Broken boiler

princeofpounds

1) Complain in writing. This is when you start the clock ticking, no other form of communication will do although you can follow with a phone call. Recorded delivery even better.

2) Remind the LL/A that the heating is not working and that under the LL and T Act they are obliged to provide heating and hot water. Failure to do so on a reasonable basis is a criminal offence (unlike most repairing issues, which are just civil).

3) If the LL/A is unreasonably slow, you can refer them to the Lee-Parker vs. Izzet 1971 case law, which enshrines the tenant's right to repair and offset against future rent. If necessary, you can repair yourselves.

4) Point out that you have not received a gas certificate. Failure to provide one of these is also a criminal offence. Given that the boiler is broken (and so more likely to have a dangerous fault) they would not want to have gassed students on their hands. That will lead to very serious prosecutions as they are currently negligent and therefore liable.

5) Remind them that you can contact the environmental health and private sector rental teams from the council, who can and will inspect, issue repairing orders with legal force (and probably for more than the original problem) and will lead any prosecution on the above grounds.

Other points to consider:

- my descriptions above start to fall into the 'hardball' territory. No need to talk about gassed students in your first communication and be dramatic! Just politely point out their obligations 'in light of the delays in past repairs'.

- Educate yourself on the court case I mention above. This will enable you to take future repairs into your own hands and totally revolutionised my experience of renting.

- As mentioned above, reasonable time doesn't mean tomorrow. You should just go through only a similar inconvenience to someone who owns ans occupies the house.

tbs624

princeofpounds wrote: »

- As mentioned above, reasonable time doesn't mean tomorrow. You should just go through only a similar inconvenience to someone who owns ans occupies the house.

Not so - the LL is legally obliged to “keep in repair” : what would be reasonable as a home owner and what is reasonable to a T who is paying the LL for the provision of a property with a safe working heating system are two different matters.

A home owner may decide that they personally are happy to wait a week or so and simply sit around in the cold - the T should not have to.

In the event of a boiler breakdown that cannot be fixed within 48 hours, Ts have every right to expect that their LL will:

(a) do their utmost to get the boiler repaired/replaced in the shortest possible time and

(b) will provide alternative methods of space and water heating from the start, as I mentioned previously.

This is especially so in late autumn/winter months. A decent professional LL would also recompense the T for any extra heating costs incurred.

OP - you may also want to keep a record of room temperatures at the property whilst you are pursuing the repairs.

Just returning to your comment that you have no paperwork for the tenancy, have you paid tenancy deposits and if so has the LL scheme-registered them? ( am assuming that this property is in Eng/Wales and that the total rent does not exceed 25K per annum)

See here for info on tenancy deposits and here for Shelter guidance on getting repairs done.

If you don't have a copy of your tenancy agreement , you should write to your LL formally requesting one. You are legally entitled to have a written statement of the terms of your tenancy and to have an address for your LL.

If no address has been provided to you (at which Notices relating to the Tenancy can be served) then you are not obliged to pay rent until such time as the LL does provide such an address. ( this doesn't mean you can get down the Union Bar and drink your rent money way, it means you can keep it safe until you get an address from her). Tends to help focus a LL's mind on giving you all necessary paperwork.;)

tbs624

olly300 wrote: »

Therefore as long as the landlord gets the repairmen out to do an assessment as soon as they can who then orders the part, if the repair takes 3 weeks because the part has to be shipped to the UK, the landlord is acting reasonably.

Unlikely, unless s/he also makes prompt arrangement to provide alternative means to heat the building and the water in the meantime.

If the LL has failed to have a gas safety check and GSC in place from the start of the Tenancy s/he will certainly not be viewed as fulfilling his/her legal obligations.

princeofpounds

Not so - the LL is legally obliged to “keep in repair”

Well yes legally speaking you are right. I wasn't very precise in my language, I was just trying to get across the point that LL wouldn't be expected to have a boiler ready to go but would be expected to address it as quickly as someone who lives there i.e. right away!