Updating post from Reddit.
So I've got a lodger, and I was also freezing when the boiler went off, when I got home, however during the day I was lucky to be in the office . I mentioned I'd call someone out at 11am when I saw the message (Their message arrived at 10:30am)
I called someone out, and they said they'd come and fix it by 10pm. I said well that's fine. To be expected at this time of year. I also told the lodger this too.
When I got home at 6:30pm , I got shit from the lodger saying "Tell that engineer that if you're not gonna prioritise us, we're not gonna prioritise your money" and effectively told me to have a go at him. I said look he said he'd be here by 10pm however I'll call him anyway. He also said that I apparently badly organised it, that British gas would apparently come out in two hours, and that I gave him no update after the initial part of me saying that he's meant to be here by 10pm.
So I called to get an update twice (once at 7pm ish) and once at 9pm ish both times he said he'd arrive .He arrived at around 9:30pm in the end and fixed the boiler by 10pm.
Would it be reasonable to get the boiler fixed in that time? Looking online, it seems that British gas aren't as quick as he claims they are too, unless his experience of faulty boilers is in the summer when there's less "need" for them outside of hot water perhaps
Is the above reasonable?
Same day repair is pretty good going and thoroughly reasonable.
We're in the middle of a cold snap and no doubt the engineer is run off his feet. It sounds like he's been working a lot of overtime - no one fixes boilers at 10pm for the fun of it.
Remind the lodger that they've probably been prioritising the elderly and those with small children due to how vulnerable they are to hypothermia.
I’d also remind the lodger they’re free to move
Thanks. This is what I also thought but equally I don't want to be confrontational with him, even if he's been confrontational with me
Though would British gas get there even faster? If so, that's something I might consider but I'm not sure if they would be faster than a local service at this time of year.
>Though would British gas get there even faster?
Impossible to say really. None of us know how many boilers broke in your town, how many called British Gas, and how many British Gas engineers were off sick / on annual leave.
People seem to have an incredibly high opinion of British Gas, and it doesn't always match reality. My partner was quite convinced that if only we had Homecare they'd have replaced our boiler for free. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work like that with 12yo boilers.
I think 48 hours is reasonable. 24 hours better.
But same day is above and beyond. He might not even been able to get the parts, if something needed to be changed.
I did tbf consider that he might need parts too. At any rate, I've got electric blankets and oil filled radiators too which I'd probably take out after the first day of no heating tbh
Dude you're more than reasonable. He'd be lucky to this done so quickly.
In a private rental in might take several days and a landlord might just provide a portable heater in the meantime.
If they don't like your service then just tell them to find another place! I wouldn't even take that type of attitude from the lodger when you've been more than reasonable in your communication and speed of resolution.
Seems like the power dynamics is wrong here.
Your lodger sounds like a little bitch, he should deal with it and appreciate how privileged their normal day to day life is.
Your plumber is a diamond.
Considering you're also living in the property, it's hard to accuse you of being uncaring or out of touch with what they are being put through when you're right in it with them.
That does remind me that he said "I'm sure if you go to your parent's house, the gas works and it's warm"
I said "Yeah except for the days that it doesn't because the boiler broke" I was apparently undermining him by pointing out that the exact same scenario happened to my parents and it happens to thousands of other people too tbh
Pointing out flaws in his argument during a two person discussion does not constitute undermining.
Is he generally a positive presence in the house?
He was, until that happened tbf. He then accused me of being "lying, controlling and manipulative" as lied to me about something else , tried to force me to have a go at the engineer and tried to manipulate me to do that for him. I got a new mattress after the current mattress (about three months old) wasn't good enough for him. When he had a go at me, and then talked about the matters again, I said "There's nothing wrong with the mattress. I'd sleep on that myself, and there have been plenty of people asking me if it's available when I figured it's easier to give the" old "one away (though it's a single mattress)
Fortunately, the contract says
"and either party giving the other not less than the following notice in writing, served at any time 4 WEEKS/0 Days"
The whole text says
"XVI. Early Termination
a. by the Owner without notice if the Licence Fee is not paid on the day when it becomes due or if the Licensee is in material breach of any of the terms of this Agreement;
b. the Property or the Room becoming uninhabitable by reason of fire or some other catastrophic event;
c. if the Licensee becomes bankrupt, has an administration order made in respect of his assets, has a receiver appointed, makes an arrangement for the benefit of his creditors or becomes subject to any procedure for the taking control of his goods by another;
d. the sale of the Property and
e. by either party giving the other not less than the following notice in writing, served at any time 4 WEEKS/0 DAYS"
Regarding termination, even though it's a six month contract otherwise
He's a lodger not a tenant and apparently doesn't realise the fragility of his position. If I had a lodger one of the key requirements would be 'don't be an arsehole or you're out on your arse in short order'
The lodger is a tyrant. Get rid of it.
Its the busiest time of the year for boiler repair, I just wanted a quote form the place that is a 2min walk away they said all 4 of their engineers were fully booked for the next week. To get someone round on the same day is great. The only options you have really are to pay a lot to get someone out of hours or find someone who has free time , which probably means they are a cowboy.
The advantage of British gas is just numbers, they have the largest work force so its easier for them to find a bit of slack somewhere. But they are expensive and average, thats the trade off. You pay more for an average job but get better response time.
