No Heating & Hot Water For 2 Weeks - Entitled To A Refund?

mtbuckerz

Hi All,

I am looking for some advise for a couple of issues I have experienced in my current rental property, mainly around a refund of rent for time we could not spend in the property.

We moved in to the property just under a year ago now and within a couple of weeks the washing machine broke. After the landlord started to question liability, they eventually replaced the unit after 1 month, whilst not ideal as we lost a load of clothes which were trapped inside for the duration, it wasn't the worst thing in the world as we had family members who were able to assist us.

In the winter this year we were woken up one morning at 4am to a carbon monoxide alarm from the boiler. We immediately aerated the property, turned off the boiler and called for Gas assistance. They responded quickly and shut down the gas inlet advising that the boiler was not safe and would need to be inspected by a gas safe engineer.

I had informed the landlord directly after this engineers visit, however we did not get an engineer instructed by the landlord to visit until 5 days later. During this time it was -5C outside and temperatures inside ranging from 10-14C - my partner had received a transplant only a few months ago so we could not live in the property at the time.

I had followed up with a formal email of complaint advising that we would be unable to stay in the property until resolved, unless we are provided with electric heaters and an alternative cooking method. We were offered a single heater for a 3 bedroom house which I advised would simply not be enough. The boiler was eventually replaced 12 days later.

We had a couple of months of calm and then another issue struck, this time a leak from upstairs in to our kitchen. We advised the landlord of this a few times however it started coming from the light fitting and therefore we put additional pressure on after a couple of days from it starting. This was stopped within a day (which we can't fault the speed of getting a plumber out for).

The leak had created a hole through the ceiling which contained asbestos - this was tested and the landlord eventually replaced the whole ceiling as a precaution. We had requested on several times that the light be electrically tested and confirm made safe by a qualified electrician, however each time we were advised the builder or decorators said it would be safe to switch on - each person we asked that visited advised they were not qualified to do such a thing.

To this date we have not had the light confirmed it is safe and it has therefore not been switched on.

Our landlord also decided to increase the rent by an unfair amount which has lead to us moving out, however I have questioned about a refund for the last two issues we experienced and have been advised that we could only get back £100 for the boiler being out of action - we are paying over £1,000 a month to be there and therefore I found this to be an insult.

I have checked our tenancy agreement and this states;

To return to the tenant the whole or proportion of the rent payable and paid in advance for any period while the whole or any part of the property is rendered uninhabitable or inaccessible by means of fire or any other risk insured by the landlord unless due to the act, default misuse or negligence of the tenant his family or visitor to the tenant or the insurer pays to re-house the tenant.

To me this reads that we should have either been re-housed or offered a whole refund up front rather than months down the line (as the property is totally uninhabitable during the boiler breakdown) for the full 12 days, and a potential partial refund for the leak, asbestos danger/ceiling replacement and untested light in the kitchen (we haven't used this since - it happened back in March).

Am I correct in assuming this? What are your thoughts?

My final rent is due in a couple of days and I am not sure if I should reduce my payment by the 12 day refund citing that they broke the tenancy agreement?

Obviously I am also concerned about my deposit - which I am on the understanding that they would have to put a valid reason to withhold money and this would not be a valid reason due to the contract break. I'm probably also a bit sour as we have not been able to settle in to the property and haven't really been living there for a few months because of this - we've been back every day due to our pets living there.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks

anselld

12 days for a boiler replacement is not unreasonable given the usual demand for plumbers.

They should have provided more heating but you could equally have done that cheaply yourself. The definition of uninhabitable would need to be confirmed by Environmental Health rather than your own judgement and that is not going to happen after the event.

So the £100 offer is probably reasonable under the circumstances and I suspect it will be withdrawn if you initiate a dispute by withholding rent.

Pixie5740

mtbuckerz wrote: »

Hi All,

I am looking for some advise for a couple of issues I have experienced in my current rental property, mainly around a refund of rent for time we could not spend in the property.

We moved in to the property just under a year ago now and within a couple of weeks the washing machine broke. After the landlord started to question liability, they eventually replaced the unit after 1 month, whilst not ideal as we lost a load of clothes which were trapped inside for the duration, it wasn't the worst thing in the world as we had family members who were able to assist us.

In the winter this year we were woken up one morning at 4am to a carbon monoxide alarm from the boiler. We immediately aerated the property, turned off the boiler and called for Gas assistance. They responded quickly and shut down the gas inlet advising that the boiler was not safe and would need to be inspected by a gas safe engineer.

I had informed the landlord directly after this engineers visit, however we did not get an engineer instructed by the landlord to visit until 5 days later. During this time it was -5C outside and temperatures inside ranging from 10-14C - my partner had received a transplant only a few months ago so we could not live in the property at the time.

I had followed up with a formal email of complaint advising that we would be unable to stay in the property until resolved, unless we are provided with electric heaters and an alternative cooking method. We were offered a single heater for a 3 bedroom house which I advised would simply not be enough. The boiler was eventually replaced 12 days later.

We had a couple of months of calm and then another issue struck, this time a leak from upstairs in to our kitchen. We advised the landlord of this a few times however it started coming from the light fitting and therefore we put additional pressure on after a couple of days from it starting. This was stopped within a day (which we can't fault the speed of getting a plumber out for).

