No hot water or heating- IT'S SNOWING!!!

caeler

So has the plumber been? Are you all fixed up with hot water and heating? Fingers crossed OP is just enjoying the warmth until they post back an update for us!

Pimlico

I think in view of the current weather conditions I would get the heating fixed myself PDQ by whoever will fix it quickest regardless of cost.

Having got it fixed I would deduct the cost of fixing it from the rent (including the £105).

There are pros & cons to this approach:

The Pros:

You get heating.

The Cons:

You may end up with a Section 21 Notice to Quit. That doesn't sound like a big problem, and you have plenty of notice, it's going to be at least 3 months from now before you have to leave, possibly 6+ if you decide to wait for the Court Order.

There may be some deduction from the deposit. Most unlikely IMHO - you gave the LA/LL the opportunity to fix it, they didn't, due to the emergency nature of the situation you got it sorted for them. It's entirely reasonable that they should pay for the work, there is no reason why you should pay for work that is their responsibility. They will argue that they could have done the work cheaper, the killer answer is that they had the opportunity to do that & didn't take it.


The risk in my advice is that you won't be following "normal procedure", however these are not normal weather conditions.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Am i right in thinking Townends should be doing more in this situation - are they not the managing agent?

BitterAndTwisted

No managing agent can compel a landlord to carry out repairs if they minded not to pay for them. The landlord instructs the agent, not the other way round. Ergo, agents are in thrall to landlords for their commissions.

clutton_2

Did the plumber come on Monday - if so are you warm now ?

caeler

caeler wrote: »

So has the plumber been? Are you all fixed up with hot water and heating? Fingers crossed OP is just enjoying the warmth until they post back an update for us!

Well?? Don't keep us guessing?!

watsinaname

Ulfar wrote: »

You can apply for social housing and if you advise of the problems with the property the council will send someone around to inspect. Depending upon the state of the property they will give you an increased points score.

Most councils also advertise properties in the local paper that are empty for those on the council waiting list to bid on, you just have to be on the list they then allocate depending on the points score of the bidders. They may not be in the best area but you cannot have everything.


Due to the way housing allocation works there is an oddity that 1 bedroom council places tend to be in greater supply as they aren't suitable for families (only one bedroom) or old people (due to stairs).

I have in the past applied for a council place when I lived in a rented flat that was 2nd floor with no fire escape, due to this I was allocated a place quick smart. Some of the items you have mentioned give a similar level of priority when it comes to housing.

If you are staying where you are there are some simple things you can do to help.

These include :

Get the chimney swept so you can use the open fire, sounds like it is blocked from your description.

Buy an electric radiator that is filled with oil which is thermostatically controlled

Draft excluders on all the doors and then put up a heavy curtain inside the door, also heavy curtains on the windows.

There is a bubble wrap stuff you can get from some shops such as Wilkinsons that is designed to be put on single pain windows to help with insulation, this could be used on your internal door. You didn't say if you had double glazing.

Have been to enquire about social housing and basically there is none. The only property to offer is for the over 60's ..... thats an 8 yr wait for me.

Have had chimmney swept and that is not the problem ...LL has done some 'improvements ' so the chimmney the chimmney is not the right width for the size of fireplace hence the smoke and fumes coming back into room.

Buy an electric heater..... already have them and they are no effect as the room is so drafty and damp. Yes have D/glazing but looks to me as they are not fitted into the wall right..... can see daylight around the edge...not been filled.
i have a thick curtain infront of the door but because of the cold wind blowing through the gaps it is also ineffect.

As the LL is hell bent on spending no money on his property i would have thought any moves i make in complaning tpo the council would result in me beig homeless and being on benefits i dont have the money to put a deposit on another property and my council dont give any help with this.

Wee_Willy_Harris

watsinaname wrote: »

Have been to enquire about social housing and basically there is none. The only property to offer is for the over 60's ..... thats an 8 yr wait for me.

Have had chimmney swept and that is not the problem ...LL has done some 'improvements ' so the chimmney the chimmney is not the right width for the size of fireplace hence the smoke and fumes coming back into room.

