Resident hit with legal bill after refusing access for gas safety check

A Yate resident is facing a bill for £1,300 in court costs after he repeatedly ignored his landlord’s requests to carry out important gas safety checks at his property.

Merlin Housing Society spent two months trying to contact the resident to arrange a date to inspect the gas appliances in his Celestine Road home. But it was only after he received a letter saying that a court date had been set that the tenant got in touch and allowed Merlin to service the gas appliances.

Head of Property Services Mark Haines said that Merlin only went to court as a last resort.

“As well as sending letters, our surveyor visited the property several times, including in the evening and at the weekend, to try to speak to the resident,” he said. “We put stickers on his door asking him to get in touch but we heard nothing.

“We have a legal obligation to service all gas appliances in our residents’ homes every year. But after two months trying to contact the resident we were left with no option but to go to court to try and gain entry to the property.

“Although the resident got in touch with us before the court date we had incurred legal expenses in preparing for court and so we asked for these costs to be passed onto the tenant, which the court agreed.”