Rental Heating rules

HeatherH

From reading through the forums, I'm starting to wonder whether my landlord is breaking any rules.

At the moment, I live in a 2 bed flat, only bit of double glazing is the back door, the rest is old windows, and the ones at the front have old fashioned movable glass slats.

The heating is 3 storage heaters, and I've never been able to get them to work, had an electrician come round and said that even if they did the one in the front room wouldn't of been sufficient to heat it anyway. Nothing was ever done about it, as I didn't know if it was something that had to be dealt with.

This place is freezing in the winter months, and the only way I can heat the place is with my own electrical oil heaters.

Am I missing something, what obligations does the landlord have for heating a property?

Thanks

Jowo_2

Landlords are obliged to keep the heating/hot water facilities in good repair. See the Shelter website for their good info on how to encourage a landlord to fulfill their repair obligations.

A landlord is not obliged to upgrade/change the heating system, just to keep whatever one there is in good working order.

N79

LL has an obligation to keep the storage heaters in working order. Unfortunately, they really don't have an obligation to provide efficient heating - so if the heating is useless but works they have, substantially, met their obligations.

Write to the LL informing them that the storage heaters are broken and need repairing.

Moving into higher class accommodation at the earliest opportunity would be your best solution.

Colincbayley

http://www.warmfront.co.uk/

arachne

Private landlords have to comply with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) which states that homes must not be excessively cold. Your local authority/council is responsible for enforcing this. Speak to your landlord about the heating (and insulation) again and if he won't do anything, contact your local authority to come and assess your home under HHSRS.

There are incentives for landlords to put measures in such as LESA (Landlord Energy Saving Allowance) - a tax rebate - and schemes that put measures in for free such as Warm Front and also offers provided by energy companies. Your landlord may not know about these so tell him/her as it may encourage them to act without needing to get enforcement officers involved. Good luck!

red40

Its a total misconception that landlords dont have to provide adequate heating, as arachne says under HHSRS the heating should be controllable by the occupants, and safely and properly installed and
maintained. It should be appropriate to the design, layout and construction, such that the whole of the dwelling can be adequately and efficiently heated.

If the property is a HMO it can be heated from a central boiler, but as above, access to the boiler should be made available to the occupants to prevent excessive cold indoor temperatures.

cherrykerry

we had a similar problem with our flat, although we only had 1 little electric fire in the lounge. We got in touch with environmental health who have investigated it fully and are persuing a case with the landlord to put in new heating and new windows as it is not fit for living in. Definatly worth a shot. It didnt matter for us in the end as we have found somewhere far better to live.