Hi
We have been asked by one of our landlords to turn the electricity on from the fuse board and turn the water supply on when checking the tenants in as he doesn’t want the electricity and water on while the property is vacant. We have explained that this is not something that we would do on a check in as firstly it would be difficult to actually reach the fuseboard in the property and secondly if when it is switched on we find a problem it could create an issue and the tenants may feel that the property is not ready. We have suggested that he arranges to go to the property the day before the move in to check everything is switched on and ready for occupation but he says that as his managing agent it is our job. We have suggested our maintenance contractor/electrician turn it on and check everything before the move in but the landlord will not pay for his call out. Please advise if you think we should do this as part of our management duties or if it is the landlord’s responsibility.
1 Comment
13/03/2019 2:56 pm
We think if you meet the tenants at the property anyway, this is not a wholly unreasonable request.
All the smoke alarms have to be checked by law “on the day of commencement” anyway so at some point on check-in day somebody has to attend for that and they will have to have sufficient apparatus to do that so you should be okay if it’s a high consumer unit.
It’s highly unlikely there would be any problem when switching on if it’s a modern trip switch style consumer unit. They are very reliable and if it didn’t work, it would have probably failed at some point anyway. It’s more likely you find a problem with a smoke alarm than with the consumer unit.
If it’s an old style replaceable fuses, we probably wouldn’t allow such a property to be let. It’s not necessarily unsafe but it’s very easy for an occupier to put the wrong size fuse wire in making it unsafe.
guildy