itself is not a structural item as you said it was. . It's a decorative cover to prevent rain and birds entering.
It's not a requirement nor a necessity but just in case you want to be picky, you might go back and look at my initial posts in this thread where I clarified that as a landlord I'd want one in place and would consider it a LL item to have to protect the dwelling.

If a tenant was on my roof, I would evict them.