Boiler not working - no heating or hot water. How long?

C_Mababejive

I think the landlord is taking prompt action to try and rememdy the situation. Most just sign up the system with a service plan from BG or similar so its dealt with for them. Does he have this? If howver you think you smell gas ring 0800111999 free and have it checked out.

The law requires this

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/2451/regulation/37/made

anselld

ryuuoo wrote: »

Yes, I sent the template that was kindly provided on post 8 via email the day the engineer came (3 days ago now)...

That does not sound the same as "Write a letter. Yes, a formal letter to the landlord at the address for serving notices" as G_M kindly advised.

Email is not the same as a formal letter and an email address is not the same as the address for serving notices (stated in your tenancy agreement).

I would accept that email should be sufficient with most Landlords to obtain action, but it is not as strong when/if it comes to enforcing your rights.

martindow

ryuuoo wrote: »

Will tell him about the leaky hob though.

As other have said, if this means it is leaking gas, you should be ringing the gas emergency number straight away. I would not want to wait for a landlord to reply while I risked an explosion in the house.

ACCA

Hello folks! Very similar issue as the subj, if you could please share your thoughts.

inputs:
1. rented flat via estate agency, contract signed with the landlord however the rent is paid to the agents
2. 3 bed house - all three tenants are on the contract
3. term: 2 years contract with 8 months lapsed

background:
a. march 2018 - boiler starts to racket, i.e. heating doesn't turn on as it is supposed to, periodically switches off, hot water appears and disappears
b. tenants call the agency to report the issue, it takes 2-3 days to find the engineer and another 2 weeks for him to actually come to the see the boiler because most of tenants are working during business hours
c. engineer mocks up smth to arrange the hot water and heating to work, but clearly states that this needs to be replaced as it has depreciated entirely - obviously the agents were informed
d. last wednesday (16th May), just a month since last engineer visit - the boiler goes down again, tenants report to the agents, engineer comes on the 18th May and shrug his shoulders saying that the boiler needs to be replaced
e. agents are fully aware of what happens and keep telling stories that it's not the landlord who is going to step in to fix the issue asap, this was on the 18th of May
f. a week passed, it's May 25th - agents keep saying that the landlord is putting all the efforts to get this sorted asap, and the estimated timeline is "by next week maybe"

conclusion:
a. it's been more than 2 weeks with no hot water in Mar-Apr
b. it's been around another 10 days (16th of May - today)
c. most likely will be another 7 days before this gets sorted

question:
i. what can be done in such a situation from legal and non-legal perspective? (Note: the contract doesn't particularly cover hot water/ heating issues, nor how long should it take to sort out)
ii. what are your general thoughts on how to proceed?

I would be keen to obtain a rent discount or a one-off reimbursal for inconvenience, however not sure how to back this up.

Very thankful for any thoughts/ ideas.

Smodlet

ACCA, you do realise this thread is well over a year old? Suggest you start your own if you want answers.

need_an_answer

Smodlet wrote: »

ACCA, you do realise this thread is well over a year old? Suggest you start your own if you want answers.

I would normally agree with this however the poster is making reference to their own broken boiler and as such I would hope that they have read the replies already made to this thread as the general information given will be along the lines that this poster now also needs to follow.

it probably makes no difference that the answers are a year old the general tone and indications in the replies will still be very valid....

unless of course there is a specific question that the new poster now wishes to raise having read the replies with their situation in mind,

Smodlet

need_an_answer wrote: »

I would normally agree with this however the poster is making reference to their own broken boiler and as such I would hope that they have read the replies already made to this thread as the general information given will be along the lines that this poster now also needs to follow.

it probably makes no difference that the answers are a year old the general tone and indications in the replies will still be very valid....

unless of course there is a specific question that the new poster now wishes to raise having read the replies with their situation in mind,

I have not read the whole thread but, if the answers are on here, why ask the questions again? If not, might get more attention as a new thread but hey.

ACCA, try Shelter's website or previous posts by G_M (or both) You need to write (ideally, all three of you should) and post the letters to the LL with your grievances and list the action taken to date.

Shelter has a template of letters you can use and details of how long you have to wait before sending the next one if you want to arrange the repair/replacement yourselves and deduct the cost from the rent. I would suggest getting the LL to replace the boiler might be quicker but he/she does not seem in too much of a hurry atm.