We have a light fitting that broke. It broke when we were trying to fit in a bulb, although I'd argue that it was breaking any way.

Light fittings have to be (correct me if I'm wrong) either installed by a qualified electrician or certified that they are done safely.

Is the light fitting our responsibility or theirs?

Not unless it's in bathroom or shower, according to this local authority site:

http://www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/ccm/navigati...ion-information
(Hmm... link doesn't seem to be working; however you can probably navigate to it)

The landlord's position is probably going to be that it was working, you broke it.
You presumably reckon that it was old/fragile.
In your shoes I'd ask the LL to fix it, but perhaps be prepared to offer 50/50?

Not quite the same, but we have a sticking back door which you have to slam quite hard. We don't have neighbours at the moment (it's a semi) but it makes a hell of a noise. I'm wondering if we get the landlord to come round and re-mount it.

It's funny in that it sounds so petty as to be sarcastic, but then, it's not our house, and we're not going to get paid labour for doing it ourselves.

I would take the view that it will be much quicker (a trip to the shop and five minutes work) for you to sort this out than wait for your landlord to get the part or arrange an electrician. (Assuming its a standard light fitting and you possess enough common sense to deal with electric).

If you do the job yourself it will cost £20 (max) to have done - and quickly. If you keep at the LL and they DO agree to do it then the LL can either come out and do it for £20 or get an electrician for £60. The costs are going to come into play when it comes to renewing your rental agreement.

What I usually do, for trivial things like this (fittings, hinges, handles, etc), is to send the LL the receipt for the actual item purchased. They'll know that you've saved them a few bob by doing the work yourself and you don't end up out of pocket. It is a much more efficient way of getting things done as long as you're not scared of an electrical cable. Make sure the electricity is off, test the connectors with an insulated screwdriver and off you go. If you have a swine LL that doesn't refund you for the fitting, then it's probably time to move anyway.

You're confused. The link has nothing to do with a tenant/landlord responsibility for repair work. The link is a reference to the Building Regulations requirements for electrical work i.e. who is qualified to do it and whether such works have to be notified to the local authority.

It's not a tenant's responsibility to undertake electrical repairs - indeed doing so may render the buildings/contents insurance invalid. The responsibility lies with the landlord.

Merely replacing a broken bulbholder, or cracked light switch front or socket, like for like, does not involve the Part P regulations.

Here is a list - there are loads of these on the web:

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/partp.htm

Hope this helps!

Just an update. It took ages but this was fixed.

The rental agency agreed that we should not touch the electric circuits, but as usual had a real job in getting the landlady to pay for it.

Good tip about sending receipts on minor jobs (although it must be stressed that anything involving electrical circuits is no longer a minor job at least since the building regulations came in). Next time I will do this.

For clarification the part P rules apply to new electrical instalations in Kitchens, Bathrooms and Outdoors they do not apply to repairs. If you are confident and capable you can repair a broken light socket anywhere in the house and it will save you a whole bunch of time and good will with the LL. I personally would do it myself but if you are not confident, I wouldn't dream of touching mains electric circuits, you just don't know how old the instalation is and if there is any protection at all. I lived in a house where the previous tenant had wired a bit of coat hanger in to the old style fuse (presumeably because it kept fusing) it then caught fire on me.... scary!

Thank you for that useful information, I was under a misapprehension there. I'm surprised that the letting agent didn't call me out on that. I would still have pleaded inability, though.

I've got to get confident and capable with DIY, but I really doubt if I am able to deal with mains circuits. Lightbulbs, plugs and fuses are my limit.