Private tenant - urgent repairs?

soozer

I'm a private tenant and have been in my current property for 2 years.

Our central heating boiler has broken down three times in the past year and I'm having great difficulty getting our landlord to have this repaired.

Last winter we were without heat or hot water for over six weeks. Our boiler 'went' again last Sunday, reported to the landlord on Monday and she has apparently contacted someone to come and fix it.

We both work full-time, apart from my partner has Thursdays off. So we tried to make the appointment for Thursday after our call to her on Monday. She said he would come on Thursday, if not before (and if he came before Thursday it would be after we got home from work).

We therefore had to stay in Tuesday night, Wednesday night, partner didn't leave the house all day Thursday... So on Friday I called her again to tell her that nobody had arrived and she said that the engineer had called her very late on Thursday and told her he had been delayed and would come to us on Friday night. We stay in Friday night and still no sign of him.

I left messages on the landlord's telephone Friday night informing her that the repairs weren't done, then again last night (Saturday) asking her to confirm a day with us. She hasn't returned my calls.

I feel like I'm getting nowhere. Last winter the same thing happened and it took six weeks for her to get it fixed and completely ruined our Christmas. This year I have a baby granddaughter who is meant to be staying with us for the holidays, but this is now jeopardised as I can't have a baby staying here when it's so cold and we have no hot water (our home is a 1930s semi with no double glazing so is exceptionally cold).

I've read on the CAB's website that I should give the landlord 'reasonable time' to have the repair done, but also that a boiler breakdown should be attended to within 24 hours of reporting it. I'm not willing to wait six weeks like last year and want this resolving asap - or else it's another Christmas ruined.

Any advice folks?

Cheers :beer:

olly300

A few things I've noticed in your post:
1. You had to stay in for the repairman
2. The boiler has broken down lots of times
3. The landlord has done a disappearing act (which maybe for a legit reason)

Firstly with repairs especially urgent ones you never have to stay in for the repairman you simply give the landlord permission, so they or their agents come in and fix the problem in your absence.

Secondly if your boiler has broken down that many times in a year it's likely that you need a new boiler and the landlord knows this. She may be unwilling to pay for the boiler replacement.

Thirdly your landlord has done a disappearing act. She may be on holiday or ill but all the landlords' I've have given me more than one number or a contact number of the handyman they use for repairs. I've only had one landlord who tried to wiggle out of an obligation to provide furniture we asked for but it backfired due to the fact that I was in a let with a large number of people, mixture of students and workers, so there was always someone in. The landlord tried to sneak in when he thought the house would be empty to do another repair.

Due to your situation you need to think whether it's worth staying in the house after christmas. I personally think you should move in January and therefore it's worth coming down hard on the landlady.

You need to do all these things simultanously.
1. Find out where your CAB is and make an appointment for later on in the week to see a housing adviser
2. Write a letter to the landlord stating you want the repair done and giving them permission to access the property in your absence to do the repair.
3. Go around on Monday evening to the landlord's address with a friend or a partner as a witness to attempt to make face-to-face contact to ask for the repair to be done and giving permission for it to be done in your absence.(Only one of you should do the talking as you don't want a confrontation.) If the landlord is not in then post the letter you wrote through the letterbox.
4. If the landlord doesn't contact you in 3 days then keep your appointment with the CAB. Make sure you take your tenancy contract with you. You need to find things out like whether it's worth doing the repair yourself, taking the landlord to court to reclaim the money, if you are in a long contract how you can get out of it
5. You should also investigate reporting the landlord to the envirnomental health department of your local council. If you or your partner have a health problem i.e. asthma then contact the council after you have attempted to contact your landlord again.

Finally you can't force a bad landlord to do repairs, and some landlords refuse to do repairs because they want the tenants to leave.

clutton_2

i am very sorry that you are having these difficulties. As a landlady i try to get my repairs done as fast as i can - BUT, builders/workmen/professionals always have a full diary of work, and they are human. The scenario you describe has happened to me and my tenants on several occasions. Tenants often seem to think that landlords delberately delay things - what would be the point in that ? we all know about Environmental health etc why would we risk letters/visits from the council ?

Two of my houses are still waiting for my builder to replace 2 slates on two rooves - its been 2 weeks now, and little buckets are catching water on the landings. i myuself have had no heating for 3 days - i'm waiting for workmen. Just because i am a landlady does not mean that i can suddenly magic up workmen - i do my best - thats all we can do.

Just because a house is tenanted does not mean it is any easier / quicker / faster to get workmen to come and sort things out as opposed to if were a private house.

soozer

Quick update - still not had our boiler fixed, it's now 15 days since I reported it to our landlord.

The boiler was inspected by her choice of engineer last Sunday (10 December) and we were told it would need a new circuit board, same problem as last winter. The guy said that he'd have the board on Tuesday - but he didn't turn up at all last week.

By Saturday I was a bit miffed that we hadn't heard anything, so called our landlord again. She chased the guy and he said that he can't prioritise us as we're not OAPs.

She gave me his mobile number, but he doesn't answer it, so I sent him a text asking him to ring me to arrange a mutually convenient time for him to come and fit the circuit board - still no response.

So eventually last night I called his home phone (I didn't want to do this but felt I had no choice). I obtained his number via 1471 when he'd called the weekend before about coming round for the initial inspection. He wasn't a happy chap because I'd called him at home, but he agreed to come round Tuesday and fit the circuit board - we shall see!

I haven't contacted environmental health about this as the landlord and workman are blaming each other for the delays, meanwhile we're over 2 weeks with no heating or hot water.

It just riles me that this has taken so long (but not as long as the six weeks LAST winter). A friend of mine had her boiler go last Thursday - someone was with her the same day and replaced her circuit board on Friday. Less than 20 hours and it was all solved. *sigh*

soozer

I should also add - we've also had no gas safety inspection on our property since we moved in 26 months ago. Constant reminders seem to do nothing - how do I ensure this is carried out? The grill on our cooker is like a flame-thrower when we turn it off.

clutton_2

soozer - i would be writing to environmental health like a shot if you have not got a CORGI landlords safety inspection certificate - this is illegal, and possibly dangerous !!!

re printed circuit board - i would now be tempted to tell landlord that you will call in the Boiler manufacturers engineer, get the pcb replaced then knock it off the next months rent and let the landlord sue you for it - i just got a new pcb fitted in less than 8 hours from my boiler's manufacturers. if you have no CORGI cert, this landlord may well be trying to do things on the cheap - cheap&gas do NOT mix.

chin up - i think you have been reasonable enough

black-saturn

Not having adequate heating at this time of the year is a health issue so in the light of you having given the landlord ample opportunity to get it fixed I would now write to the Environmental Health office who will give them a deadline of when to fix it by.

black-saturn

clutton wrote:

Tenants often seem to think that landlords delberately delay things - what would be the point in that ?

Usually so that they don't have to cough up any money.