The leak had created a hole through the ceiling which contained asbestos - this was tested and the landlord eventually replaced the whole ceiling as a precaution. We had requested on several times that the light be electrically tested and confirm made safe by a qualified electrician, however each time we were advised the builder or decorators said it would be safe to switch on - each person we asked that visited advised they were not qualified to do such a thing.

To this date we have not had the light confirmed it is safe and it has therefore not been switched on.

Our landlord also decided to increase the rent by an unfair amount which has lead to us moving out, however I have questioned about a refund for the last two issues we experienced and have been advised that we could only get back £100 for the boiler being out of action - we are paying over £1,000 a month to be there and therefore I found this to be an insult.

I have checked our tenancy agreement and this states;

To return to the tenant the whole or proportion of the rent payable and paid in advance for any period while the whole or any part of the property is rendered uninhabitable or inaccessible by means of fire or any other risk insured by the landlord unless due to the act, default misuse or negligence of the tenant his family or visitor to the tenant or the insurer pays to re-house the tenant.

To me this reads that we should have either been re-housed or offered a whole refund up front rather than months down the line (as the property is totally uninhabitable during the boiler breakdown) for the full 12 days, and a potential partial refund for the leak, asbestos danger/ceiling replacement and untested light in the kitchen (we haven't used this since - it happened back in March).

Am I correct in assuming this? What are your thoughts?

My final rent is due in a couple of days and I am not sure if I should reduce my payment by the 12 day refund citing that they broke the tenancy agreement?

Obviously I am also concerned about my deposit - which I am on the understanding that they would have to put a valid reason to withhold money and this would not be a valid reason due to the contract break. I'm probably also a bit sour as we have not been able to settle in to the property and haven't really been living there for a few months because of this - we've been back every day due to our pets living there.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks

Nothing you've listed suggests the property was uninhabitable. A broken boiler is unfortunate but it doesn't render the property uninhabitable. Your landlord has to carry out repairs within a reasonable time frame and 5 days for a GSC engineer to come out in winter with the repair complete in 12 sounds reasonable to me, it's a busy time of year for GSC engineers after all. If you were cold you could have bought your own electric heaters. It's always handy to have them in case this kind of thing happens again.

Who advised you that you were entitled to £100, the landlord?

You can pay a lower amount of rent if you want but your landlord can deduct it from your deposit or take you to court. The tenancy is ending my advice is to move on.

Pixie5740

I don't know where you are in the UK that temperatures were as low as -5 deg C but to give you some context I was without heating for 6 weeks a few winters ago because that's how long it took to get a GSC engineer and a new boiler. I live in North East Scotland.

mtbuckerz

Hi,

Thanks for the responses, we didn’t purchase these as we felt it was an expense we couldn’t justify, that’s possibly our bad however forking out apx £50 for each one (looking at 3 as a minimum).

I thought the property should be able to be maintained at 18c in sleeping areas and 21c in living areas.

I understand the pull on plumbers at the time of the year (completely - I have a plumber in my family), however the landlord wasn’t interested in helping quickly and didn’t send anyone round to look (a 5 min visit) until 5 days later.

The landlord did offer £100 off the following rent so by the looks of this, it’s the best I’m going to get.

Thanks again

davidmcn

mtbuckerz wrote: »

Thanks for the responses, we didn’t purchase these as we felt it was an expense we couldn’t justify, that’s possibly our bad however forking out apx £50 for each one (looking at 3 as a minimum).

They start at £15 in Argos.

I thought the property should be able to be maintained at 18c in sleeping areas and 21c in living areas.

Where did you get those figures from? That seems quite warm. I'm sitting in a 17c living room. Certainly not unhabitable just because it doesn't reach those temperatures.

mtbuckerz

They are £50 for an oil filled heater which covers up to 20m2 which covers off most of our rooms.

Those temperatures I have seen in many places, most recently I’ve found them on thetenantsvoice website, I think the key is that the property can be heated to those temperatures rather than they need to be at all times.

Cakeguts

mtbuckerz wrote: »

They are £50 for an oil filled heater which covers up to 20m2 which covers off most of our rooms.

Those temperatures I have seen in many places, most recently I’ve found them on thetenantsvoice website, I think the key is that the property can be heated to those temperatures rather than they need to be at all times.

The temperatures you have are wrong. It is a minimum of 18C in a living area for retired elderly people The temperatures were produced to help older people stay warm. Someone on the website you looked at has got it a bit wrong and you have believed the bit wrong. If an elderly person doesn't need a living area to be 21C you certainly don't.

mtbuckerz

Granted it’s a high number, however 10-14c is too cold in living areas for anyone, especially whilst my partner was recovering from a transplant.

Niv

mtbuckerz wrote: »

Granted it’s a high number, however 10-14c is too cold in living areas for anyone, especially whilst my partner was recovering from a transplant.

As already mentioned it is way to late to prove this. I live in a house built in ~1600 and that did not get to 10degrees (with heating off obv) during the very cold winter we recently had.


Do you have proof of your 10degree internal temperatures by means of a calibrated thermometer?


I just think you are getting worked up over an issue that you will get nothing back from so it is a bit of a waste of time worrying / fretting about it now.

csgohan4

my parents boiler broke and took a boiler engineer to get one installed after 4 weeks, they live in North West, Portable heaters and good old boil the kettle helped, they were over 70 too and coped