How quickly should my landlord fix my heating?

Hellyboo

Hi,

I have had no heating since Sunday evening, as the boiler keeps turning itself off. We let the landlady know yesterday morning and she said she would sort it "in time for Christmas" and we haven't heard from her since. Does she have some sort of responsibility to sort it out within a certain time frame? I'm left in the cold with no heating and only the hot water which is in the tank (running out fast) with two children under 5. We have one electric heater, but it's very expensive to run and I can't use it while the children are up in case of accidents. Wondering what others would consider a reasonable amount of time to wait until calling her again? If she doesn't sort it son would it be acceptable to call someone myself and send the bill to her? This is a route I would rather not go down, as we have a very good relationship with her, but my 4 year old has a chest infection and it really is cold in here!

Any help appreciated, thank you!

VfM4meplse

PDQ if she has any sense! As you say, you have a good relationship with her - presumably you don't go through a LA - and I'm sure she would not wish to compromise this either. Keep calling, ask where she is with this and if the appropriate urgency isn't assigned, offer to fix it yourself and take the money from the rental payment. Any smart LL should have insurance to cover boiler breakdown.

It may be worth knowing that in a cold snap / when there is extra demand on services, British Gas prioritises the vulnerable and your household would fall within that category.

Hellyboo

No we're not with an LA, it's privately rented and we have lived here for almost 3 years with no problems. Most of the repairs we do ourselves and have only had to have her fix something twice in our time here, so we don't ask for much! If I've not heard from her by this evening I'll give her another call. I've looked around and some say that at this time of year being with no heating means it's classed as an emergency and should be at least looked at within 24 hours, but another site said that she has 3 days to get someone round. I don't think she'll want to go through BG as her husband is a plumber and although he's not Corgi registered it will be a colleague of his that comes I should think. Thank you for your reply VfM4meplse.

nickj_2

3 days is more than enough , esp if her old man has contacts , say if it's not fixed by thursday you'll get an emergency plumber which will be pricey , out and send her the bill

VfM4meplse

Ring again now, it's gone 5pm and the working day is over. Tbh your LL shouldn't be playing with her responsibilities, she needs to recognise this as the emergency it is. If you end up calling out an emergency plumber / boiler repair man then she will be paying over the odds for it and she knows it, but that will be the price to pay for her lack of consideration.

My heating switched itself off 20 mins ago, and the temperature has dropped so rapidly that my feet are like ice despite having had it on for the last 3 hours, and I am geographically about 60 miles sth of you. I can only imagine what you are suffering xxx

plumb1_2

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Ring again now, it's gone 5pm and the working day is over. Tbh your LL shouldn't be playing with her responsibilities, she needs to recognise this as the emergency it is. If you end up calling out an emergency plumber / boiler repair man then she will be paying over the odds for it and she knows it, but that will be the price to pay for her lack of consideration.

I dont know the rules for the amount of time the LL has to fix the problem, but the OP says its 3 days, but it could be more. She only informed the LL on Monday morning, so it has not been 3 days. I do agree it should be fixed asap.
Imo, if the OP calls out a engineer to fix the problem then she will have to pay the bill, as the LL hasn't given permission for her to do this.And might say her has someone booked already.
Best to give the LL a call again and ask.

So be carefull!!!!!!!!

iamcornholio

There is no set time limit, but it should be reasonable. Summer, winter and old/vulnerable/children in the property will have an impact

Attendance within 1-2 days for an initial diagnosis should be expected in winter, and the full repair will then depend on the problem.

If the boiler can't be fixed within a few days, then the landlord should provide some temporary heating, such as fan heaters

securityman

you try to get a gas plumber this time of year when everybody is switching the heating on and finding problem.
I would say 3 working days before someone should be around to look. If they cannot fix same day then the LL should give you some other safe form of heating and hot water.

gas4you

Nearly impossible to get one of us this week I'm afraid.

It is traditionally the worst (best) week of the year for boiler/heating faults. If you do find someone then you are at the mercy of the suppliers and manufacturers when getting spares. They seem in short supply this year. Manufacturers seem to have shut up shop for xmas early this year in a lot of cases!!