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Gas leak in apartment. Who is responsible for repair ?
I have small gas leak in apartment. It comes from underneath of gas stove and probably caused by improper installation. It's not very strong and I only noticed it after few month of moving in and first thought that it's smell from furniture, but now I'm sure that it's a smell of gas.
The question is: who is responsible to pay for repair ? Is it me or landlord, given that stove was improperly installed.
If I'm responsible then whom should I normally call ? Is it company that installed stove (am I entitled for free repair ?) or my gas provider (Luminus in my case).
Thank you in advance for any hints.
If you have a real gas leak in the apartment, getting it repaired is a far higher priority than deciding who pays for the repair.
Look on the Luminus website for the emergency number for reporting a leak and let them repair it and tell you whether or not it is as the result of an improper installation.
Don't let the building blow up whilst you worry about saving a few Euros.
You are responsible for reporting the gas leak and dealing with it promptly. If the apartment now blows up, you will be liable because you've not reported the leak. You can argue about who's fault it was in the first place when there's no longer a risk of explosion.
I suspect that you will end up paying for it anyway, the usual broad "rule of thumb" is that a repair that is inside and accessible is the tenant's responsibility, and only if it is outside and/or inaccessible is it the landlord's.
However, I would certainly speak to your landlord about it as they can sometimes be more helpful than you might expect.
When you have an expert opinion about the reason of the leake, you would know who should pay it. Inform your landlord in writing (e-mail) that you have the issue and ask them what to do. Or tell them how you will proceed and that you will send them the bill if the reason is unproper installation. They should reply by e-mail and you will have their agreement.
Most of the owners are normal people who understand that the tenant is not going to renew and upgrade their property while paying the rent also. Mine pay for everything which is replaced because it is old and malfanctioning. This is what I hear from friends too. Hopefully your landlord is of this type:).
I had trouble meeting "normal owners" in Belgium. Two rentals, two incredibly greedy landlords holding remains of deposits to ransom for ridiculous amounts for ridiculously petty reasons, one demanding I pay for his 30 year old heating systems that broke down several times a month.
Friend of mine just moved out of her Belgian house (yesterday), 6 years and 47,000 Euro of rent later later, for the "normal owner" to present them with a bill of 450,00 Euro to clear 8 meters of clinker pavement of grass which has started to grow through, which presumably means 2 minutes of spraying with Roundup.
I too wish you luck, but my experience is they will want to pay for NOTHING once the house/apartment is rented out.
