Quitting an AST tenancy early [or] boiler woes

artychap

Hi everyone.

We've been in a flat since the end of March, which is on a 12 month assured shorthold tenancy. All pretty standard stuff. Our landlord is a reasonable enough person, but we've been having some problems that are quite serious ones and just aren't getting solved, and I want to get some idea of what our options might be if things do not get better.

Basically, since more or less when we moved in, we've had problems with the boiler. I could detail the whole history of the saga but I'll keep it to the key points:

1. There's an intermittent fault with the boiler that causes us to be without heating or hot water at unpredictable junctures. When it happens, we cannot fix it ourselves and have to wait for the plumber to come out and sort it. The plumber is never able to explain how he fixes it, which leads me to suspect that he just fiddles til he hits on something and hopes for the best. I do not like this approach.

2. While the plumber has been out several times, changed two parts, and carried out a number of other attempts to diagnose the problem, the problem remains. The longest period of time the boiler has worked without problems is three weeks (it's failed again today).

I understand that this is an intermittent problem, but the plumber has observed the problem first hand, so it's not like we've not been able to show the problem. I've also made videos of the boiler not working in case it spontaneously works when he turns up.

ANYWAY.

My current situation is this. Obviously we need the landlord to either a) replace the boiler or b) at the very least, get a different plumber/heating engineer to look at the boiler. It's obvious that our current plumber cannot solve the problem, and I think we've given him a fair chance to do so.

If our landlord declines to find us another heating engineer or replace the boiler, what would our position be likely to be regarding quitting the contract early? We're not willing to live with this and will move if we have to, but obviously we don't want to end up paying for the remainder of the rent if we do have to go.

Does this sound like a reasonable circumstance within which to break the AST contract without sanction? To our eyes, while we understand it's reasonable to allow time for these situations to be resolved, if the situation has stagnated (i.e. it's been ongoing for months and there's no prospect of a solution) then we effectively have a situation where the landlord is not fulfilling their obligation to keep the heating and hot water in good working order.

If we need to, as a last resort, can we go?

BitterAndTwisted

You have no absolute right to end your contract early, insist on a boiler-replacement or demand a different and/or more competent engineer.

Have a close read of your AST to discover whether there is a break-clause at the six months mark. If there isn't you can only surrender the tenancy with your landlord's explicit agreement IN WRITING.

artychap

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You have no absolute right to end your contract early, insist on a boiler-replacement or demand a different and/or more competent engineer.

Have a close read of your AST to discover whether there is a break-clause at the six months mark. If there isn't you can only surrender the tenancy with your landlord's explicit agreement IN WRITING.

There's no break clause. But if the landlord refuses our insistence on a replacement boiler or a competent engineer, what is then our next move?

BitterAndTwisted

Your next move is to try and negotiate an early surrender if you cannot tolerate the current situation but as I have explained you have no automatic right to one.

If you can afford to pay the rent on two properties at once all well and good, just go and tell the landlord you're going.

G_M

Either you negotiate an Early Surrender and/or you negotiate over the boiler maintenance.

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

Tjrw1985

Hang on though, isn't the LL responsible for ensuring the property has heating and hot water etc.

By this fault happening, this is surely breaching the LL and tenant act as 3 weeks without hot water is not acceptable.

If I was the tenant, I would write to the LL stating that you require a copy of the gas safety certificate (if you don't have one) and request that the boiler is fixed or replaced within 10 days.

See what his move is, he may just serve you with a s.21 though

artychap

Tjrw1985 wrote: »

Hang on though, isn't the LL responsible for ensuring the property has heating and hot water etc.

By this fault happening, this is surely breaching the LL and tenant act as 3 weeks without hot water is not acceptable.

If I was the tenant, I would write to the LL stating that you require a copy of the gas safety certificate (if you don't have one) and request that the boiler is fixed or replaced within 10 days.

See what his move is, he may just serve you with a s.21 though

That's what I was thinking, though I should point out that the 3 weeks is the length of time for which the boiler has worked longest without failing. The longest we've been without hot water was a week, after another plumber (from the same company) kept failing to keep appointments (his colleague now deals with us and he usually turns up but has still not solved the problem).

BitterAndTwisted

The landlord is obliged to address repair issues "within a reasonable time". No court in the land has defined what "reasonable" means in this context as far as I know. I would say, from what you have described that your landlord has and is attempting to rectify the problem/s. It may not be to your satisfaction but until you own your own house and have to sort your own heating problems you're going to have to accept the situation for what it is until the landlord decides to change their strategy.

In most things in life, friendly negotiation and a willingness to reach a sensible compromise often gets us closer to what we want rather than making noises about our "rights" etcetera.

What conversations have you had with the landlord about this to date?

artychap

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The landlord is obliged to address repair issues "within a reasonable time". No court in the land has defined what "reasonable" means in this context as far as I know. I would say, from what you have described that your landlord has and is attempting to rectify the problem/s. It may not be to your satisfaction but until you own your own house and have to sort your own heating problems you're going to have to accept the situation for what it is until the landlord decides to change their strategy.

In most things in life, friendly negotiation and a willingness to reach a sensible compromise often gets us closer to what we want rather than making noises about our "rights" etcetera.

What conversations have you had with the landlord about this to date?

I agree with you completely that the best way to manage this is by reasonable communication, and so far this has worked just fine. I accept that the landlord is working to rectify the situation, and appreciate that fact too. Currently the landlord has a plumber come out each time the boiler fails. However, being human beings who need to live, work (very hard, long hours), there's a limit to the length of time we can spend not having hot water, waiting in for plumbers, et cetera.

In fact my post is very much designed to avoid "making noises about our rights" -- while currently we are dealing with the landlord just fine, no reasonable person would disagree that we also need to plan an alternative to this if a long-term solution cannot be reached reasonably. We simply can't stay in a place where the hot water can and does fail with no warning on a reasonably regular basis. Posting to ask about any potential process of escalation somewhere like this place allows me to explore those options without having to even raise the subject with the landlord--thus not insulting our landlord, and keeping our relationship less stressful and confrontational.

In short, of course before any escalation I would hope to negotiate a happy solution with the landlord first. But I like to do my research before such things are even broached with the landlord.

[Deleted User]

artychap wrote: »

We simply can't stay in a place where the hot water can and does fail with no warning on a reasonably regular basis.

Then you simply move out and find somewhere else and meet your obligations to this contract at the same time. If your landlord violates your contract that means you can take legal action against him, it does not mean you can simply terminate the contract.

artychap

citricsquid wrote: »

Then you simply move out and find somewhere else and meet your obligations to this contract at the same time. If your landlord violates your contract that means you can take legal action against him, it does not mean you can simply terminate the contract.

Thank you for the clarification, though there's no need to be quite so sarcastic--that is exactly the question I was asking in the original post. I don't think I've been anything other than straightforward and polite in my questions.