Horrific explosion in Birmingham

Gas - apparently - but why?

Fairly near where I live, the house was up for sale and needed a lot of renovation the gas boiler was mentioned in need of replacement. A lady was recovered from the property this morning sadly deceased.

Dreadfully sad. We saw this on the news - the total destruction of that house was so shocking to see. How anyone escaped with their life is a miracle, but of course one poor soul didn’t :cry:

I suspect that gas explosions will become much more common in mostly slum areas because of illegal meter bypass becomes more common due to the ridiculous price of gas. All the bits to bypass a meter are readily available on line and no doubt some enterprising folk will provide a “turn key” solution for a couple of hundred quid.

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Oh dear how awful

As a landlord, I know how easy it is to effectively bypass the gas meter. This is a very dangerous practice in the wrong hands so none of my rentals have gas connected. The electricity meter is just as easily bypassed, but no known explosions have occurred from such practices. During my inspections, the 1st thing to be checked is the leccie meter and it’s seals👍 Any hint of tampering and the tenant has effectively evicted him/herself under the terms of the lease.

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But then there’s the problem with gas cylinders, especially propane which can easily be obtained by irregular means. My tenants are not generally well off and come the cold weather they’re going to find it hard going. At the moment my flats and houses have coin op prepayment meters installed but we’ve decided to replace them with higher tech things that can be updated remotely and be credited with a bank card or a token at a paypoint. Cost wise it’s around £300 per meter but it’s fairer on the tenant cos in case of an emergency they can phone us and we can extend a few quid credit via the web. It seems only fair.

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This is obviously where we differ. None of my tenants would class themselves as deprived in any way, least of all salary wise or they would not be my tenants. Some of my family occupy a few properties and as they co-own they have a vested interest in looking after them. I am the same in that I do not outright own the house I live in, we all own it, we being my family. I have not solely owned a property for the last 30+yrs; instead I rent it for a small annual fee that just about covers the maintenance.

I guess I could be called a slum landlord but that’s OK because I genuinely try to provide decent and decently maintained joints.

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@The_Artful_Todger , Particularly the gas “joints” eh Todgy ??
Donkeyman! :+1::roll_eyes::roll_eyes::+1: