Rogue Landlord Encounters

[KevinH]

Has anyone had encounters with rogue landlords?
I will tell my short story (and keep it as short as possible)

I had a call a few weeks back from a landlord to sort out an issue with an immersion heater following an "incident".

It seemed an emergency so I arrived that afternoon and the tenant, a middle aged Eastern European lady, let me in and explained (as best she could) that the landlord had fitted a plugtop to the immersion heater on the day she moved in to give hot water.

When I looked in the airing cupboard, I found an unrecognisable big black blob of melted mess that used to be a plug and socket where the 20A DP should have been. (Wanted to attached a pic, but it says the file is too large). After having a quick scan around the property, I noticed the tell tale signs of a rogue landlord. A pendant hanging from the ceiling supported by the cables, a cracked socket, no smoke alarms, and my favourite, a 3036 Re Wirable fuseboard. Not an RCD in sight!

I got straight on the phone to the landlord and explained the situation, of what had to be done, and completely unfazed, his reply was "can you just get the hot water back on and I will pay you cash", to which I replied "I can't do it today, I will have to return tomorrow".......

Ok, so I lied! I never had any intention of returning, as I have come across these type of landlords before who cut corners, totally ignore the safety of tenants and risk of a fire, and of course expect everything done for pennies...often not paying at all. I have not got the time of day for them!

Suffice to say that I informed Electrical Safety Roundtable, politely advised the tenant to find another landlord, blocked his number from my phone and walked away.

Should I feel guilty for leaving the lady with no hot water? How are these landlords getting away with it?

 

[DPG]

There will always be good and bad in all walks of life. That includes landlords, tennants, electricians, plumbers, etc etc. Such is life unfortunately - a small percentage of people will just never give a damn.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Sometimes its just lack of knowledge , I went to a flat during lockdown similar to the OP a landlord had attempted to fit a new immersion heater element themselves and fit a cheapo plastic timer for the tenant. The switch was the old 20a original switch that they took the old original 1.5 flex to then added a new cheapo timeClock but then took a 0.5mm 2c flex to the immersion from the timer.
they called me as the The timer clock and 0.5 flex had completed melted into a crispy black mess.
On inspection the cheap time clock was only rated at 5A and we all know 0.5 flex won't hold up to the 3K draw of a heating element.
The landlord didn't have this knowledge , even with the best intentions

 

[timhoward]

Having a card reader and ability to send payment links helps a lot in these situations, ok you lose a percentage, but for smaller jobs for rogue landlords the moneys in the bank and you can crack on.
(If I'd been paid up front I would have probably been willing to fit an isolator, the installation met the regs when installed and I'd only be changing an accessory.)

 

[KevinH]

I was tempted to do as timhoward mentioned to get the water heating up again, but you know when you get a bad vibe for a bad landlord and a job you don't want to be associated with.
I have a card reader, but that's no good when the landlord isn't on site and says he will "drop the cash off tomorrow" because his card isn't working.... Oh yes of course he will!!

 

[DefyG]

There will always be good and bad in all walks of life. That includes landlords, tennants, electricians, plumbers, etc etc.

Agreed! went to do some work (un-related to EICR) for a landlord, the day before new tenants moving in and she then produced an EICR previously carried out.
It was littered with C3's but whilst working there had noticed exposed singularly insulated cables, lack of earth bond to water service, broken light fittings/accessories, incorrect ratings of OCD to name a few, but it was declared 'Satisfactory'!

I pointed out the issues that I thought should be C2's and suggested she take it up with the original inspector especially at the 11th hour!
The landlord in this case I felt not a rogue and wanting to do 'everything by the book' but oblivious to the shortfalls I found in the EICR because it had been declared Satisfactory!

 

[LukeD]

Rouge landlords are my "project " in life .I currently rent and our landlord is a greedy lawyer that does what ever she can to distance herself from "the law" .All illegals mainly doing work for cash in hand . 11 min EICR's , She lies all the time and blames her "team" .I remind her that in court ... its her that will be stood in the dock and Ive given her enough info to say she should have carried out a lot more due diligence and show some respect . When i am faced with a bad landlord .I dont hold back.I inform the tenant of their rights and the law and I also inform the landlord and tell them what I think of them. MANY seem to have come from the same "backgrounds" So think of that what you will !!! People say you cannot Stereotype , But YOU REALLY CAN !! Now I also noticed the councils dont really care or act . I have the LOndon Fire service coming next week to do a report on our alarms/detectors , They do this for free , but £50 to the Fire charity means they will put their report in writing AICO have also done a report saying in no uncertain terms that the fitter did not fit them to their specs . They are 2 inches from a corner . A basic smoke capsule test shows the corner really affects the smoke pattern when it rises and Curls away from the detector .

Years ago ... I would be stood in a Friends Plumbing shop in North London very close to Golders Green And "landlords " with 30-50 tiny flats etc (Most illegal) would offer £50 for each Gorgi cert . Now some of the guys would look at it as a HUGE income , cash . Some would start arguing with these scum landlords and tell them to FO . But what was VERY obvious , The council did NOT want to investigate . They get away with it because we are a pathetic nation who are worried about holding up our laws etc etc just in case the "Racism or religious " allegation is used against the authorities AND THEY DO > And the Councils are Just too lazy .

