Landlady won't accept the heating issue

silvercar

Just wanted to bump this up to see if anyone could answer my question about whether LLs are obliged to act on undesirable EPCs.

No EPCs are designed so that tenants can see how energy saving the property is. Given that you can improve an EPC just by replacing working light bulbs by failed used energy saving ones, the EPC is barely worth the paper its written on.

Becca87_2

So an EPC is there purely for potential tenants to be aware of the energy efficiency rating of a property? The LL does have to have one though doesn't she, even if she doesn't have to act on its findings? It might be worth asking her to provide one; a poor EPC might prompt her to act... One can live in hope!

C_Mababejive

As long as the landlady has a gas safety cert then she is under no obligation as to the age and efficiency of the heating system/house/age whatever...

You view the property,you agreed to take it as is.

If it isnt suitable,give notice and move.

You cannot force her to fund upgrades..

tbs624

C_Mababejive wrote: »

As long as the landlady has a gas safety cert then she is under no obligation as to the age and efficiency of the heating system/house/age whatever...

You view the property,you agreed to take it as is.

If it isnt suitable,give notice and move.

You cannot force her to fund upgrades..

Not so. Depends on whether the temps at the property can be deemed to be detrimental to the T. Excessive cold is recognised as a Housing Hazard under HHSRS ( Housing Health and Safety Rating System) and LLs may be served with a S11 improvement notice.

See an example here (originally posted in the Evict a Rogue LL thread)

prosaver

hope this helps

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081203011810AALHBdL

C_Mababejive

tbs624 wrote: »

Not so. Depends on whether the temps at the property can be deemed to be detrimental to the T. Excessive cold is recognised as a Housing Hazard under HHSRS ( Housing Health and Safety Rating System) and LLs may be served with a S11 improvement notice.

See an example here (originally posted in the Evict a Rogue LL thread)

Hmmm..i wonder what the authorities would do in the case of an owner occupier who had a broken heating system and could therefore not heat their home?

Becca87_2

tbs624 wrote: »

Not so. Depends on whether the temps at the property can be deemed to be detrimental to the T. Excessive cold is recognised as a Housing Hazard under HHSRS ( Housing Health and Safety Rating System) and LLs may be served with a S11 improvement notice.

Because of the cold and the poor insulation, we are experiencing condensation and mould problems, particularly in our bedroom (easily the coldest room in the house). I posted some links to photographs of the mould and condensation in an above post (#29). Would this problem be more likely to warrant the attention of Environmental Health?

poppysarah

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Hmmm..i wonder what the authorities would do in the case of an owner occupier who had a broken heating system and could therefore not heat their home?

You can't sue yourself...


Home owners have to be responsible for their own home.
A landlord is responsible for someone elses and that's the difference.

Flyboy152

Nixer wrote: »

Out of interest, when did it become law to supply an EPC for a rental property? Our previous house didn't come with an EPC (tenancy began in 2005) had much the same problems as the OP describes, similarly uninterested landlords, and high tenancy turnover (everyone since us has lasted one winter). Our present house (tenancy began in 2008) thankfully is much warmer but am fairly sure we didn't get an EPC for that either.

October two thousand and eight.

ETA: Already ansewered. :embarasse

Flyboy152

BackOnTrack wrote: »

Here is what I think you should do:

• Inform the landlord in writing that you will arrange the repair yourself unless the she complies with her obligations

• Give her 2 weeks to arrange the work

• Obtain 3 quotes for the cost of the work from reputable plumbers

• Write to her again, enclosing copies of the quotes and reminding her of her obligation to do the work and the letter should warn her that you will deduct the cost from rent

• If you don't get a response then arrange for the plumber who gave the lowest quote to do the work and send the receipts to the landlady for payment

• If she doesn't pay then pay the plumber yourself. Then write to her with a breakdown of the costs and how much you intend to withhold from your rent.

I believe this to be legal, I think it is called offset or something.

Good luck

Never, ever withhold the rent. That way, a section eight notice will be winging its way to the tenant, straightaway. Although the landlord, in this case, is certainly falling short of their moral commitment to providing decent housing, there is no justification for a tenant to carry out the work and charge the landlord, by deprivation of rental income. If the landlord is carrying out timely and effective repairs, it would very difficult to argue that the upgrade was entirely necessary. That said, I can see that, in the view of the tenant, those repairs are not efficient enough to satisfy their need for comfort and enjoyment of their rental property, but it would be just as easy for the landlord to argue that that they are. It is also possible that the damp (caused by condensation etc.) and the poor performing heating could give rise for a case under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) via the Housing Act; but, from what I understand, this is not very easy to proceed with, as enforcments have been rare and quite lengthy to achieve.

There maybe other ways though, to help encourage the landlord to carry out repairs, such as the mere threat of prosecution under the two thousand and four housing act, the EPC rules and the various environmental health regulations.