No heating is the house

_Anna_

Dear all,
just to make a long story short: an engineer was working with the boiler in my flat on Friday morning and when he finished everything was fine was both heating and hot water. When I returned home late on Friday evening there was hot water but no heating. I have an insurance and this was in insurance company that had sent me an engineer. When I called them at Friday midnight they told me that they are awaiting for an authorization to order a replacement part for my boiler and when it arrives they will replace it. What an engineer fixed on Friday morning was a temporary measure. When I asked them how I can stay in the flat without boiler for several days before the replacement part arrives they failed to answer my question. Now is Saturday morning, heating does not work, I will call somebody from the call-out service.
Anyway does anyone know how should I deal with the insurance company? It seems me ridiculous that they think that I may stay here for several days without heating.
Thank you

pathtofreedom

Are you renting or do you own this flat? What sort of insurance is it eg boiler cover, emergency cover through buildings/ contents?

If you have a kettle hot water bottles might help.

_Anna_

I own this flat. See, when I was renting a flat I was aware that landlords are obliged to fix heating during 24 hours if it is cold outside. I never had problems with boilers when I was renting but I know that a tenant may claim his rent back if there is no heating in the rented property.
What should I do now when I have just bought the flat? My insurance covers the emergency boiler breakdown and the insurance company works 24/7 (at least they say on their web site that they may send an emergency plumber if it's required).

Apodemus

Nip out and buy a cheap electric radiator (about £14, last time I looked). Heating systems fail at times and luck seems to always mean it happens during a cold snap, so it is always worth having a back up plan!

You have had 12 hours without heating, it's a pain. But it is not a catastrophe, so you need to relax a little (I was going to say chill, but you've already got that!) and take your own steps to improve your situation. Look on it as a challenge rather than a stress.

_Anna_

Dear Apodemus, thanks for your support. Yes, I do have an electric radiator and I have already called an emergency plumber. But I am still wondering what I have to do with an insurance company. Is there a law that obliges them to fix heating quickly? If a landlord has 24 hours only if the heating does not work in a flat where his tenants live, why the insurance company has no obligations to fix heating quickly???

Doozergirl

I don'tthink there's any law that says that heating has to be fixed in 24 hours in a tenanted property or that tenants can claim their rent back! It isn't reasonable to expect anyone to able to do that if parts are needed etc.

Likewise, there's no law for insurance companies. They have to manage their workforce and it's January. It's incovenient but it's January.

Apodemus

_Anna_ wrote: »

Dear Apodemus, thanks for your support. Yes, I do have an electric radiator and I have already called an emergency plumber. But I am still wondering what I have to do with an insurance company. Is there a law that obliges them to fix heating quickly? If a landlord has 24 hours only if the heating does not work in a flat where his tenants live, why the insurance company has no obligations to fix heating quickly???

I hope you get it sorted quickly, but I think our respective definitions of an emergency are quite different!

_Anna_

To whose who do not believe in the 24 hours emergency repair: "The tenant shall be informed what types of repairs constitute emergencies and that such repairs will be carried out within 24 hours of being reported."
Just google my citation and you will get "Scottish Core Standards for Accredited Landlords" (I cannot post a link because I am a new user).
I can only imagine that there may be a difference between England and Scotland.

chrisw

No, there's no obligation to repair in 24 hours even in Scotland. The accreditation you refer to is a voluntary scheme which a landlord may or may not sign up to.

maisie_cat

I think the definition of an emergency may differ depending on who you are. The 24 hours relates to those repairs already defined as emergency, I imagine they are having no water or toilet facilities, but not necessarily heating.
If the tenant is old there is obviously a problem with the cold, but my 80 year old MIL was left for 3 days without heating by the council and it was not considered an emergency.
You will be fine, we had no heating for a month in 2015 and it was a couple of weeks before it got really cold as the fabric of the building holds heat for a while. We simply wore socks, layered up and I made a lot of soup!

kingfisherblue

_Anna_ wrote: »

Dear all,
just to make a long story short: an engineer was working with the boiler in my flat on Friday morning and when he finished everything was fine was both heating and hot water. When I returned home late on Friday evening there was hot water but no heating. I have an insurance and this was in insurance company that had sent me an engineer. When I called them at Friday midnight they told me that they are awaiting for an authorization to order a replacement part for my boiler and when it arrives they will replace it. What an engineer fixed on Friday morning was a temporary measure. When I asked them how I can stay in the flat without boiler for several days before the replacement part arrives they failed to answer my question. Now is Saturday morning, heating does not work, I will call somebody from the call-out service.
Anyway does anyone know how should I deal with the insurance company? It seems me ridiculous that they think that I may stay here for several days without heating.
Thank you

How can any engineer repair it within 24 hours if they have had to order a part? Also, I believe that rented properties have to have heating fixed within a reasonable time, not necessarily within 24 hours.

When there was a problem with a gas pipe near me, several years ago, we had no gas for about three days. It was January then. My son is disabled and has difficulty breathing in cold air. The gas engineers were fixing the problem as quickly as possible, but we were without heating. I own my house, but the supplier that I was with at the time (Npower) provided a couple of electric, plug in radiators, so that I could keep at least one room warm enough. Since then, I've always kept an electric heater handy, just in case.

I think you have to allow time for the part to arrive. That's not unreasonable. Presumably you can put on an extra jumper, or buy a cheap electric heater, to keep you warm for a few days.