Compensation for no heating / hot water

smc217

Ok, I know that this is yet another thread on this subject. Circumstances are a bit different though. So here it is:

When I was moving into the property I have asked the agent why there are no radiators. She explained to me that the heating is under the floor. It sounded reasonable. I opened a boiler closet and saw a massive boiler. Looked old, but hey, why not.

I have moved in (officially) on 1st of August, but I flew overseas for two weeks straight away after getting the keys. I just needed to get this flat situation sorted before going on holidays.

As soon as I moved in (15th of August), I realized that the boiler does not work and there is no heating and no hot water. When I took a closer look at the boiler I realized that it is not supposed to work as it is disconnected and partly disassembled.

The first thing I did was contacting the agency on the phone. According to the contract I am not allowed to contact the landlord directly and agency refuses to give me his contact details (fair enough). So I asked them to get the situation sorted. They were extremely polite and said that they will take action. Nothing happened and after several days I have contacted them again - this time via email. They arranged an engineer to come and see the property. Engineer inspected the boiler and said that:
1) It is not supposed to work as it is partly disassembled and it is also so ancient that it is hard to tell when it was on for the last time
2) There is no heating system in the flat and the boiler is only meant for hot water supply (there is no way landlord and agency did not know that)
He then forwarded all this info to the agency. I waited another week and nothing happened. So I gave agency a call and asked them what is the progress. They sent another engineer in and he did exactly the same as the first one - inspected the property, made the same conclusions and reported it to the agency. Still no action.

Now few more details. I do have an electric shower - so it is all not so tragic. However the situation is in Manchester and according to Housing Act there has to be an adequate heating system and supply of hot water to the kitchen in the flat. Also the absence of hot water and heating is not the only problem, there is also not functioning washing machine, problem with the front door and bathroom tiles - but these are the least of my worries. It is however important to note that agency is equally bad at repairing anything from that list.

So I went to the agency in person. They have told me straight away that they are unaware of any problems with the property except for washing machine. I had to sit down at the computer and go through the emails together with the agent to prove to her, that I have notified about the absence of hot water and heating two weeks ago. This was especially unpleasant since I am pretty sure that they have known about it even before letting the flat.

So, the agent admitted the problem and promised to take action. No apologies for lying to me or for not admitting that the problem was reported earlier. After few days, nothing has been done again and I got in touch with the council. Council officer reacted promptly and after writing down the whole story got in touch with the agency. Agency passed information to the landlord and he refused to repair the boiler or install the heaters. Council officer then assured me that he will enforce the decision and sent a letter giving a landlord 7 days notice to get the job done.

Now I do believe that the boiler will be fixed (or replaced which is more likely) and hopefully I will get the heating system as well. However my question now is if the landlord is acting like that, then he is unlikely to pay me any compensation. I have already sent an email to the agency suggesting to meet and discuss the amount of compensation (I did not propose any numbers leaving it entirely to the landlord and his agents). My guess would be any number between 30% and 50% of the rent and a sincere apology would be just fine, I would not try to get more.

My question is. What are my rights in this situation? Can I demand compensation and how much? It is summer right now and I do not suffer too much from no heating, but it is about +15 outside and not having any hot water is a problem. Also I am paying a full rent for a flat with hot water, washing machine and heating which is not there. All of these problems did not happen after I moved in but were there in place before my tenancy started.

Another important thing is that I have tried my best to be polite and communicate with landlords agents, but nothing really happened until council officer got involved. This means that I did not have hot water, washing machine and heating for a month now because of landlord's and his agent's decisions, not because I was waiting for plumbers, engineers or other contractors.