Buy an electric heater..... already have them and they are no effect as the room is so drafty and damp. Yes have D/glazing but looks to me as they are not fitted into the wall right..... can see daylight around the edge...not been filled.
i have a thick curtain infront of the door but because of the cold wind blowing through the gaps it is also ineffect.

As the LL is hell bent on spending no money on his property i would have thought any moves i make in complaning tpo the council would result in me beig homeless and being on benefits i dont have the money to put a deposit on another property and my council dont give any help with this.

Who are your council? They should give "reasonable preference" to the homeless, priority need or not.

Ulfar

watsinaname wrote: »

Have been to enquire about social housing and basically there is none. The only property to offer is for the over 60's ..... thats an 8 yr wait for me.

Have had chimmney swept and that is not the problem ...LL has done some 'improvements ' so the chimmney the chimmney is not the right width for the size of fireplace hence the smoke and fumes coming back into room.

Buy an electric heater..... already have them and they are no effect as the room is so drafty and damp. Yes have D/glazing but looks to me as they are not fitted into the wall right..... can see daylight around the edge...not been filled.
i have a thick curtain infront of the door but because of the cold wind blowing through the gaps it is also ineffect.

As the LL is hell bent on spending no money on his property i would have thought any moves i make in complaning tpo the council would result in me beig homeless and being on benefits i dont have the money to put a deposit on another property and my council dont give any help with this.

Ok couple of things you can do.

For the door you can get rubber door sweeps that will completely seal the door, for the letter box you can get an inner flap that will also help.

As the chimney is a waste of time get a chimney pillow to block it up and stop escape of more heat. Then tape several layers of cardboard over it to completely seal it in.

Get a can of expanding foam and fill those gaps in the windows, it doesn't cost much and will save you heaps.

Goingmad_3

After creating this post a week ago, I would like to update.

A very long cold weekend.

Monday morning I called Environmental Health at local Council, who were great and said they would call her as with severe weather she has to fix urgently. They had to leave a message as she never picked up for them. They then advised me that they would post her a letter informing her of her responsibilities and give her until Friday to respond- If she doesn't respond by Friday Environmental Health will inspect our property and do the work and charge her for it.

I also wrote a letter on Monday to her and to her letting agents (recorded delivery) advising them that I would vacate premises and stop paying rent unless the heating/hot water system was fixed urgently.

Monday night at 8pm the long awaited plumber arrived, he stayed until 1am and then informed us what the landlady wanted him to do to temporarily fix the hot water did not work- she had no intention of getting the heating fixed as she believed we should purchase electric heaters. I have to get these messages off a very sympathetic plumber as she will no longer answer the phone to me.

After the plumber spoke to her she apparently went mad at him and is now refusing to pay him. So she now owes me £105 and him £500.
Nobody can reason with this woman!!

Today because of bad weather we had to stay home from work as travelling was out of the question. We're sat in the front room and we hear someone at the front door, yep, you guessed it, this crazy woman has a set of keys and is trying to get into our house!!!

We stopped her at the door (well partner did) and refused her entry. She was shouting outside the house saying that we were in her house and then out of nowhere she starts saying to my boyfriend that she knows he's a policeman and she's going to get him sacked (he doesn't go around advertising that fact, but it says his job title on our tenancy agreement). We obviously panic as this is not only an inconvenience but with her threatening his job it's getting very serious!
We had no choice but to call the police and report her to them, I think it's going to be an harassment warning. I also called the letting agent to let them know and again Environmental Health.

I have to praise Environmental Health as they are the only people who seem to be helping us. They called the landlady again this evening at 2000hrs (they finish work at 1700hrs) they advised that the landlady would call me tonight and get a plumber around tomorrow to prepare another quote and then get the work done within the next few days. So this will be her 3rd plumber.

Erm, no phone call as yet- no great surprise. I think I may have to have another day off work tomorrow as I certainly don't want her using her set of keys to come in while we are at work.

What a nightmare, I really appreciated the advice of this forum though as without it I would have had no clue where to start, but at least we are getting there!!