From: Ronald Raygun 
Subject: Re: Landlord or Tenant: who pays for repairs?
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 13:01:38 GMT

john boyle wrote:

> In message <2nhjt0l2vpf33ev9ugsrnth1ifqe5nn3ku@4ax.com>, mogga
>  writes
>>It has to be serviced every year too.
>>http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/index.htm
>>
>>Have  a  look on there.
> 
> It only needs to have a safety check every year, a service is only
> required if the management contract specifies it.
> 
> http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/gas_law.htm#Responsibilities%20-%20Lan
> dlords

I think you've misread that bit, JB.  The third bullet point in the
Landlord's Responsibilities section implies both maintenance and
checks must be carried out, and it's the landlord who has to make
sure it gets done.  Mind you, the wording is a bit woolly and it
can be construed to mean only that *when* maintenance and checks are
carried out, then they must be done by a dog.  Since checks have
their own bullet point (the second) to say they're mandatory and
since there is no equivalent bullet point covering maintenance
(i.e. servicing), it *could* be taken to mean that servicing is
optional.  This is all a bit subtle, though, since gas boilers
(unlike their oil-fired cousins) don't generally need servicing
as such, i.e. a service basically consists of a check, so once
you've done the mandatory check, you've already done a service.

The second last bullet point, which mentions management contracts
and is the one to which you are presumably referring, seems to be
about clarifying whether landlord or *agent* is responsible for
making the arrangements, not landlord or *tenant*.

But in principle, there is no reason why a tenant should not also
act in the role of landlord's agent, and make all necessary
arrangements for everything, if the landlord trusts him and
doesn't want to be bothered with day-to-day management and doesn't
trust a commercial agent to do as good a job as the trusted tenant.

None of this, however, addresses the OP's original question, which
isn't about who makes sure repairs get done, but about who pays
for them.  It is customary for it to be the landlord, so that the
tenant's costs are absolutely predictable except for own-fault
breakages.  But no law can stop landlord and tenant making a deal
transferring the risk to the tenant in return for a substantial
reduction in rent.  It would be very unconventional, though.