Renting:who is responsible for faulty phone socket

_Dragon_

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My mate has moved in a rented house where it was said there was a phone socket and there is but the phone socket is not working would that be his problem or the Landlord if its to do with the internal wiring? Its one of those old type phone sockets with no test socket.
 
Just an opinion, not necessarily correct advice. If I were the landlord and it was there when they viewed the property I'd be inclined to take responsibility.

The last apartment we did had one, it didn't look to work so we removed it entirely. The tenant arranged a new line with BT so that's between them as far as we are concerned.
 
Has anyone unscrewed it from the wall and had a look? From what im lead to believe from the BT engineer that made changes to the line in my house on an official basis the wiring is actually very straightforward and reterminating sockets quick and easy with the right punch tool.

It's made out to be far too complicated for the common man to look at.
 
Your friend, if he wants to use a landline, will need to have a contract with a phone provider. So, I'd be inclined to say that he needs to contact the phone provider and see what they say. I imagine that phone companies only deal with the bill payer so if the landlord isn't paying the bill then it's not his problem.

As a landlord, if a tenant wants a phone line then they sort it out. If they want broadband, they sort it out. If they want sky, they sort it out.
 
Surely your friend will need to have a contract taken out for the phone, with that will come the engineer to sort it all out no ?
A landlord will not normally be able to do much with it if there is no line supply.
 
He is with sky, so went through the home move part, so the line should be ok, Just nothing at his end sky has said its all been done. so if the line is ok i guess that means it could be the internal wiring/socket, Sky do say if its a fault your end then BT will charge you.
 
Is it the primary socket or another?

Another thing to check if it's a master socket. Unscrew the front plate and if it's a master socket there will be another socket hidden inside. Plug phone in and see if that works. If not it's likely wiring outside house or it's not connected.
 
I guess it only has one phone socket in his home, which is old as it doesn't have a test socket so no way to check if its outside wiring or inside thats at fault.
 
Assuming there is only a single socket in the property then its the master socket, even if an old one, in which case its OpenReach's responsibility. If there are other sockets and it isn't the master socket then it comes down to what the contract says but ordinarily it'd be the landlords responsibility. Both of those answers assume the tenant hasn't damaged it themselves.

If it is the mastersocket then either they can contact the landlord and get them to deal with Sky/BT etc or just deal with it themselves and avoid the landlord being a messaging service.
 
if it the main socket and the only socket it's down to the provider to sort it,nothing to do with the landlord..
 
Assuming there is only a single socket in the property then its the master socket, even if an old one, in which case its OpenReach's responsibility.

if it the main socket and the only socket it's down to the provider to sort it,nothing to do with the landlord..

Ther's an echo in here :)

Cheers,

Nigel
 
landlord isn't responsible for any of the utility services when there not in his/her/their names..
 
landlord isn't responsible for any of the utility services when there not in his/her/their names..
Depends exactly what you mean. For Water the utility company's responsibility stops at the external stopcock so if you get a 15' geyser coming from the pipe between the stopcock and the property and no water inside the property its then the landlords responsibility (under normal circumstances) all the utility company would do if called is turn off the water for you.
 
why!!

Depends exactly what you mean. For Water the utility company's responsibility stops at the external stopcock so if you get a 15' geyser coming from the pipe between the stopcock and the property and no water inside the property its then the landlords responsibility (under normal circumstances) all the utility company would do if called is turn off the water for you.

This goes without saying in rented property..
 
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Up to the master socket, BT. Internal wiring, the home owner. In this case, I'd say landlord, in the same way that internal wiring for electrics is down to the landlord.
 

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