is there a minimum temperature required for rented accomodation?

kat1982 · 4 January 2009 at 6:02PM

hi, just wondered if anyone had any advice on this,...... im 8 months pregnant and have been renting a house for the last couple of months which is impossible to heat! ive used £170 in gas in two months and because the house has no cavity wall or loft insulation it doesnt keep the heat very well- im concerned that when the baby comes we will both freeze! I work part time and am not in receipt of benefits, and so will not qualify for warm front (im waiting to hear if I can get the £300 rebate from them) but in the meantime no matter what I do to this house it struggles to keep a temperature of above 15 degrees. Is there any legal obligation for a landlord to provide anything to maintain a minimum temperature? Or any other advice towards the chill would be great

lindsaygalaxy · 4 January 2009 at 6:08PM

I used to live in a house like this! If you contact warmfront you can get all your insulation and wall cavity stuff done for free, as long you your LL agrees. You will be on benfits then if you get WTC, though I think many electric companies also do it for free now.

Cardew · 4 January 2009 at 8:37PM

Welcome to the forum.

I would contact Citizens advice to be sure, but I am pretty certain there is no requirement at all to provide heating of any kind.

Plenty of people rent completely unfurnished, unheated properties and heat with plug-in electric fires.

Whilst £85 a month for gas is a lot, many people pay a lot more than that each month at this time of the year.

As said you may be able to get help with insulation and/or paying bills.

kat1982 · 4 January 2009 at 9:08PM

it just seems a lot compared to previous houses i have lived in of the same size, and thats only two to three hours heating a day so im terrified of when i will need to keep the house warm 24/7- i work for a uk elec and gas supplier (dont hiss at me!) and have come across gas bill sizes generally at the minute... i have looked into insulation and its a bit of a vicious circle at the minute- because i am not in receipt of benefits yet i cannot claim free insulation, and so will have to wait until junior has arrived to apply, and then wait a further 6-8 weeks for installation, i think summer may beat me to it!

richardc1983 · 4 January 2009 at 10:50PM

First things first work with what you have got, when the heatings on are your radiators hot all over? The system could be faulty and not outputting heat as it should.

Get your landlord to service the system.

There is no legal limit for temperature in living accomodation, only work places where the lower limit is 16C but there is no upper limit.

kat1982 · 5 January 2009 at 8:49PM

upstairs ive managed to get it to 18 degrees if i put the heating on full and close the doors

downstairs is open plan with one radiator at one end of the room, and french windows at the other... and then the kitchen is a newer extension with one radiator- if i cook its the only way to warm up the kitchen! ive insulated the kitchen with a blackout blond and curtain over the back door, and the french windows have thermal curtains on, but even with the heating on full, downstairs will only reach 15 degrees tops.... im a little perplexed because i was under the impression the boiler is a combi, but on my combi at the old house (same size) there was a temp 1-10 gauge for the water, and a seperate one for the heating. this property has a thermostat (which seems to be there only for decoration) and a dial for the radiators... its generally a nightmare house! the bathroom has no radiator, just a heated towel rail for heat, and this is where the cold is at its worst- theres a stand alone bath, slate tiles and the loft opening so the bathroom is never over 10 degrees! im concerned that even with the insulation carried out, the house is incapable of reaching an optimum temperature anyway!

Fire_Fox · 5 January 2009 at 9:04PM

There are lots of possible issues - you may have a really inefficient house, a really old boiler, you may not have enough radiators for the space ... one radiator in an open plan house will try to heat all the way up the stairs unless you have a door onto them?

I would write to your landlord specifying the problems and give him/ her the chance to rectify it. Insulting the loft is very cheap, servicing the central heating should have already been done. There is no reason any house can't be sorted, it's just a case of how much it will cost and how willing your landlord is.

If you do this in writing, recorded delivery your landlord will have to respond. If they do not then you have a case for getting out of your contract early. A 10C bathroom is no good for a baby, and a 15C sitting room with heating on full blast is just silly. You should not have to provide extra heating sources as you rented a property with heating installed.

richardc1983 · 5 January 2009 at 9:11PM

What settings are your boiler on for the heating side of things? Do the radiators get hot all over? Or just at the bottom?

Another thing to make sure you havent got radiators covered over tuck curtains down the back of radiators on a night to make sure the heat is directed into the room and not into the window area.

KimYeovil · 5 January 2009 at 9:44PM

DO NOT tuck curtains behind radiators. Sit them on the window sill.

[Edit: Ah. This is being discussed elsewhere.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1393859
http://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=22426 ]

skint-student-nurse · 5 January 2009 at 9:49PM

i had this problem in my last house and had a gas heater in most rooms and it didnt work. environmental health came round to assess the situation as i was suffering from re-occuring chest infections fro the cold house! they offered to put in central heating with my landlords permission...they said yes but they would have to put my rent up! :mad:

richardc1983 · 5 January 2009 at 9:50PM

Your wrong Kim. My parents have a mixture of double radiators where the warm air travels between the two panels front and back. The tuck them behind the radiators on the double ones and the warm air flow comes up the front of the curtains and into the room and not into the window area. The room is 3C warmer than the other way with them over the front.

The dining room curtains are not long enough to tuck behind so they are up on the window sill, its just as warm. But if you have long curtains dont hide the radiator behind them as this is stopping 2 things.

1. The warm air flow getting into the room even if they are in the front of radiator as the warm air currents are not fan forced so the air will just gather in the window bay.

2. If they are in front, the radiated heat from the front of the radiator is blocked by the material

is there a minimum temperature required for rented accomodation?

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