advice to avoid another cold winter

Fire_Fox

treeze wrote: »

I am in a one bed first floor flat which is warm and sunny most of the year but very cold in Winter. Firstly I have no double glazing as its a listed building with old wooden frames.I had old storage heaters but removed the one in the bedroom as it took up so much space and just have one in the hall which I've never used as I believe they're expensive and inefficient as most of the heat would go out my front door. Obviously I'm getting draughts from windows and my tiled bathroom and kitchen floors feel icy. I'm on a low income and just use an oil filled radiator in the living room to take off the chill and move it around at bedtime and when I have a bath.I daren't have more or leave it on all day as I worry about money. Of course it's not like the heat from central heating and I don't want to move about much as its cold. Any suggestions on insulating a bit-it's my flat but in a large building owned by Freebridge council-or the best sort of heaters to be using.Thanks

Who do the windows belong to? Read the long lease, sometimes longhold tenants are responsible for repairs and maintenance but often with ex-council properties the freeholder is responsible for organising this communally.

If it is the council write and ask when they intend to repair/ maintain/ replace the windows and insulate the property better generally. Double glazing can be installed into listed buildings, but obviously not the regular UPVC stuff. All councils have targets for energy saving in buildings they own.

Other that that you are likely limited what you can do to the flat because many options involve altering the structure of the building which you don't own and is listed. Underfloor heating can be cheaper to run than other forms of electric heating BUT is expensive to install. If you have an economy 7 meter it would be far cheaper to run storage heaters than your oil filled heater. Ditto running your immersion heater for hot water, depending how old it is it may well have built in insulation, does not need lagging like a gas boiler might.

Consider an electric underblanket on your bed and overblanket on your sofa - these cost pennies to run. For your windows you could use blinds or curtains with blackout lining, this holds more heat than thermal lining but it's still not exactly amazing. If there are any drafts on the doors and windows use draft excluder strips.

The bad news: I think you have made a big mistake purchasing a cheap, listed council owned flat without thoroughly researching the implications. Ultimately all repairs, maintenance and improvements to the building are chargeable to the leaseholders - this can run to tens of thousands of pounds per flat and you contracted to pay your share by signing the long lease. Being on a low income is not an excuse, if you don't pay the money could be added to your mortgage or you could be repossessed by the freeholder. Listed buildings are far more expensive to maintain than the average property, and social housing landlords are obligated to bring standards up under 'better homes'.
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/may/14/housingpolicy.society

macman

penrhyn wrote: »

Don't understand why OP does not get the knobs on the storage heater fixed.
Cylinder jacket should be done Now! Carpe Diem.

I agree, both could have been fixed in the time spent posting.

treeze

It was really intended as a question about insulation as whatever heat I have on-storage or otherwise is a bit wasted if its going out the windows and door. I can't actually reach round my boiler so I willneed help-its inside a cupboard in the bathroom round a corner-they are all indifferent places in these flats. The amount I'm paying at the moment is only about £30 a month for electric.I barely need any hot water,just two or three times a week for half an hour. Yes there are bad points in a listed building,one of the good points is it's in a beautiful old part of our town andlooks out over the river as opposed to new flats here. The ground rental is about £180 a year.Last year they spend less and I got an £80 refund.I bought the cheapest I could find as its central and I don't drive so can walk to work and otherwise I would be homeless.I managed to save enough to leave a marriage in my late fifties from an abusive man.I still have a way to go.

penrhyn

The flat sounds very pleasant, hopefully the hints given will be of some use to you. Sometimes councils have a team of people who can do small jobs around the place like fitting a cylinder jacket draft proofing etc. Why not try giving them a ring or ask at the library or CAB.

In my area we have the Derbyshire Handy Van

http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/community/handy_van_service/default.asp

macman

OP, NB: What you can't reach around is not a boiler, it's a hot water tank with an immersion heater. You don't have a boiler in your property (as far as we know).

Fire_Fox

treeze wrote: »

Yes there are bad points in a listed building,one of the good points is it's in a beautiful old part of our town andlooks out over the river as opposed to new flats here. The ground rental is about £180 a year.Last year they spend less and I got an £80 refund.I bought the cheapest I could find as its central and I don't drive so can walk to work and otherwise I would be homeless.I managed to save enough to leave a marriage in my late fifties from an abusive man.I still have a way to go.

I love listed buildings, my parents live in a converted mill near a river and I'm jealous. It's as much the fact that the building is council owned that concerns me - they can upgrade and improve facilities whereas most private freeholders can only do like for like or repairs/ maintenance so cost of major works tend to be much lower.

Ground rent is nothing to do with repairs and maintenance, that is literally the rent for the ground the building stands on, it is usually fairly low and the amount is set by the long lease. Repairs and maintenance is the service charge which you usually pay monthly or quarterly. Some buildings take enough in service charges to have a 'sinking fund' which pays for some or all of major works.

For reference my parents block owns their own freehold and self manages so work to keep costs low, they pay over £100 a month per flat in service charges and this covers the day to day and planned maintenance (window cleaning and painting, gardening etc.) but won't be enough to fully replace the roof or windows or elevator when these give up the ghost that will require an additional levy.

Sorry if that scares you, a lot of people don't realise how expensive being a leaseholder can be.

treeze

Point taken....I pay £20 a month direct debit. Sorry if I get muddled-ground rental is £10 a year and the rest is maintenance. Think the building had roof done recently,there are no gardens and no window cleaning done-it's not a very prostigious building! Stairwells washed about once a month or so-I'd wash them myself if they paid me! :)A lot of flats in better more expensive areas pay about £400 a year.I know there are always problems with flats,in my town I would probably have had to move outside the town a bit to get a really desirable property but then I would have had transport issues for work,shopping etc.

meg72

macman wrote: »

I think you need to spend more on both food and heating...£2.85 a day on food is not conducive to good health!

Sorry must disagree 2.85 x 7 for food comes to 19.95 lots of people eat quite well and healthy for that.

treeze

Thanks Meg-yes I think I eat quite well.I have lots of stuff in the freezer...if I buy a gammonjoint for £4 it feeds me for 3 days with rice,potatoes etc and the same for a chicken.I can make soup,cook enough pasta for a couple of meals,make bread and butter puddings and so on...

chris1973

Not strictly true, what you state is maximum consumption, however most heaters have a thermostat which will switch the heater off and on to regulate the room temperature.

Switching off probably won't happen very much in an old house, with no double glazing when its -1 to 1c outside for several days in a row, and there are no other sources of heat......