Renting - Boiler nightmare :-(

olly300

G_M wrote: »

mpetent and amateurish behaviour from the landlord. "

LLs are not magicians. Whether the engineer, as suggested, "didn't have a clue what he was doing" is impossible to say. He may have simply been unlucky that having fixed a fault, there was a 2nd fault. But even if he didn't have a clue what he was doing, that is hardly the LL's fault - indeed the LL called in the manufacturer.

What else could he be expected to do?

Check they had access to alternative heating otherwise, go and buy them some i.e. oil filled radiator, electric fire, fan heater.

jc808

olly300 wrote: »

Check they had access to alternative heating otherwise, go and buy them some i.e. oil filled radiator, electric fire, fan heater.

Get out, are people this needy and non-self-sufficient these days?

Cold? buy a £20 electric heater from argos - itll come in handy in the future if gas prices go up or you move to a non-ch property.

Cant afford that? Wrap up a bit warmer indoors. Put your quilt over the sofa while watching TV. Boil a few kettles and have a shallow bath. As long as your balls are covered by the water, youre OK

Either that, or blame the landlord for being such a wuss. Or not...

As for 'they could have died if they were elderly' - more histrionic dramatic nonsense.

Tiddlywinks

Regina.filangie wrote: »

.... the boiler broke and we had no heating or hot water for approx 3 weeks while it was snowing outside and I was 8 and a half months pregnant. ......... We complained to the agent at the time for the sheer inconvenience we encountered whilst living in a freezing cold house while we had 10 inches of snow outside, I had to stay in day after day and for hours on end waiting for plumbers to call all the time, slept on a sofa whilst ready to pop and experiencing terrible back ache. One on occasion I even cried on the phone to the agent as I was so fed up with the situation.
Where would you be going anyway (other than the maternity suite) with 10 inches of snow and "ready to pop"?

Last week the boiler broke again, displaying the same fault codes so I rang the agent. They sent a plumber out who condemned the boiler. .............. They left a voicemail on my phone the following day saying that before they ordered a new one they wanted to come back again to check a couple of things. I rang him back and said I was going out at 4.30pm but he could come before then, but he said he was in the middle of something and he would call me back. He didn't. Workmen do encounter jobs that take longer than first anticipated. Why should the OP have priority over another of his customers?

I rang the agent again today and explained this, said how angry I was at being left with no heating or hot water and having to take my baby to my inlaws 5 miles away every night for a bath! ....

So, the first breakdown lasted 3 weeks - during the coldest spell in years where the whole country's infrastructure failed. How could the LL have sourced these parts quickly in these circumstances?

This latest breakdown happened "last week" - it is only Monday now so less than 7 days ago with a weekend in between. Again, let's be reasonable with expectations of what a LL can do about a boiler that now needs to be replaced.

SGE1 wrote: »

Are you always this aggressive and patronising when you disagree with someone?

Only with those that fail to live in the real world... Remind me, how did the human race cope before central heating was invented?

SGE1

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Only with those that fail to live in the real world... Remind me, how did the human race cope before central heating was invented?

Irrelevant. The property is being rented with central heating. OP is paying for central heating. Don't force your own standards on to everyone else. Nobody cares if you'd happily live in a house without central heating. This isn't about you.

And, if I were to humour you, I'd point out that I'm pretty sure that before central heating was invented, people died a lot earlier than they do now. Clearly lots of other things affected that, modern medicine etc. But you get the point.

We could all probably technically live naked in the snow eating grass and berries. Doesn't mean it's nice to live naked in the snow with only grass and berries to eat.

zizu73

Similar thing happened to us 2 years ago. Almost 4 weeks without heating or hot water, incompetent unreliable plumbers and false promises. My wife was pregnant and I was furious. What I did was to 1. report the landlord to the council. They don't do anything at first but at least there is a complain in their archive in case things develop to the worst. They advised me not to pay rent until this is solved and inform them regarding any development. 2. after consultation with my lawyer friend I told the landlord that we are going to deduct from the rent depending on how many days we are without functioning boiler which had an affect that he really tried to sort it out. 3. When the boiler was fixed I told the landlord how much I am going to deduct, he protested and said he would not accept it, I told him he was in breach of contract, and quoted exact which paragraphs and if he wanted to take it further we would welcome that. In the end we agreed on an amount which we deducted. 4. Second time the boiler broke down few months later the landlord acted fast and changed the boiler.

Toby1990

Yes, failed to realise that was the time when it went chaotic. Which would explain the 3 weeks. Death part was a bit over reacting I suppose.

Going4TheDream

I would phone or go and see Citizens Advice. They can advise you how you can use rent to pay for repairs legally and the process on how to do this . Just advising the landlord that you are this may be considering this sort of action may be enough to get this sorted quickly.

ruggedtoast

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

So, the first breakdown lasted 3 weeks - during the coldest spell in years where the whole country's infrastructure failed. How could the LL have sourced these parts quickly in these circumstances?

This latest breakdown happened "last week" - it is only Monday now so less than 7 days ago with a weekend in between. Again, let's be reasonable with expectations of what a LL can do about a boiler that now needs to be replaced.



Only with those that fail to live in the real world... Remind me, how did the human race cope before central heating was invented?

So, just to paraphrase what you have written; you are a landlord yourself and don't want to entertain the possibility that going for almost a month with no heating due to a repeatedly malfunctioning heating system is unacceptable.

Gee. Do you have any properties vacant at the moment? I would love to move in.

You sound awesome.

G_M

Going4TheDream wrote: »

I would phone or go and see Citizens Advice. They can advise you how you can use rent to pay for repairs legally and the process on how to do this . Just advising the landlord that you are this may be considering this sort of action may be enough to get this sorted quickly.

The process for this is detailed by Shelter here.

But the OP will need patience while going through the process!

lynzpower

call your local freindly environmental health officers for a little bit of advice.

incidentally although it does not matter that you were pregnant, that is because an EHO will assess the property as if the member of the vulnerable group lives there in an case: for excess cold is those 65 or older.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/142631.pdf