Pls help, vindictive tenant. Boiler pressure drop problem

[imurray]

I was hoping you'd be able to help me shed some light on a problem. We've lived in our house for 8 years, in that time the pressure has dropped maybe 5 times and the boiler needed topping up and restarting. Unfortunately the boiler is in the loft, but i'm not fussed about climbing up there. (Sorry I can't seem to hit enter to make another paragraph so this will be one long message). I was made redundant in Nov 2011, tried to find work until Feb 2012, when I couldn't myself and my wife decided to go travelling. We rented out our house and had a guy of about 65 move in. Well my god trouble started, every week the boiler went off, and the guy refused to climb into the loft (which is fair enough) I had parts replaced but still didn't fix the problem. The pressure always seemed to drop at the weekend so a £100 call out. This carried on for ages, after spending over £1000 I got fed up and arranged for a friend to go round to adjust the pressure, well it just miraculously stopped 2 months before he moved out, the moment it wasn't going to cost me money. We've been back in the house for 4 months now and not once has this occurred through really cold weather. I believe this man is vindictive, he called out for everything and made things up. I did notice that the thermostat on the wall was turned up to max when he moved out. Can you purposely make the pressure drop. He was writing a book so was at home 24 x7, could having the stat turned up fully for great periods of time cause the problem? He is now threatening legal action if I don't pay him a huge sum of money because of this issue. Any help appreciated!!

 

[Masood]

Hi, welcome to the forum, and sorry to hear about the problems you have had. Yes, it is possible to purposely make the pressure drop but proving it will be nigh-on impossible.

However, based on your description I don't think that he has a leg to stand on with regard to legal action. When he called you, you responded (or got someone in), you weren't withholding heating from him, he seems to have made no complaint or legal proceeding whilst the issues were ongoing, and now he has left.

Unless he has suffered serious health issues due to cold or damp as a result of no heating, and it has taken this long for the symptoms to manifest (and be attributable to the lodging), you're not in any danger IMO.

Caveat - I'm not a lawyer, only heard one side of the story, yadda yadda.

 

[SimonG]

Tell him to jog on. Sounds like you acted in good faith and within your obligations as a landlord (I'm only a plumber so may need to ask that question to somebody with a more legal background). The only way to make the pressure drop, without going into the loft would be to open up a rad bleed valve or crack a nut somewhere on the system. That is if there is no fault with the boiler.

 

[imurray]

Hi, welcome to the forum, and sorry to hear about the problems you have had. Yes, it is possible to purposely make the pressure drop but proving it will be nigh-on impossible.

However, based on your description I don't think that he has a leg to stand on with regard to legal action. When he called you, you responded (or got someone in), you weren't withholding heating from him, he seems to have made no complaint or legal proceeding whilst the issues were ongoing, and now he has left.

Unless he has suffered serious health issues due to cold or damp as a result of no heating, and it has taken this long for the symptoms to manifest (and be attributable to the lodging), you're not in any danger IMO.

Caveat - I'm not a lawyer, only heard one side of the story, yadda yadda.

Thanks for your reply, I had a fully managed service by the estate agent (10% + VAT) and they were under instruction to, within reason to carry out all repairs without prior authorisation, this included all the times I had to pay out to get someone to come round to top up the boiler. We said this as we were out of the country in a very different time zone and understood there could be delays

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i'm with masood on this. it's very easy to drop pressure on a sealed system, you don't even have to go into the loft to do it. your ex tenant is trying it on imho. get in touch with the plumber/s who were called out and get a report from them over the issues.

 

[imurray]

Tell him to jog on. Sounds like you acted in good faith and within your obligations as a landlord (I'm only a plumber so may need to ask that question to somebody with a more legal background). The only way to make the pressure drop, without going into the loft would be to open up a rad bleed valve or crack a nut somewhere on the system. That is if there is no fault with the boiler.

I don't understand why he had so much trouble and we had none, it just doesn't make sense to me. He also had Heating and Gas bills of £400 per month, mine with the same provider on same tariff through extremely cold weather with both myself and wife at home looking for work was £100 (3 bed bungalow)

 

[Masood]

Thanks for your reply, I had a fully managed service by the estate agent (10% + VAT) and they were under instruction to, within reason to carry out all repairs without prior authorisation, this included all the times I had to pay out to get someone to come round to top up the boiler. We said this as we were out of the country in a very different time zone and understood there could be delays

If you have this in writing, then you're 100% in the clear. You acted in good faith, the only people possibly at fault would be the agency. However, I don't think he has a hope in hell!

 

[SimonG]

Sounds like the bloke has far too much time on his hands.

