I'm renting & Boiler broken = high bill... my rights?

stevenhp1987

Hello,

I recently recieved a bill for £160 for 2 monthes of electricity. We are supplied with a boiler which is supposed to come on at night, however it has been making strange noises during the day at intervals. I am concerned it is coming on during the day, same as the heating.

An electrician is coming round on Monday. If it shows that there is a fault, then who has to pay the bill? I'm a student living with my other half in a small flat. If the bill resulted in a fault that the landlord is supposed to keep in good working order then why should I pay the stupidly high electricity bill that follows it?!

Do I have any rights to make the landlord pay, or at least, pay a large contribution to the costs as it is their responsibility to maintain the boiler? I cannot afford to pay £160, especially when I always ensure that heating/cooking etc. is kept to a minimum cost and it is not my fault the boiler is broken, nor my responsibility to fix it!

Soot2006

What type of boiler is it?
Do you get a gas bill also or only electric?
You say "same as the heating" -- is the heating not controlled by the boiler? Is there a thermostat?

Unfortunately in the middle of winter £160 is not hugely excessive, however are you sure it's only for 2 months and not 3 and bills are often quarterly.

Jowo_2

When did you report the problems with the boiler to the landlord and what is their response?

Have you been left with operating instructions for the heating/hot water system?

Have you actually been present in the property and found the hot water and heating to be on when you have not set the timer for then?

What is the set up for the systems in the house - gas central heating that supplies both heating and hot water? electric storage heating with a separate cylinder that powers the hot water? electric shower? I associate boilers with gas so don't understand the connection with a high electrical bill.

Tumble-driers, washing machines, dish washers, electric storage heating, electric oven and fan heaters can consume enormous supplies of energy - do you have any of these in the house?

Have you checked the meter readings with the energy company to ensure they are accurate actual ones rather than estimated readings?

You can buy an energy monitor quite cheaply which will show you the rate of consumption.

squack

if its an electric hot water cylinder, there maybe 2 switches to it, 1 which controls the cheaper economy 7 nightime electricity, the other switch means it is on all the time.

Fire_Fox

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

Hello,

I recently recieved a bill for £160 for 2 monthes of electricity. We are supplied with a boiler which is supposed to come on at night, however it has been making strange noises during the day at intervals. I am concerned it is coming on during the day, same as the heating.

An electrician is coming round on Monday. If it shows that there is a fault, then who has to pay the bill? I'm a student living with my other half in a small flat. If the bill resulted in a fault that the landlord is supposed to keep in good working order then why should I pay the stupidly high electricity bill that follows it?!

Do I have any rights to make the landlord pay, or at least, pay a large contribution to the costs as it is their responsibility to maintain the boiler? I cannot afford to pay £160, especially when I always ensure that heating/cooking etc. is kept to a minimum cost and it is not my fault the boiler is broken, nor my responsibility to fix it!

Electric heating is VERY expensive and it has been the coldest winter for many many years. £80 a month is normal, I pay £43 a month and barely use the heating.

clutton_2

quite normal over a severe winter ""£160 for 2 monthes" - welcome to the adult world ..... £160 between 2 of you is £10 per week each......

PasturesNew

Now you know why your dad would run around turning off radiators/turning down the heating, telling you to keep the windows closed and turn the heating off if it's too hot, turning off lights behind you ... and moaning.

Life ... costs .... a lot.

Fire_Fox

PasturesNew wrote: »

Now you know why your dad would run around turning off radiators/turning down the heating, telling you to keep the windows closed and turn the heating off if it's too hot, turning off lights behind you ... and moaning.

Life ... costs .... a lot.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
So true. The amusing thing is now my father is much more relaxed about such matters, but I guess they can afford to be having grafted and scrimped throughout their working life and retired very comfortably at 51.

clutton_2

i suspect all of us have been the equivalent of Kevin the horrific Teenager when parents shout TURN THAT LIGHT OFF !!!! - but at that point we weren't paying the bills and had no concept at all as to the costs...

One solution ? - put more jumpers on, and a woolly hat, and get a hot water bottle......

Jowo_2

There have been two instances when I've encountered huge energy bills.

One was in the first flat I ever lived in and took on the energy bills for the first time. I had absolutely no awareness that electric storage heating was very expensive, didn't monitor my consumption and wasn't aware that there were cheaper tariffs offered by suppliers. I think it worked out about £50 per month but that was 20 years ago when my JSA was about £45 per week so was a real killer.

The second is when either the outgoing owner or myself as the new owner or the gas company did not provide or enter correct meter reading information. Being a digit out in the reading caused the bill for one quarter to be in excess of £1000.

To the OP - if the electrician doesn't identify a fault with the system and attributes it to high consumption on your part/failure to set timers, then the landlord may want to bill you for the cost of this unwarranted call out since they are responsible if there is a defect and tenants are responsible when it was caused through their behaviour. If you don't have manuals to operate any appliance, demand them from the landlord or download them from the internet.

Some boilers have a frost protection setting which means when the temperature drops a certain level, the heating will kick in for a bit to stop the system from freezing which causes breakdowns and burst pipes. Tenants are not permitted to switch off this mechanism because they are expected to keep the property adequately heated and are responsible if by accident or negligence, they damage anything in the property.

Re your observation - "I cannot afford to pay £160, especially when I always ensure that heating/cooking etc. is kept to a minimum " - beware that the onus is on the tenant to adequately heat and ventilate the property, your AST may mention this explicitly but even if it doesn't there is an implied obligation for a tenant to act in a tenant like manner.

There are loads of threads on this forum about condensation, damp and mould and while some is caused by maintenance problems, much is caused by tenants who inadequately ventilate and heat the properties, thus they expose themselves to having deductions from their deposit if they make the property damp and mouldy.

stevenhp1987

I never turned the radiators on... Its around 20 degrees Celcius in here anyways, no need for heating.

The boiler has been turned on 24/7 at the plug but only recently has it been working during the day. There is no thermostat, its not central heating. I have no gas.

The boiler is boarded up with some sort of wooden box... So I have no idea if there are any dials or knobs on the boiler at all! I cannot access them!!!

I was not left with any instruction manuals, the landlord at the time of moving in told me to keep the plug turned on.

I havn't changed a thing in my lifestyle to warrant the extra usage of electricity