Boiler broken - What rights do I have as a tenant?

rivmix

Hi,

I currently rent a property managed by an agent and looking for some advice on my position and entitlements with regards to the following situation.

The boiler broke down recently during the recent cold snap on a Sunday roughly mid day. We phoned the agency immediately and were told that it would be dealt with urgently and that someone would be round the next morning. On tuesday afternoon the agencys plumber came round to diagnose/fix the problem. He told the landlord and ourselves that a new boiler was needed by report&quoatation the following day (Wednesday). We were left in limbo with the only suggestion being using kettles for baths and us buying fan heaters until the following Monday when we were advised by the agency that the landlord had decided to use another contractor and the boiler would be installed in a weeks time.
To summarise we were without a boiler for 15 days.

We have now learnt that the agent is advising the landlord not to give any discount on rent and I imagine the landlord will follow his advice.

Is just over 2 weeks a reasonable ammount of time to fix a boiler time in winter months?

Is there anything we can do in this situation? What rights do we have as tenants? Should we be due any kind of reduction in rent?

Thanks in advance.

BitterAndTwisted

There is no automatic entitlement to a rent-reduction or anything else. Your landlord has a responsibility to repair or replace the boiler which presumably he has done. If you were a home-owner I doubt you would have been able to do the same in under 15 days.

tom9980

rivmix wrote: »

Hi,

I currently rent a property managed by an agent and looking for some advice on my position and entitlements with regards to the following situation.

The boiler broke down recently during the recent cold snap on a Sunday roughly mid day. We phoned the agency immediately and were told that it would be dealt with urgently and that someone would be round the next morning. On tuesday afternoon the agencys plumber came round to diagnose/fix the problem. He told the landlord and ourselves that a new boiler was needed by report&quoatation the following day (Wednesday). We were left in limbo with the only suggestion being using kettles for baths and us buying fan heaters until the following Monday when we were advised by the agency that the landlord had decided to use another contractor and the boiler would be installed in a weeks time.
To summarise we were without a boiler for 15 days.

We have now learnt that the agent is advising the landlord not to give any discount on rent and I imagine the landlord will follow his advice.

Is just over 2 weeks a reasonable ammount of time to fix a boiler time in winter months?

Is there anything we can do in this situation? What rights do we have as tenants? Should we be due any kind of reduction in rent?

Thanks in advance.

15 days is very reasonable time frame given the time of year. Your landlord is under an obligation to ensure you have a means of heating the property yes so ideally should have provided you with a temporary source such as portable heaters, however the running costs are yours to pay. I dont understand why you went and bought fan heaters?

What other sources of heat are in the property other than the boiler/central heating? is the shower in the property electric? unless there is more you havent told us then i feel the LL acted quickly getting things sorted on this occasion.

Foxy-Stoat_3

Landlord should of provided you with fan heaters as a minimum. You are able to boil kettles to obtain hot water, not ideal but still an option.

I would write to the LL and ask for a cash payment as 2 weeks in the winter is not very acceptable to be without the boiler working. Ask them if they would be prepared to wait for 2 weeks for a plumber to fix the heating/hot water in their own mansion !

If you withhold the rent or part of then you will be in breach of contract.

Hope you get it fixed soon.

G_M

As above. You could have insisted on the LL supplying the alternative heat source, but a bit late for that now.

Initial inspection/diagnosis; getting competitive quotes (most people would get three installers round to quote!); waiting for deliveryof boiler; getting a time-slot for the engineer to install - 2 weeks is perfectly reasonable

rivmix

A boiler takes 1 day to fit and you can easily have one delivered within 2 days, so 3-4 days max would be a reasonable amount of time in an urgent situation.

I do understand that as a tenant you seem to have little rights but is it right that the landlord continues to profitise from the tenant whilst the property is an unrentable condition?

My main problem with this situationwas the sense of urgency around the situation. Would you leave an elderly person without heating and hot water in winter months for over 2 weeks?

BitterAndTwisted

A broken-down boiler does not render the property uninhabitable or unrentable, just ruddy cold!

If you think you can specify, order, receive and fit a boiler in 3-4 days I think you are a fantasist. Or sorely mistaken. Heating engineers at this time of year are difficult to find at short notice. They are not sitting at home twiddling their thumbs.

