Boiler maintenance, I smell a con...?

Hi all,

Anyone know if the gas boiler in a rented house is the concern of the tenant or the landlord in France? Our letting agency is pushing us to take out a central heating maintenance contract for the boiler. It’s only about 100€/year, so it’s not a lot of money, but it sits badly with me. As a landlord in the UK who needs to get their boiler serviced and

safety-checked annually by law, it’s entirely my concern, not something my tenants need to care about. Is it so different in France?

France Property (which, I have to say, seems to be a goldmine of useful information for property law and advice) includes “routine maintenance of heating system” as something tenants are responsible for, so perhaps that is the case:
http://www.french-property.com/guides/france/working-in-france/letting-property/tenant-repairing-obligations/

But it doesn’t make any sense! I mean, I’m responsible for maintenance, but the owner is responsible for any parts and labour that comes of the boiler being checked, so what’s the point? Why do I need a contract? Why can’t I just call the agence if the boiler breaks? What happens if I don’t get a maintenance contract and the boiler breaks? Surely the landlord is still obliged to fix it?!

I’m confused… anyone know how this works?

Cheers,

Greg

Thanks Stuart… I’ll check. Or I would, if the agence actually sent us a copy! We’ve chased the lady concerned about half a dozen times now, and lived here over a month, still no copy of our “bail”… I’m going to go fetch it in person soon! waves fist :wink:

Hi Greg
When we rented in Cahors, the boiler maintenance was included in our contract. We did rent through an agency though so maybe that’s where the difference lies.

Cheers

Ok, thanks. So I just need to make sure that whatever I sign up for includes the usual annual service. As long as it’s not just my agence pulling a fast one, I don’t mind. It is how it is. Just wanted to make sure they weren’t extracting the Michael! :wink:

As far as I understand it, as a tenant you are obliged to undertake the routine maintenance - in other words pay for the annual service - aka a complete con. Grrr.When we were renting we had to do this and it really annoyed me. Double grrr.