Do I need to compensate tenant for emergency boiler repair that needed parts?

BG will charge a one off fee in conjunction with a yearly contract.
In adfition theu will not take on any boiler unless the other issues are dealt with, such as the water leak, at their rates.
They are a business, there to make money. All insurance based schemes have clauses, cannot claim for a certain period etc.
Wake up if you feel that anyone will repair for a nominal fee and allow you to walk away!

I had 'emergency insurance' on all properties a few years ago, whereby the tenant or the landlord could call a number and get an emergency plumber, electrician or heating engineer etc. That scheme was discontinued (by the insurance company) but I would consider replacing it if anyone had any recommendations?
I already have a gas engineer, plumber and electrician who normally sort out any problem within a day or two but they don't necessarily always work on bank holidays

Reply to the comment left by "Ellen McInnes" at "05/01/2016 - 23:24":

Ellen,
As with all other areas of contract law, there is never a single answer that fits all scenarios. There will be a degree of 'what a reasonable person' would think.

If there is no heating because, for example, of a regional power failure for a few days during a winter storm, the landlord would not be expected to compensate.
If there is a boiler breakdown, then hot water and heating can be provided by way of portable heaters and kettles. How long this can go on for would be down to the causes. A few days would not be unreasonable, but any landlord must be prepared to show that they acted with due promptness in attempting to get the problem fixed.

It sounds like the council have misled you. If you ever get a Council Officer telling you what you 'must' do, ask them to put it in writing or otherwise point you to where the advise is clear and unambiguous.

Reply to the comment left by "Kathleen Gell" at "05/01/2016 - 09:39":

Kathleen,
This Landlord has behaved impecabbly. I don't know if you are a landlord but I can assure you standard landlord insurance covers the buildings and contents associated with landlord. I don't think I have ever seen any policies that cover compensation of the tenant. Maybe some very expensive policies that cover loss of rent would include something like this. These are usually expensive and full of loop holes so I don't go near them. A second point I would take issue with is your assumption that using a managing agent would ensure the tenant landlord relationship would run smoothly. In my experience nothing could be further from the truth. I have intervened several times when the tenant has been fobbed off multiple times by my agent and had a reasonable request. I now stick with rent collection only and do all my own maintenance.
Getting back to compensation it seems like the rental agreement should be clear in this respect. If tenants expect alternative accommodation, compensation etc every time their is a fault with the property they need to get it into the contract.

"Four days following the annual gas cert and boiler service (no problems found) a tenant notified me the heating had stopped working."

I know OP, says he trusts his boiler engineer. I have two thoughts in my mind. If the boiler was serviced, it is possible a small drop of water fell on the PCB during the service. Boom it is gone!.

Second thought, when I call engineers, I sometimes wonder if they are taking away working parts and fitting in faulty / intermittent parts which they have taken from others customers. I can't prove it, as I am not always there.

For Gas Safety certificate, I use an an engineer who hates fixing boilers, but only likes the easy work of doing gas checks. This way I know he is not scamming boiler parts.

As landlords, we should put pressure on boiler manufacturers to make boilers more reliable. Older boilers are less to break down then newer boilers. Some of those manufacturers, who give 6 years warranties insist the boiler is serviced every year as a condition. Why can't they make 6 year guarantee boilers with no servicing. Tenants don't have time to stay at home for engineer visits....

Reply to the comment left by "Anon Landlord" at "11/01/2016 - 13:57":

'Second thought, when I call engineers, I sometimes wonder if they are taking away working parts and fitting in faulty / intermittent parts which they have taken from others customers.'

GLAD TO SEE SOMEONE IS EVEN MORE MISTRUSTING THAN ME! DO YOU HAVE EVIDENCE THAT THIS EVER HAPPENS? I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE.

I can't prove it, because trying to prove it is not easy. I can only go by gut instinct and a sense I am being scammed. I only wish I had a rig like BBC rogue traders.

I have noticed when the PCB is faulty, the gas engineers NEVER leave the old PCB behind. The only part left behind after a job are low value items.

Lets say, the true cause of a boiler fault is a valve, which is not expensive. But they tell you it is a PCB, so you change that. They fit a new PCB, replace the valve (which is not expensive). They take the old working PCB they take with them, which they can fit in someone else's boiler. They can tell that customer it will cost £200 for a new PCB or £100 for a reconditioned one. Which one do you take?

Once, I had had an engineer check my PCB, I noticed he had 2-3 old PCB in his van which looked used. He was using for diagnostics. He was swapping them over. But I wondered if I had not been there in person, would he have just left the a faulty PCB in the boiler and taken my good one?

To a dodgy gas engineer, a gas boiler is just as good a treasure chest!

Even if fitting new boilers, you need to be cautious. Choose an engineer, who hates doing repairs, but prefers just to fit new boilers.This was you know parts have not been scavenged....

if you have a boiler fault, be there is person, even during a routine service. They won't like been watched over....

Reply to the comment left by "Anon Landlord" at "11/01/2016 - 16:06":

MAY BE YOUR RIGHT.
POSS THEY KEEP THE PCB FOR SCRAP VALUE.
I ALWAYS ATTEND CP12'S SO MAYBE THATS WHY I HAVENT BEEN A VICTIM.

I do despair!

As a gas engineer I value my customers, I value the CP12's for continuity of work, I value the breakdowns, I offer a good service to people that value me.

Some engineers lack experience and it these that will take a shotgun approach to fault finding, in effect they haven't got a clue so lets try the PCB! In some cases it often is, but they are easily diagnosed. It is true that engineers carry PCB's as an aid to fault finding, particularly the Ideal brand of boilers where one PCB will fit all models with modification of the jumper pins, but this is not to scam customers!

As to those of you that are absolutely positive they are being scammed, then maybe you are watching too much Rogue Traders?
All it does is worry customers who are then convinced they are being fleeced!

Happy days!

I am getting close to having a policy of paying for a fix price repair from the likes of BG every time I get a boiler fault. As I am fed up with gas-fitters refusing to backup their work, just claiming it is another part that has failed, when they charged the wrong part, or damage something while changing one part.

PS, why are people asking someone with a 4 year degree, 10 year experiences running engineer projects and membership of the engineer council to fix a boiler, when it is a job for a gas-fitter rather than an qualified engineer?