The Flue Was Spilling. The Landlord Got a Text Saying "Condemned."
It is 4pm on a Thursday. You have just finished a landlord gas safety check and the flue is spilling. The appliance is off, a tag is on it, and the landlord is about to get a text that says "boiler condemned." By the time you are back in the van, he has rung you twice.
Why the message matters as much as the fix
A landlord wants four answers: is anyone in danger, what is switched off, what it costs, and what happens to the certificate. Engineers know all four. Writing them down calmly, in the right order, at the end of a long day is the hard part.
Get it wrong and you get a panicked phone call, a tenant with no hot water and no explanation, and a landlord who wonders if he is being upsold.
The prompt
Explain a Failed Gas Safety Check Without Alarming the Landlord takes the property, the fault, the risk classification, what you did on site, the repair options with prices and the certificate deadline. It returns a message that opens with what is safe and what is not, explains the fault in one short paragraph, lays out the options and says what happens to the certificate. It also writes a separate note for the tenant.
A worked example
Input, trimmed:
- Fault: flue spillage on a 12-year-old combi boiler
- Classification: immediately dangerous, appliance isolated and tagged
- Options: repair the flue joint for £185, or replace the boiler for £2,400
- Certificate: due in nine days
The output starts: "The boiler has been switched off and is not safe to use until it is fixed. Nobody is at risk right now." The next lines explain that exhaust gases were escaping into the room, give the two prices side by side, and say the certificate can be issued once the repair is done and tested. The tenant note says hot water is off, gives a time for the engineer's return, and suggests a temporary heater from the landlord.
Where the value is
- Time: a message that takes 25 minutes of careful wording takes two minutes of checking.
- Fewer calls: when the answer to "is it safe, what does it cost, what about the certificate" is already on the screen, the follow-up call drops away.
- Trust: prices shown side by side read as honest advice.
| Landlord question | Where the prompt answers it |
|---|---|
| Is anyone in danger? | First paragraph |
| What did you do on site? | Second paragraph |
| What are my options? | Priced list |
| What about the certificate? | Closing section |
How to use it
- Fill each placeholder with the facts from your job sheet, including the exact classification you gave.
- Read the draft against the job sheet and fix any price or date.
- Send the landlord message first, then the tenant note.
If your office also fields the panicked calls, pair it with Build a Boiler Breakdown Triage Script for the Office Phone, which puts the safety questions first.