From what you have described the landlord ha acted promptly.

If you're not happy with the replies you have received that is most regrettable but it doesn't make them wrong!

G_M

rivmix wrote: »

A boiler takes 1 day to fit and you can easily have one delivered within 2 days, so 3-4 days max would be a reasonable amount of time in an urgent situation.

I do understand that as a tenant you seem to have little rights but is it right that the landlord continues to profitise from the tenant whilst the property is an unrentable condition?

My main problem with this situationwas the sense of urgency around the situation. Would you leave an elderly person without heating and hot water in winter months for over 2 weeks?

If you have already decided the above, why bother to ask

Is just over 2 weeks a reasonable ammount of time to fix a boiler time in winter months?

As for 'the sense of urgency', and 'profitisiing' (does the word exist?), you have been answered above.

And yes, tenants have rights - as adised above.

And no, the property was not in an 'unrentable condition', or at least if you'd asked for an alternative heat source as advised already it would not have been.

How old are you?

rivmix

I didn't say it rendered the property uninhabitable. Un-rentable (if that even is a phrase) I would imagine so though.. Who would rent a property without central heating?

You could arrange for a plumber to come round in an emergency within half a day if you wanted to... infact when the shower broke a couple of weeks before and started flooding the house they were out within an hour.
So if you can get someone round within half a day, diagnose and get one specd within that day, delivery within a couple of days, fitted within a day.. done! My point is this was an urgent situation though and unfortunately not the middle of summer. And yes, they should have had 2-3 plumbers round the same day in an ideal world.

I suppose my anger lies with which the urgency the situation was dealt with and I probably fantasise more about having any sort of rights to claim back money on the rent whilst the landlord is profiteering at our expense.

DaftyDuck

3 - 4 days is reasonable in your opinion. 15 days is reasonable in the LL and LA's opinion. Who is to say one is more right than the other? You were not without heating (electrical) or hot water and, although this may not be ideal, it's certainly not life-threatening. As a home-owner, a neighbour just had to have a repair (not replacement) of his Vaillant boiler, still under warranty by Vaillant themselves, and that took six days. No other option.

Do not underestimate the rights of tenants; in this scenario a tenant has far better "rights" than a homeowner does. Your property was not in an "unrentable condition" and, in my opinion, 3-4 days is too fast to expect a resolution by a new boiler being fitted.

Sense of urgency? Well, firstly, are you an elderly person? Secondly, there was heating & hot water. Thirdly, do you really expect most home-owners (not landlords) to be able to contact a plumber or two to get quotes, arrange for the boiler to be supplied, fitted and commissioned in four days? Fifteen days is actually pretty fast, to be honest.

Do you really believe that, as a tenant, you are worse off in this situation than a landlord. Remember, you now benefit from the efficiency of a new boiler that you have got fitted for free.

This was not, by any stretch of the imagination, an emergency or urgent.

Edit: following your latest post... Your "profiteering" LL has forked out for a new boiler... £2000-ish? Who'd rent a property without central heating? The last house I owned didn't have central heating in when I bought it, and tat served the elderly couple (and B&B clients) just fine. Fixing a shower is not so difficult as replacing a boiler, also needs a less-qualified plumber (and costs about a tenth to a twentieth as much)... and it was not an urgent situation!!!

tom9980

rivmix wrote: »

A boiler takes 1 day to fit and you can easily have one delivered within 2 days, so 3-4 days max would be a reasonable amount of time in an urgent situation.

I do understand that as a tenant you seem to have little rights but is it right that the landlord continues to profitise from the tenant whilst the property is an unrentable condition?

My main problem with this situationwas the sense of urgency around the situation. Would you leave an elderly person without heating and hot water in winter months for over 2 weeks?

Rubbish. A few family members are plumbers when our boiler failed dropping its contents of water through the ceiling into the kitchen it took more than 2 weeks to get it sorted and its only because we are family they could be more flexible on times/trust to arrange the required visits to diagnose and fit the new boiler. Its only because we are family they even took our business frankly both are very busy with work at this time of year.

You had hot water. You neglect to mention if you had an electric power shower for washing? you had a source of heating in electric form albeit you bought them foolishly. You had a kettle to heat water. The LL met their obligations IMO.