Plug Socket Dangerous Hazard Dispute (pictures)

[Skitrel]

I've had a disagreement with my landlord over penetrative damp coming through a plug socket. Other than this issue there is little else I'm too bothered about with my tenancy.

 

Please take a look at the below images. (If a mod couldn't edit the link to work after checking it that'd be great)

 

hxxp://imgur.com/a/LAma8

 

I notified my landlord of this after discovering it in my new tenancy (who had already been notified by other tenants previously). I explained I felt it was a serious electrocution hazard and probably a fire hazard.

 

My landlord put it in writing that due to good weather he was busy doing repairs on other houses that had broken fences/gutters.

 

I disagreed with this and felt that despite this being ignored for sometime the presence of a young child meant this should be an emergency repair. Broken fences and gutters can't electrocute people, his priorities are wrong here right?

 

Anyway, after 3 weeks of dilly dallying I eventually put my foot down and said if it were not addressed I would be calling the council. Someone came the next day but I was out (common area in shared house, allowed access without warning I think).

 

All that has occurred is the faceplate being replaced with a flat one without plugs. My landlord tells me the electrician has stated that this is now safe and is ignoring my communication.

 

I have a feeling he's telling me porkies and that this is in fact still dangerous and/or a fire hazard.

 

What should I be doing in this situation? He has told me as a result of the back and forth of me trying to get him to do SOMETHING (prior to the council threat) that I am the worst tenant he has had of 100s in his 17 years as a landlord.

 

I feel like I've been pretty reasonable and just wanted action on a dangerous hazard. I still feel like it's a fire hazard and further action should occur.

 

What should I do here? What are my options? What do the experienced here think?

 

If opinion is against me then fair enough, I'll put my hands up and admit fault and lack of reasonableness. I however feel like this should have been resolved in the kind of timescale that an owner-occupier would have prioritised it, and with a small child regularly in the house I feel like that's a hazard worthy of immediate repair.

 

Yes? No? Right? Wrong? Thoughts.

 

Thank you very much all.

[stu007]

Images link: http://imgur.com/a/LAma8

[marmaris30]

Perhaps it would be reasonable to ask your landlord to have his electrician explain how he made the installation safe.

 

For example, if the socket was fed by a spur, he could have isolated the supply at its branching point from the ring main and the blank faceplate is just cosmetic, with no live supply remaining behind. If it's part of a ring main, he could have joined the cables safely and used appropriate insulation for damp conditions.

 

A damp, live electrical installation is certainly a hazard, but if this has been addressed by a certified electrician, then it should now be safe.

 

If your distribution board is modern (i.e. Miniature Circuit Breakers rather than cartridge fuses or even worse, fuse wire) then the risk of a fire would be very low both before and after the landlord's intervention. However, if you start having trouble with circuits tripping, that could suggest there is more to the problem.

[dx100uk]

agreed

 

if you have trips

then you are OK

 

dx

[mariner51]

Pattern of water staining is unusual. Only local EHO or NICEEC electrition inspection could determine if remedial action is 'safe'

Photo's show a surface socket, rather than wall insert, which should be less prone to penetrating damp ingress.

[rebel11]

Hi Skitrel

 

Your council website should have something similar, just got Doncaster randomly :-

 

http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/sections/housing/privatesectorhousing/privatelandlordsandtenants/Health_and_Safety_in_Privately_Rented_Properties.aspx

 

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting/your-landlords-safety-responsibilities

[Steve__M]

It would be reasonably easy to make this safe from damp, so I'm sure a qualified (or even unqualified) electrician would have done so.

 

What is the surface mounted box? It looks a funny colour in the photos. Is it a proper plastic box?

[rebel11]

Looks brass covering a wooden housing.

 

It would be reasonably easy to make this safe from damp, so I'm sure a qualified (or even unqualified) electrician would have done so.

 

What is the surface mounted box? It looks a funny colour in the photos. Is it a proper plastic box?

[Steve__M]

If it's one of these it might be fine. I've not seen such things in my many trawls around B&Q's electric department.

 

http://www.lightupuk.co.uk/switches-and-sockets/wood-switches-and-sockets/light-oak-black-trim/surface-boxes-lobt

[rebel11]

It's a combo, unique, not coming to a DIY store near you anytime soon:-)

 

If it's one of these it might be fine. I've not seen such things in my many trawls around B&Q's electric department.

 

http://www.lightupuk.co.uk/switches-and-sockets/wood-switches-and-sockets/light-oak-black-trim/surface-boxes-lobt