Elderly lady - no heating -help please!

Mojisola

Do encourage her to get help from one of the organisations mentioned - and I'll add SSAFA https://www.ssafa.org.uk/ to the list. They bought a new oven for my parents when things were very tight financially for them.

monkeyspanner

tiamaria wrote: »

Thanks for your replies

yes, she owns the property

no, not in the services though deceased husband fought in the war

She's got an electric shower and a gas fire in the lounge so that's something, but nothing in the rest of the house. I do have a portable heater i will offer her.

She's going to look for her warmfront paperwork to see if its under any guarantee,but tbh they were such a bunch of cowboys they caused more trouble than the boiler was worth, but yes that may be the only option.

PS I have emailed the RBL on her behalf to see if she is eligible

If she owns her house there is an asset against which she should be able to obtain a secured loan or mortgage.

My MIL was in her 80's had a small mortgage to buy her council house and was on benefits part of these were a small mortgage interest allowance to enable her to pay her monthly payments. MIL also had warmfront install a heating system and I believe their finance limit at the time was about £2500 and that was for a complete 3 bed house system including boiler. £2000 does seem expensive if it is just a new boiler required, a new condensing gas boiler up to 30Kw is about £600 prior to fitting.

alanq

tiamaria wrote: »

however her elderly friend recommended this new plumber who's coming to have a look, he's sure he can fix it so fingers crossed.

What she needs is a qualified heating engineer not a plumber. Of course one person could be qualified for both. Check the Gas Safe register. By law all boiler work must be carried out by a competent person.
http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk

If the existing boiler is only a few years old then hopefully the installation should be close to current regulations and a 1-bedroom cottage shouldn't need a very large boiler. So £2000 seems high.

About 3 years ago British Gas charged my mother over £3000 for a replacement for her 25-year old boiler for a 3-bedroom house (after a £300 grant had been applied). Because it was old there was some electrical work that needed to be done to conform with regulations. She was also "given free" thermostatic radiator valves and a towel rail. It was about 3-man-days work to install (including the "freebies") and from prices advertised on the Web I calculated that the boiler and all of the parts could have been bought retail for under £1000 so who knows what the trade price would have been.

tiamaria

alanq wrote: »

What she needs is a qualified heating engineer not a plumber. Of course one person could be qualified for both. Check the Gas Safe register. By law all boiler work must be carried out by a competent person.
http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk

QUOTE]


yes, sorry he is a qualified heating engineer

Savvy_Sue

indi22 wrote: »

Tell her to contact SALRC - they help single ladies of any age. Some of whom have their own homes and some even have savings!

Sorry, I'm not allowed to post links! but it's salrc . org

SALRC - I'm not sure if these are the lot I spoke of earlier as 'Distressed Gentlewomen', but I don't think they are. However an excellent suggestion, especially as I cannot find the Distressed Gentlewomen!

However if she's in a London Borough I did find this.

tiamaria wrote: »

The house is a small cottage, 1 bedroom and a box room, a stair lift is fitted (bought with house) although unused as yet. Her sister sold her home to move into sheltered housing and regretted it every day so she would be unlikely to want to go down this route.

She's independant with all faculties intact and surely it's a good thing for a person to maintain their independance for as long as they can & she does have some family who help her a lot, they just don't have enough cash to buy her a boiler!

You've had some other helpful suggestions, and sorry if I seem to be banging on about it, but I just think everyone should take a long hard look at their housing and 'future-proof' it before it's 'too late'!

Also I can see why she wouldn't consider sheltered accommodation if her sister regretted it, but it's probably worth noting that what suits some would be ghastly to others, including sisters! And I've known several very active people who've taken to it like the proverbial ducks!

And I absolutely agree that people should maintain their independence for as long as they can, BUT that doesn't stop us thinking about how to manage the things we no longer CAN manage, or no longer WANT to manage.