High gas bill in rental accommodation - Crappy Boiler

Martin7777

We've thankfully just moved out of the worst house we've ever rented. It had next to no insulation and the boiler's 20 years old with no thermostat, it's either on or off.

The final bill for the gas is around £400 and that covers from 29th November to 8th Feb. This seems extremely high and had a heart attack when I saw the bill.

We had awful problems with the boiler over the recent cold snap and the letting agent was sending out an engineer on a daily basis for a week as we had no heating or hot water whilst it was -5 outside! We also had a young child which made it all the more stressful.

The landlord was refusing to replace the boiler as it was "fixable" despite the engineer's opinion that it should be replaced.

So, we were lent a oil filled electric radiatior to try and get some heat in the house and that in combination with the gas fire in the living room meant we could just about get the house up to 14 degrees during the day. Even when the boiler was coaxed back to life, we had to heat the house for 15 hours just to get the house temperature up to around 16 degrees.

On reflection, my wife and I feel shafted by the letting agent/landlord as long as they were getting the rent, they didn't care what we were going through. We've now got a stupid £400 gas bill (the electric is £180 for the same period as we were flogging this oil filled radiator for all it was worth).

Can't help but feel that we shouldn't be liable for the totality of these bills as if the house was insulated properly (double glazing leaks cold air like a sieve) we wouldn't have had these problems to the extent we have.

Do we have any recourse at all or are we supposed to just shut up and eat beans for 3 months to pay British Gas to make more ****ing patronising adverts about how much they care?

Premier_2

A £400 gass bill does indeed seem large, especially for a boiler that was broken for some of the time.

However, unless you dispute the meter readings, then that's what you consumed and that is therefore what you must pay.

The LL is only required to provide you with a reasonable means to heat the property ... not pay you the cost of the energy consumed in doing so.

Andy_WSM

Martin7777 wrote: »

Do we have any recourse at all or are we supposed to just shut up and eat beans for 3 months to pay British Gas to make more ****ing patronising adverts about how much they care?

That's about the sum of it.

We're all in the same boat this Winter with bigger than normal bills.
Sucks that you had all that bother, but if it had been your own place, you would either have had to shell out for a new boiler or all the call outs, so guess you are better off than you could have been right now!

Martin7777

Cheers for the replies. Your comments confirm what I suspected, I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles...

Frustrating as it is, had it been our own place, I would have happily outlayed for a new boiler and decent insulation measures as you're then investing in your own home and comfort of your family rather than getting screwed over by a letting agency run by muppets and a landlord busy sunning himself in Australia....

aelitaman

I would write to the landlord saying that these large bills are because of an ineffcient boiler and his refusal to change it and also that because the house was so badly insulated the boiler could not get it to a resonable temp and so you had to use very expensive heating gas fire and electric fire and even wth this etra heating the house could still not acheive a resonable temp. The extra money that you had to spend xxx pounds because he failed to provide a good standard of accomodation (his legal responsibility) if this ammount is not repaid in 30days you will be writing to the council asking them to take legal action against him for not providing a "good standard of accmodation." add in that you had a baby in the house, etc, etc.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/newreply.html?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=29766369


It will cost him less to pay you than get a plane ticket to be there when the council request to visit the property.

Edit: Also cc the letting agent as they will be very reluctant to ship a new tenant in with the prospect of the council making a visit with respect to a bad ucaring landlord.