Rented house needing repairs - what are my rights

curly04

Hi

I live in a rented house.
and the boiler is broken and I've had not hot water or heating for over a week

and the land lady is still getting quotes, and has said they will come back to me in the next 2 weeks

i'm disabled and the cold is making me ill, there is an electric shower but this is over the bath but because of a bone problem I dont find it easy to get in and out of the bath, so I am having to go to my mum and dad at 6am everyday for a shower then work etc

Do I have any rights

lizzielondon

i would have said re: hot water the ll's timescale is sufficient as an electric shower is technically available

re: heating i would have thought 2 weeks is not reasonable (actually not sure weather wise) and maybe she should supply you with portable heaters

this however does not take into account your disability- i'm not sure if she has to though sorry - i know not very helpful

i take it there is a seperate shower powered from gas?

good luck

curly04

lizzielondon wrote: »

i take it there is a seperate shower powered from gas?

good luck

Thank you yes, I have a walk in shower, and they know this is why we took the house.

I have really bad bones and a few years ago I had a nasty fall in a shower over a bath and was in the house on my own and I dont like getting in showers over the bath since.

I have some heaters friends and parents give me them but can't have them on all night and I have bad lungs and I've been waking up being unable to breath, needing more nebulisers in the night

lizzielondon

is the landlady aware of your circumstances? even if she is not legally obliged to go faster i would assume she'd want to?

curly04

lizzielondon wrote: »

is the landlady aware of your circumstances? even if she is not legally obliged to go faster i would assume she'd want to?

OH yes and she is even a GP somewhere so knows how ill I can be.
but doesn't seem to be wanting to hurry it a long LOL

Owain_Moneysaver

A landlady IS required to make reasonable adjustment under the DDA.

And I don't think 3 weeks getting quotes for emergency repairs is reasonable. Does the boiler actually need replacing?

curly04

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

A landlady IS required to make reasonable adjustment under the DDA.

And I don't think 3 weeks getting quotes for emergency repairs is reasonable. Does the boiler actually need replacing?

Yeah

the letting agent got a man out the next day, he told me there has been problems with it before and it can't be fixed
that was easter saturday and it has been broke since the Thursday

mikey72

Next day call out over easter isn't bad, and it's actually only been three working days since it broke down, so they haven't been too lax so far.

FlairyDing

How long have you been renting the house for Curly? Could you not apply for a grant towards a new boiler, no disrespect to the land lady but they do tend to drag along waiting for problems to 'go away' rather than just getting the job done especially considering it didn't work prior to you living there!

curly04

i've been here just under a year
I have a contract til Jan 10 and she knows I will be moving out that because I kicked my husband out and I can just about afford the rent

Plus i might be getting made redundent and she knows this as my company was in the paper

Fire_Fox

I think you should send a recorded delivery letter to your landlord asking her to urgently supply you with the means to heat your home and get access to hot water. Remind her of your condition and state clearly how the situation is affecting your health. There must be some kind of advocate in the council that can support you in this, perhaps part of Social Services? Otherwise speak to Environmental Health - I am not suggesting laying blame or getting your landlord into trouble, just to impress that time is of the essence.