Well as all he or she will do is push the test button, perhaps change the batteries and report any that fail after that as needing replacement, or maybe velcro in a new one along side the dead one, you'll be lucky if their skilled installer has any technical qualification at all

And that is more more less correct for the task at hand, anything else is an overspend. What is amusing is the hopeless ebullience  of the marketing bull from the agents, who presumably take a large share of the fee.

However, it seems anecdotally (I never need one) that chaps with a van with one light not working who can fix  taps, door locks , unblock drains do weeding etc are in short supply, I know of at least one chap who gave up teaching mech eng at his local college of FE to become an odd job man, and has never looked back, in terms of both happiness and income. Though some odd jobs are very trivial, (one I am thinking of was picture hanging - not some old master in a frame, just some snapshots of family and friends.)

M.

Not my intention to be disparaging to men in white vans, they are every bit as essential as engineers. However, the agents clearly use the term “engineer” in their sales pitch. As a customer, might it be a reasonable expectation that I get someone with a level of competency that would at least rest somewhere in the vicinity of the skills and knowledge implicit in that title?

If my tenant suffered CO poisoning due to faulty or incorrectly installed detectors, might the court justifiably ask about the competency of the “engineer” who inspected the premises?

Lyledunn,

I would have thought the Estate Agent as they are offerring the service will legally have to "Employ a sutably trained and competent person"?

They as far as I can read are offerring a "Service" to you and as such are legally involved in that master/servent sale arrangement.

They cant just say they are not involved and "Contract" sits between landlord and the so called engineer and nothing to do with the estate agent.

Totally agree the word Engineer again isnt being used as one would expect.

Cheers GTB

Why not, "surveyor"?

The impression that I get is that the operative will simply look around the building and see whether CO alarms have been fitted in rooms with, e.g. wood-burning stoves. If not, they are screwed to the wall at £36 a pop. Screwfix have them for about half that amount.

Who said anything about testing existing ones?

It does sound like they use the word engineer to help generate more money.  If the rental property has a gas boiler the carbon monoxise alarm also falls under the perview of the Plumber/Heating engineer.

As a side note testing a Heat/Smoke/CO is not just pressing the button, the person should also check the expiry date of the unit and locations (eg Aico states I think, smoke alarms to be at least 300m from a wall or or any obstructions).  It would be perfectably acceptable for you to ask that engineer to make a note of the expiry date. 

A CO detector would normally be mounted on a wall somewhere near the appliance.  CO is pretty much the same density as N2 or O2, so it doesn't rise.

This thread prompted me to check my CO detectors.  One of them rather unhelpfully gives the expiry as 7 years after installation.  If I hadn't written the installation date on the CO detector, I would have no idea when it expired.

I normally write on the inside of smokes the install date with a Sharpie (other brands are available) but I image that many people do not.  Likewise I bet many mains powered smokes/heat alarms dont't have the install date or have they used FireMate to seal the building fabric penetrations. 

I do that (write the installation year and month) on almost anything, and would encourage those who don't, to do so.  Even the living room clock has a long list of new battery dates on the back of it on a now rather yellowing paper label. Even in a situation where you are the person who did it it is quite hard to remember dates accurately (now thinking things like was it before or after lockdown, who was PM or what age the kids were only gets you so far, or for some of my older stuff, what century it was... ) Once you get into 'installer unknown' territory it can be very hard indeed to work out how old things are. Luckily smoke alarms tend to fail too sensitive and false alarm when superannuated, I'm less sure about CO.

Mike.

Surely the safety of combustable appliances is something any landlord would get covered by instucting a gas safe registred plumber - who would almost certainly charge more than £35+VAT.

Not sure if CO alarms are in the scope of a gas safety check - but if you asked a plumber they would probably do it anyway.

It's not the title "engineer" that's a problem. The title "doctor" isn't a protected title but it's an offence to incorrectly suggest you're registered with the GMC. It would be potentially fraud by misrepresentation for someone to wrongly suggest they're a chartered engineer for financial gain.

The question is about competence. The problem being highlighted here isn't the misuse of the term engineer, it's the providing of advice at a bargin basement price which is given by someone who may not competent to provide the advice - they might well be competent but the title "engineer" doesn't help whereas a term like "gas safe registered engineer" is more useful.

A MRICS would probably be more expensive than a CEng.

But then price is often inversely proportional to competence.