 

[imurray]

He caused £2000 worth of damage, these days your deposit is left in an escrow with a company called TDS, I presented some videos of the damage, but unfortunately only the file was time stamped. The Estate agents check in check out was flawed and also their pictures weren't time stamped. The tenant submitted a 347 page document, full of passages about himself and his company and basically full of lies. I lost because of the check in/ check out and got £87 back. It was up to me to prove he damaged not for him to prove he didn't. I haven't got time to fight that size document either. He is retired, he used to be a really rich guy who lost everything so is bitter. He actually failed his credit check so had to pay 1 year up front, this should have rung alarm bells. I shall never rent again! Thanks for the advice, i'm going to phone the plumber at lunchtime

 

[SimonG]

Good luck and I hope you get it sorted.

 

[Millsy 82]

If he caused £2000 worth of damage and the reason you never kept the deposit is the agents then claim off the agents they have not provided you with the service you paid for!

If it had of been me and the bloke refused to get up into the loft to fill I would of fitted an extra filling loop and pressure gauge in an accessible place. This then means they wouldn't have to get into the loft.

 

[imurray]

I would of fitted an extra filling loop .

No idea what this is, would have been good if one of the companies filling the tank would have suggested it. To be honest, I just want to move forward and get on with my life, i'm not interested in suing anyone. There are bigger battles to fight

 

[imurray]

The cost will be a lot less than £2000 when I do it myself obviously I got quotes from contractors. The actual amount was £1700, I was exaggerating a bit

 

[glenno1]

Have you seen these £400 bills,he would have to produce them in court

 

[imurray]

Have you seen these £400 bills,he would have to produce them in court

When I phoned up the energy provider they wanted huge DD from me and were astounded at the previous costs on the account

 

[Millsy 82]

No idea what this is, would have been good if one of the companies filling the tank would have suggested it. To be honest, I just want to move forward and get on with my life, i'm not interested in suing anyone. There are bigger battles to fight

I would claim back off them. I have worked for a fair few letting agencies and some of them took the money answered a few phone calls regarding the property and never carried out inspections or didn't carry out what they promise the people they would do.

These type of people need to be punished financially not you. I would get a few quotes and work out the average then take it to a small claims court you would stand a good chance as they have not carried out their job.

That's just my opinion though over my career I've had so many people try to claim against me for something thats not my fault I think why not.

 

[glenno1]

You reacted to his problems in the only way you could,so i think he is just a very bitter man like you say

 

[imurray]

He's just a really horrible human being, I don't see why people have to be like this

 

[Best]

You have two issues as I see it,

(1) You have lost near £2000 because the agent didn't do their job properly. - Might be worth persuing the agent for compensation & if they don't pay, then small claims court is an easy & inexpensive option for you.

(2) The tenant now threatening to claim money of you for the heating problem. - Get legal advise (free or otherwise). They will probably recommend a letter sent to tenant carefully stating your basic position & refuting his claim.
Get all evidence you can, - plumbers call outs, agents evidence etc. Don't worry too much as it sounds like he is a bully who gets a kick from this. Bully him in a legal way.

 

[oz-plumber]

Get a lawyer and let them handle the situation for you.
Don't have any further correspondence with this guy.
He is trying to make you feel vulnerable so he can get some money out of you.
Don't take it personally - he would have tried this on with other people probably numerous times.
The more vulnerable, guilty and scared he can make you, the more he sees his money coming.
Let him take you to court and produce his 347 page document about you, your agent, and your property and see how far he gets. The judge will throw him out of court.
They deal with these situations on a daily basis and can smell a rat a mile away. This bloke is a rat.

Don't let the problem be yours, get a lawyer and let them deal with this guy. He would most likely go away if he knew he had to deal with lawyer and face one in court.

 

[jase158]

347 pages. the judge will laugh him out of court!!! That's a page for every day he was there isn't it? judge will never read all of that, will take the basics, see he is trying it on and throw it out of court. get yourself a lawyer and make a counter claim for court costs, don't do it alone, lawyer may cost money but will help in the long term.

 

[imurray]

347 pages. the judge will laugh him out of court!!! That's a page for every day he was there isn't it? judge will never read all of that, will take the basics, see he is trying it on and throw it out of court. get yourself a lawyer and make a counter claim for court costs, don't do it alone, lawyer may cost money but will help in the long term.

How I understand it is that a small claims court is set up to defend yourselves therefore I cannot claim back the solicitor costs even if he gets laughed out of court. I will one though as i'd be ****e against this fella. He swans around like he's lord of the manor, he actually has a bullet proof BMW 750i he bought off of some middle eastern fella. He's a retired antiques dealer that was in my house writing a book on Persian rugs.....

 

[Best]

Small claims court is generally a non solicitor court & if you use a solicitor you can't claim their costs.
If you feel you don't want to pay large legal costs, then take all the free or cheap legal advice you can get & do it yourself. Use common sense - the judge will & they only make a decision on hard facts, so if he hasn't evidence & you can present all your facts, you should win.

 

[lame plumber]

you dont want hassle so short note in reponse to his claim denying responsibility as system was left working and still is. If he goes down small claims route, use cab, as a solicitor isnt allowed to appear in front of judge with you, and first part of small claims can all be done on line. So sit tight and wait for his claim if it ever comes, dont fret.