Reasonable time for no heat no hot water?

nimbo

HI,

I know this question has been asked 100 times before but I am apparently not very good at finding the threads on the forum...

We have no heat no hot water in a rented property. The boiler has gone before and been fixed by the landlords preferred boiler guy. Previously it was an intermittent fault this seems to have no end. Has now gone again. He is not available until tomorrow and we let her know of the issue about 5pm yesterday. We tried to reset as asked and no joy...

She is stating that there is no one who can come out until tomorrow - however the three places I have called have all said ranges of 1 - 3 hours. (which may be 1 - 6 hours in reality but at least it's today). (All of whom are registered on the internet and gas safe registered etc).

I have no disability or long term conditions that affect me too much although my bad back is achy I have a hot water bottle tied to me right now. - however I NEED to wash my hair tonight as I start a new job tomorrow and after hearing my partner have a cold shower this morning there is no way I can face washing waist length hair in freezing cold water. (Also after his long day in a kitchen for work he'll want a hot bath or shower tonight).

Is it unreasonable to expect this to be fixed before tomorrow - especially as she had a 16 hour head start to find someone?

DaftyDuck

Today is Sunday. Told her 5pm Saturday evening... A fix today is unreasonable to expect, in my opinion. Tomorrow is fast. It's what I'd expect - at best! Parts allowing, of course.

Hot water to wash hair? Do you possess a kettle?

pmlindyloo

Options

1) Ring the LL and say you have found someone who will come out today. Ask for their permission to instruct them and send the bill to them. (Would be useful to get an estimate first)

2) Put up with it until tomorrow and go to a friend/family/gym/swimming pool for bath/shower.

3) Ring the plumber and pay for it yourself.

It is possible that the LL has some sort of contract with a company to deal with heating problems so has to wait until then.

The legal aspect quotes a 'reasonable time'. Next day is obviously reasonable.

nimbo

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Today is Sunday. Told her 5pm Saturday evening... A fix today is unreasonable to expect, in my opinion. Tomorrow is fast. It's what I'd expect - at best! Parts allowing, of course.

Hot water to wash hair? Do you possess a kettle?

I do have a kettle - but you know what she wouldn't be sat in a house where she could see mist in the air when she breathed out.

It's freezing.

nimbo

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Options

1) Ring the LL and say you have found someone who will come out today. Ask for their permission to instruct them and send the bill to them. (Would be useful to get an estimate first)

She will 'see what she can do' - however she could find none that would even come out. (The first three I googled all had people).

2) Put up with it until tomorrow and go to a friend/family/gym/swimming pool for bath/shower.

Taxis to and from my mums would be £40. Hotel at end of street £39.99 which is looking like the most expensive hair wash ever.

3) Ring the plumber and pay for it yourself.

It is possible that the LL has some sort of contract with a company to deal with heating problems so has to wait until then.

She has a friend of the family who uses second hand parts - which is possibly why it's gone again 2 weeks after being sorted last time.

The legal aspect quotes a 'reasonable time'. Next day is obviously reasonable.

Technically today is next day. Haha. It turns out when I worked for the local council and they gave the tenants a 24 hour priority for no heat no hot water they were spoiling them...

Suppose I'm poop out of luck.

Should have run when I saw the anti damp paint when we moved in. Looks like a cold winter.

jjlandlord

One question to always ask is: What would an owner-occupier do?

I don't think it is reasonable to expect that the issue(s) would be fixed so quickly, especially on a Sunday.

There are electric heaters, there are kettles, there are warm clothes.
It is possible to wash your hair in the basin using cold water.

Sh*t happens.

Once, as a tenant, the boiler died. Although the landlord did all he could, I had to wait for a week (in January) until a new one was installed in running.
If I had been an owner-occupier I wouldn't have fixed the issue faster than that.
I had to shower using cold (cold) water for a week. It's hard but you actually feel very good afterwards.

Thrugelmir

I always have a backup source of heat. That and put my layers on.

pmlindyloo

nimbo wrote: »

Technically today is next day. Haha. It turns out when I worked for the local council and they gave the tenants a 24 hour priority for no heat no hot water they were spoiling them...

Suppose I'm poop out of luck.

Should have run when I saw the anti damp paint when we moved in. Looks like a cold winter.

Have you a next door neighbour who would help out?

Can't think of anything else, sorry.

If repairs are not done in a reasonable time or not done properly then google advice from Shelter and LL and repairs and follow their procedure.

fairy_lights

Two days without heating or hot water isn't too bad IMO, especially as today is a Sunday.
The lack of hot water would be more of an issue for me as it's not too cold yet, but you can boil a few kettles of water and make up a shallow bath to wash your hair. Do you think maybe your stress about starting your new job tomorrow is making it seems worse than it really is?

rosyw

jjlandlord wrote: »

One question to always ask is: What would an owner-occupier do?

Good question! As an owner occupier I have been without hot water since Wednesday, not much I can do until the new boiler part turns up, just have to put up with it and boil the kettle when needed!

nimbo

jjlandlord wrote: »

One question to always ask is: What would an owner-occupier do?

you're right she can wait in for the plumber - as I am not (not going to miss first day at new job). And lets face it it her damp that's getting worse while the house isn't heated. And silver lining it's saving me money on gas.

I don't think it is reasonable to expect that the issue(s) would be fixed so quickly, especially on a Sunday.

She's known about it for weeks and allowed a bodge job last time hence the recurrence.

There are electric heaters, there are kettles, there are warm clothes.
It is possible to wash your hair in the basin using cold water.

Will she be buying these electric heaters as the electric fire thing in the front room is purely for decoration?

And I would use the sink but they have no plugs - they're not meant to they stand proud of the hole by about 1cm looks good but a pain to clean and useless.

Will rig up a watering can shower.

Sh*t happens.

Once, as a tenant, the boiler died. Although the landlord did all he could, I had to wait for a week (in January) until a new one was installed in running.
If I had been an owner-occupier I wouldn't have fixed the issue faster than that.
I would have after speaking to lots of plumbers this morning. But i'm the one who uses my partner as a hot water bottle all the time as i'm 'nesh'
I had to shower using cold (cold) water for a week. It's hard but you actually feel very good afterwards.

I heard my partners screams this morning - and my back won't tolerate cold water as it will seize up leading to time off in a cold house making it worse...

The hotel at the end of the road is looking good right now.