Tell him not to speak to you like that or you'll reconsider how comfortable you are with him being in the property
He's acting like you've ignored him, < 24 hours is amazing
My older friend in her 70s pays for boiler cover. They pay boiler cover through British gas. They came the day after, the part had to be ordereded. Up to 2 weeks they said In the mean time, they've had someone else out who has fixed it. They have cancelled their boiler cover. British gas not all it's cracked up to be
2 weeks for me during the 2014 cold snap.
Hot water and heating were down, cold showers were not fun
Worth having a constructive conversation with your lodger about communication. Sounds excessive / entitled if they don't understand that same day repairs regardless of organisation are pretty rare
You and your heating engineer have behaved very reasonably, your lodger has not. Moreover, he has no evidential basis to say British Gas would arrive in two hours and, in any event, any landlord or engineer worth their salt will tell you that having British Gas repair your boiler really would be a last resort: private engineers are invariably far better.
Based on your other posts I suggest giving the lodger notice to leave as he is unbalanced, entitled, and only going to get worse. Life will give him a reality check - but that’s not your job.
Thanks. I've just given him notice per my break clause.
At first I thought maybe he has a point. Maybe I did something bad, but it guess that was him gaslighting
Only real option. As soon as one party loses respect for another it’s time to part ways. They would have been free to go out or use another space to stay warm if that was an issue. Don’t ever challenge good tradesmen - sounds like yours is one especially if they came say day. Most would say next day/don’t work after 5.30 pm
There’s always emergency engineers but you’ll pay a lot more - call-out alone is steep.
May want to consider getting in a spare electric heater for future instances
I've got a few electric oil heaters anyway :)
And thanks
Just realised he's a fire risk too :(
Well I didn't just realise that, given he left the oven on overnight before and pretended it wasn't him
Anyway, I told him before to make sure that he cleans the fluff filter from the tumble dryer when he uses and he seems to use it freaking daily. I mentioned that it's a major fire risk, and I'm very fire averse given I've been in a house fire before (where fortunately it was contained entirely in the oven), and came close to having set myself on fire. When I was younger I had a space heater attached to an extension lead which is a big no no. Fortunately I had a Belkin surge cube, and it burned through that and cut out. Ever since then I've been incredibly fire averse.
And he's just ignored what I've said about fluff / lint. He also seems to wash / dry his clothes daily which seems a bit excessive but I never added terms for that despite it being bills inclusive.
Absolutely reasonable. I have four hours call out on my contract but the plumbing company do exceed that sometimes. I would be polite and firm with the tenant and tell him a fix within 12 hours is far better than most private household fixes and tell him you’re not prepared to be got at when you are doing your best to resolve it. I often find however that this kind of thing can be the other person having some other issue in his or her life so you become the convenient whipping boy. As long a they pay the rent let it go.
Given the responses above, I reckon I'll just get him gone. I live here too, so I don't want that behaviour to continue
Totally reasonable. Your lodger is not reasonable. However as a landlord. You do have a duty of care towards them and needed to provide a heater, although not in every room. Hot water on that temporary basis ( assuming you didn't have electric water heating back up) can be organised via a kettle on such a short period , if indeed it effected the water heating. British gas in no way offer a 2 hour response. You would be lucky to get them on a same day, although they are now offering that,provided you call them before 11 or 11.30 am . You have done nothing wrong. Handled it perfectly. A lot more than some landlords or even agents would or could.
Blimey we had an issue with our (oil) boiler last week and I was in shock because it only took 48hours to solve and it was only that quick because I was able to find the part in stock in a town I was visiting as their suppliers couldn’t get the part for three days! In our area it would be extremely rare to get a same day call out - we only got it as luckily the oftec guy was on a call out in the same village and we were on his route home and he squeezed us in to fit the part the next day between other clients (as my elderly parents were visiting - total nightmare timing).
I have had to explain to tenants so many times that we can’t magic up plumbers and parts especially as shit always breaks when it’s cold and so does everyone else’s boilers too so plumbers are flat out in the first cold snap - the good ones are booked up solid and if it needs a part that isn’t in stock it takes as long as it takes - if it was their own house they’d still be in the same situation. We have electric radiators we loan out too.
My in laws had British Gas homecare and said it was rubbish as their area was so busy (major town) they couldn’t get a BG engineer for days and they felt the money was wasted as half the time they ended up paying a different plumber to come out.
I don't live in a major town but I do live on the edge of a major city so I suspect they'd therefore be equally as bad then
Im sure with the council it's a 24-hour period, so he's lucky he's not in a council house and you were on it so quick. Well done the plumber for fitting you in quickly. Tell Lodger to wind his neck in and get himself a heated blanket or an extra jumper.
I had a problem with my boiler. No big deal, I thought, I have a BG contract. I called them, they couldn't come until the next day. Even then they couldn't fix it, so I ended up calling an electrician. Because there was a weekend in the way, it took 5 days to get hot water back.
I am no longer with British Gas.
Your lodger is being an entitled dick.
Sorting the same day is more than reasonable and more than I would expect these days. Your lodger is completely unreasonable serve him notice you don’t have to put up with this behaviour.
You and the repair man are commendable for sorting it same day.
Your lodger sounds like a whiny little bitch, that needs a slap.
Sounds amazing quick, I wouldn't assume same day. I'm not very pushy though, so I would never follow up so quickly.
Looking at some of your comments, I really don't understand why you put up with the lodger's attitude.