Any thoughts, advises? Thank you for your opinions.

dancingfairy

Hmmm. it sounds really dodgy and horrible for you.
You sound like you have done everything right so far.
I believe that if you request the landlords address they have to give it to you (not that this will necessarily mean he/she will do repairs).
What length tenancy agreement do you have? 6 months, year and are there any break clauses? I'd be looking to get out of there as soon as is practically possible.
I'm unsure what compensation you'd be entitled to or even how you go'd about it. I assume you'd have to take it to court.
If you are stuck in a long contract (say 1 year) and you don't think the landlord is going to do the repairs it may be worth paying for legal advice and try and get the tenancy frustrated.
Another (free) source of information would be Shelter the housing charity who should at least be able to point you in the right direction and tell you if you have a hope of either getting out of the contract or of somehow getting compensation.
Did you pay a deposit and is it protected?
df
edit: I found this regarding whether a landlord has to supply his/her address. I have to confess I didn't understand it but it does explain it is in relation to the landlord and tenancy act so hopefully you can search further on this if necesssary https://www.rla.org.uk/docs/enews170712/landlords_addresses.pdf

dancingfairy

I am sort of hoping that your landlord has not protected your deposit and you can use this as leverage to 'mutually surrender' the tenancy . If he/she hasn't you can always sue for up to 3 the deposit as some sort of compensation (assuming you get an address to sue him/her).
df

smc217

@dancingfairy, thank you for you reply.

As I have said (and now will explain in details). I am sure that repairs will be done. Manchester council already sent a letter stating that landlord has to do the repairs in 7 days and the council undertakes to enforce this decisions and recover any expenses from the landlord. It might take couple more weeks, but I believe it will get sorted.

I don't want to move, I have my reasons for that (might sound crazy, but yes I do). I will stay here at least until the end of tenancy agreement (6 months, ending in January).

The need to go to court was the biggest of my worries. I will if I have to. The landlord seems to be pretty stubborn. Meanwhile I do my best to keep every piece of communication between me and the agency (and also council) and to pay my rent in time. I don't want to give them any reason to blame me.

Regarding landlord's address... Thanks for info. I will have another chat with the agents this week and see where will it get me. However my tenancy agreement clearly states that landlord can be only contacted on agency's postal address...

smc217

@dancingfairy, in regards to your second post... could you please tell me where does "up to 3 the deposit" come from? Is there a regulation of any kind?

FYI the deposit is protected by Tenancy Deposit Scheme. This is some kind of third party company that undertakes to resolves any disputes over deposit.

smc217

@Quizzical Squirrel - valid point there about heating. I am by any means not an expert. This is why I rely on the conclusions of two engineers appointed by the agency. They clearly said that there is no heating under the floor.

Also, I think, that there would have been a thermostat and a switch to turn it on. There are not many places in the flat were heating equipment can be hidden - it is a studio.

smc217

@Quizzical Squirrel, as I said, I am pretty sure that the switch cannot be elsewhere. The flat is pretty self-contained.

I don't know the history of this flat. Might have been let through the agency. Really don't know.

Also, landlord, when notified that there is no heating in the property - refused to install it, rather then explaining that it is there.

phill99

I would take the bull by the horns and stop fannying around.

The house is in breach of legislation as it has no heating or hot water. Additionally, you are legally entitled to the landlords details.

I would be tempted to stop paying rent and move out. Sure they theoretically can take you to court, but you have a massive counter claim. So is the landlord really going to bring an action against you?

If the council are successful, your landlord only has to provide plug in electric heaters and an over sink hot water heater. Both are expensive to run. Don't be under any illusion that you landlord needs to install a central heating system.

smc217

@phill99 - thanks for your advice.

Withholding the rent is something that I was specifically advised against. By doing this I will put myself in breach of tenancy agreement. I want to avoid that. Also this is an ethical question. Sorry for the language but if the landlord is a douchebag, this does not mean I have to become one. And in case the situation ends up in court, I want to have a perfectly clean profile. So withholding the rent is not an option.

Over-sink electric water heating and electric powered radiator will be perfectly Ok. It is a tiny studio flat anyway and I am rarely here. I have very intense work schedule, and central heating would have been a waste for me with all standing charges for gas. I currently save a lot of money by not having a contract with gas supplier at all. I believe that my usage of hot water and heating would be absolutely minimal, since I am rarely in the flat, but since this is a legal requirement and a very basic thing, I want it to be in place. I am not letting the landlord and his agent to get away with what they are doing.

You are the second person in this thread mentioning the legal right to know landlords address. This sounds encouraging and I am going to look into this subject tomorrow. If this turns out to be correct and I can back it up with a quote from some law, or set or regulations, that would be great. Any hints?