Open fireplaces and chimney sweeps
Maintenance

TenantsRus
TenantsRus
1 Thanks
36 Posts
2 years ago
0

I'm about to let out a property with an open fireplace, which the tenant will be permitted to use if they wish. The chimney will be swept immediately prior to the tenancy starting, but what then? If the tenant chooses to use the fire, then the chimney needs to be swept annually. I note there is no mention of chimneys in the NRLA tenancy agreements - does this come under 'behaving in a tenant-like manner', and the tenant should be doing this?

However, if the tenant doesn't ever sweep the chimney because they claim 'I have never used the fireplace', as a landlord how would you know if they are telling the truth about that? The only 100% 'safe' option that I can think of is for the landlord to send in a sweep annually at their own expense (owing to the tenant fee ban), regardless of what the tenant says (which would be particularly grating if they genuinely hadn't used the fire!) Is there any other way round this (other than banning use of the fireplace?)

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