1 February 2010, 10/23
First eviction for refusing life-saving gas safety
check
Repeatedly refusing the Council access to carry out gas safety
inspections in your home is not only a health risk it could cost
you your home - as the first evicted tenant has found out!
As a responsible landlord, West Lancashire Borough Council has a
legal duty to carry out the servicing of gas central heating
systems/boilers every 12 months or the consequences could be
fatal.
Latest information from the Health and Safety Executive
indicates that up to 20 people a year die in the UK as a result of
carbon monoxide poisoning and hundreds more suffer major injuries
and ill health.
Unfortunately, tenants don’t always realise the importance of
these vital checks, which can save people’s lives by spotting
faults leading to carbon monoxide poisoning. In West Lancashire the
Council struggles to gain entry to some homes to carry out this
potentially life-saving work.
Now, for the first time ever, the Council has had to evict
tenant James Simpson from Lea Crescent, Ormskirk, as a result of
numerous failed attempts to access the house.
Councillor Val Hopley, Portfolio Holder for Housing, said: "It
is vital that tenants co-operate with these inspections because if
they don’t they are not only putting themselves at risk, but also
their family, visitors to their property and even nearby
neighbours. I can’t stress how important it is that they allow us
entry to do this work because I would dread to see the day when a
fatally occurs as a result of a gas fault that so easily could have
been prevented.
"We do all that we can to avoid eviction and this tenant has
received numerous visits, letters and warnings stressing his
obligations to let us in. Even when we started court proceedings he
still had the opportunity to halt the process by co-operating with
us but unfortunately he didn’t. Now he has been evicted for
breaching his tenancy conditions. Please let this be a warning -
you must let us in when we come to do these essential gas safety
checks in order to live in your accommodation safely. If the day or
time for us to call to carry out these checks is not convenient to
the tenant then they must contact us immediately to make
alternative arrangements as the contractors will be happy to agree
a mutually agreeable alternative."
For more information about the Council’s responsibilities as a
landlord and tenant obligations, visit www.westlancs.gov.uk/tenants.
Related information