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Contractors working in your home in these times

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stevetay3

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Do contractors have a right to enter private homes during the pandemic in non emergency situations I have been told by gas workers they can replace pipes in my home weather I like it or not despite the rules. I say they can not do the work at the moment due to the no mixing in households rule. Any one know the answer to this.
 
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Domh245

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There's no restriction on tradespeople working in your house. There's guidance on what they should do to be "covid secure" to minimise risk, but the "no household mixing" rule doesn't apply

It's certainly the case that a leaking gas pipe poses a far greater risk to both yourself and neighbours than Covid does
 

lkpridgeon

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In rented accommodation it would be down to your rental contract terms, ie: I had to have my chimney swept every year as part of the terms.

Work can be done as long as it's performed in a Covid safe manner of which consists of a suitable risk assessment. It does not count as a gathering under the legislation. On top of this the government advise still remains that if you can work from home you should however if you can't you should continue to go to work.

Personally I've had contractors in and out since March due to a mixture of urgent and non urgent issues. As a tenant it's my responsibility to ensure issues are reported in a timely manner and to provide access to tradesmen to fix said issues. The landlord/agency can also ask to perform inspections with suitable notice.

Tldr; yes they can still work and can do so whether you like it or not dependent on the issue/your ownership status
 

stevetay3

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This work is far from essential ,been threatening to do the work for the last three years and turn up now with five days notice,all the neighbours think this is wrong as well.
 

simonw

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This work is far from essential ,been threatening to do the work for the last three years and turn up now with five days notice,all the neighbours think this is wrong as well.
What is the work and which side of the meter?
 

philjo

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British Gas came in to do the annual servicing for the boiler. Just had to keep a suitable distance. We had a new washing machine due for delivery in 1st week of lockdown in March. They would not enter the house so dumped it on the doorstep and as the old one was still inside the house would not remove it. So we had the old one in the garden for a few months.
 

yorkie

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This work is far from essential ,been threatening to do the work for the last three years and turn up now with five days notice,all the neighbours think this is wrong as well.
It doesn't need to be "essential" as such, though I think there may be a misunderstanding regarding the term "essential" in this context.
 

GusB

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Do contractors have a right to enter private homes during the pandemic in non emergency situations I have been told by gas workers they can replace pipes in my home weather I like it or not despite the rules. I say they can not do the work at the moment due to the no mixing in households rule. Any one know the answer to this.
They have a right to enter your home if they have a warrant, eg if you'd continually failed to pay your bill and they wanted to disconnect you. I've never dealt with the emergency side of energy supply, but I'd imagine they'd have rights of entry if a gas leak was reported. This is just plain common sense.

If the work isn't safety-critical, I'd guess that you have the right to refuse entry, but these companies should have a fairly comprehensive policy in place for carrying out work under the current circumstances. I'd just let them get on with it.
 

Crossover

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I wouldn’t see an issue with the work being undertaken, in England at least. I know people who have recently had installations of items such as a television and Sky system and at work we have had a variety of contractors doing work where necessary
 

Jamesrob637

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My estate agent wrote to us at the beginning of Lockdown One that gas/electric people should not be refused entry if you were in but must be reported if they were deemed to be out staying their welcome. Fortunately my gas and electric people were in and out within minutes each, and I left it a couple of days between each person's visit (gas and electric are both checked in the spring even non COVID).
 

adc82140

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So far since lockdown I've had a Sky engineer visit, the boiler serviced and a carpet fitted. Just kept my distance and let them get on with it.
 

Volvictof

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Tradesmen can enter, at least if they have the homeowners permission and as always there are rules on how much notice tenants are given. Unless it’s a court warrant in which case you wouldn’t have a choice.
Of course, theoretically if you were to inform them on arrival that you were isolating due to suspected Covid.... they probably won’t come in. Not that I’d condone that sort of behaviour of course...
its worth nothing that until 2 months ago when I started as a train driver, I was a locksmith and was executing court warrants to change gas and electric meters. Even with a warrant things are very cautious due to covid, and if someone told us they were isolating, if the utility company told us to enter anyway, we point Blank refused.
 

Darandio

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This work is far from essential ,been threatening to do the work for the last three years and turn up now with five days notice,all the neighbours think this is wrong as well.

'Threatening'? It sounds more to me like you don't want them to enter for some reason and it isn't anything to do with Covid-19.
 

Islineclear3_1

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We had a new washing machine due for delivery in 1st week of lockdown in March. They would not enter the house so dumped it on the doorstep and as the old one was still inside the house would not remove it. So we had the old one in the garden for a few months.

March/April I could probably understand

During the latest lockdown, I had a new gas cooker fitted and the contractors removed and took the old one away
 

island

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Nothing in the various Coronavirus regulations prevents people from entering homes for the purpose Of performing work that cannot reasonably be performed any other way.
 

lkpridgeon

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It’s all to do with covid and unclear regulations
Could you point to what part of the regulation you find unclear in regards to tradespeople performing work? I can't seem to find anything that would dissallow it let alone it being unclear. However the Health and Safety Executive has issued guidance in regards to how they can work safely.

 

stevetay3

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As for threatening I may have used the wrong word, they have promised to do this work for over three years now, we have had letters saying don’t book a holiday we may need to enter your house ,if you are away you will not have gas when you come back. They have failed to turn up several times with no notice given, They have now turned up, given two days notice for access to my property when five days is the legal requirement and with a lockdown in place , they are the ones threatening both my health and sanity.

Some call it advice ,some call it law, some call it regulations, Boris called it guidance, what the hell is it ,guidance and advice are not law, which is it to be The people dishing out all this stuff don’t know, how am I supposed to know
 
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WelshBluebird

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It’s all to do with covid and unclear regulations
they have promised to do this work for over three years now
Unless COVID regulations have existed for longer than I am aware, the two quotes do not add up.
It is clear you have some personal issue with the work being done. Fine. But I don't see how you can use COVID as a reason for that when it sounds like your misgivings existed prior to COVID.
 

stevetay3

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The
Unless COVID regulations have existed for longer than I am aware, the two quotes do not add up.
It is clear you have some personal issue with the work being done. Fine. But I don't see how you can use COVID as a reason for that when it sounds like your misgivings existed prior to COVID.
They keep failing to do the work as agreed see up thread, I am just using covid just like they do
 

Darandio

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They have now turned up, given two days notice for access to my property when five days is the legal requirement and with a lockdown in place , they are the ones threatening both my health and sanity.

But further up you said they gave five days notice. As for threatening your health and sanity, sigh.
 
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