 

[Rockingit]

Agree with all the sentiments above but for some balance.... not ALL LL's are like this. I've ended up doing a partial rewire on a place purely because my EICR C3's didn't 'sit well with him' even though they were entirely reasonable to ignore, and in the process of relocating the CU 12" inside a kitchen cabinet (perfectly good condition existing RCBO unit apart from being plastic) I mentioned I'd need to patch up a small knock-out hole in the cover which is no longer needed and he asked to just get a new CU. I'm so far up to around £5k on labour and materials that he could legitimately have turned a blind eye to.

 

[KevinH]

Slightly going off landlords, It always amazes me that these EICR "inspectors" have the audacity to cut so many corners during an inspection. I understand that time is money and all that, but how do some of them sleep at night.
And how don't they get found out?

I would be worried if my signature was on the certificate of something claiming that an installation is safe for continued use where it clearly isn't. What if the worst were to happen following the inspection? Isn't an electricians livelihood worth more than a quick £50 knock off report??

 

[Rockingit]

Slightly going off landlords, It always amazes me that these EICR "inspectors" have the audacity to cut so many corners during an inspection. I understand that time is money and all that, but how do some of them sleep at night.
And how don't they get found out?

I would be worried if my signature was on the certificate of something claiming that an installation is safe for continued use where it clearly isn't. What if the worst were to happen following the inspection? Isn't an electricians livelihood worth more than a quick £50 knock off report??

Well, logically that will happen. Sadly it will come to pass that a tenant somewhere will get injured or electrocuted and then the questions will get asked, and a certificate will be found, then the signature that's on it.... then the blame game will start.

You only have to look at Grenfell to know that was a problem waiting to happen, that everybody knew about, where nobody wanted to actually do anything about it because profit was being made, until it couldn't be ignored any more.

 

[davesparks]

. MANY seem to have come from the same "backgrounds" So think of that what you will !!! People say you cannot Stereotype , But YOU REALLY CAN !!

I completely agree, the vast majority of bad landlords I have dealt with are the stereotypical old, former city worker, jaguar driver who spend the money they should be using to repair the properties on their golf club membership.

 

[littlespark]

Are you saying ALL landlords are bad, or ALL bad landlords come from same stock?


As mentioned previously in the thread.... there are indeed some very good landlords along with the very bad ones.
And equally, there are some very bad tenants and very good tenants. You CANNOT stereotype. That is a slippery slope to lots of words ending in "....ism"

I believe one of our own forum sparks is also a landlord, and i bet we have members who rent the house they live in.... Don't hear much griping from those people.

There will be individual cases of a "bad" landlord, or indeed, a "bad" tenant.... and that is why there is safety checks, licensing systems and rental agreements in place... to protect the good of both sides

 

[Rockingit]

Are you saying ALL landlords are bad, or ALL bad landlords come from same stock?


As mentioned previously in the thread.... there are indeed some very good landlords along with the very bad ones.
And equally, there are some very bad tenants and very good tenants. You CANNOT stereotype. That is a slippery slope to lots of words ending in "....ism"

I believe one of our own forum sparks is also a landlord, and i bet we have members who rent the house they live in.... Don't hear much griping from those people.

There will be individual cases of a "bad" landlord, or indeed, a "bad" tenant.... and that is why there is safety checks, licensing systems and rental agreements in place... to protect the good of both sides

We're a Landlord and frankly we'd be embarrased to have tenants in anything other than a 100% property!

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Quite fortunate that in Bath where most of my work is the council if they get sent the information on a dodgy landlord and dangerous property can and do act quite swiftly. They have a polciy now where by if a property is dangerous they can get court orders preventing any eviction and get the work done and billed to landlord or a charging order on property.
They have really upped the game.
Likewise most of the agents in Bath are also quite good now. you will always have landlords moaning and cutting corners but i do think the days of them getting away with it are numbered around here.
BANES council wrote to most if not all the air bnb hosts recently asking them to check the mortage, insurances etc as they will shortly be starting a new process of inspecting them unannounced. They cant actually legislate against them at moment so finding other ways to sort it all out. they basically want to clamp down as its vastly reducing the number of normal rentals in Bath pushing rents up.
They will be going in with fire brigade, building control etc to inspect just like an hmo and if they find something amiss will make an example. talking to a councillor about the scheme, she said they have even considered letting mortage companies know that the property is no longer owner occupied or being used for short term lets as they may then call the mortage in for repayment.

 

[davesparks]

BANES council wrote to most if not all the air bnb hosts recently asking them to check the mortage, insurances etc as they will shortly be starting a new process of inspecting them unannounced. They cant actually legislate against them at moment so finding other ways to sort it all out. they basically want to clamp down as its vastly reducing the number of normal rentals in Bath pushing rents up.
They will be going in with fire brigade, building control etc to inspect just like an hmo and if they find something amiss will make an example. talking to a councillor about the scheme, she said they have even considered letting mortage companies know that the property is no longer owner occupied or being used for short term lets as they may then call the mortage in for repayment.

That sounds ridiculous to me. If landlords are moving from private rentals to air bnb style short lets then going in guns-blazing like that is not going to help. Those landlords are more likely to sell up or leave the property vacant than go back to private rental.

If they want to stop landlords leaving the private rental sector then they need to address the things which are causing the landlords to leave, not penalise them for leaving it.