Council tenants left with no hot water and very little heating for so far almost 2 weeks

unsureandconfused

Fire_Fox wrote: »

It has made my day to read that you are looking after one another like this. Community is rare these days. :beer:

Definitely measure the night time temperature and inform your Ward Councillors of this and the number of vulnerable tenants. The more information/ ammunition they have the better.

The block I live in is quite well known in the locality for looking out for one another. I have emailed the ward councillor and will take readings of the temperature at night over the next few days until she gets back to me, IF she gets back to me.

unsureandconfused

Pandilex wrote: »

Would be interesting to hear some legal timelines and recourse, e.g. rent reduction.

I can understand them having difficulties fixing it if there are contract issues and they don't have someone on hand, but that's their own fault and if it continues they need to pay for an expert contractor to come in and fix it, not just keep giving you the runaround indefinitely.

Maybe citizens advice can you give you some timelines of how long they have to fix it and you can use those to get some leverage and put some pressure on?

One of the council workers told me he is not qualified to work on commercial systems and only works on inhome boilers. He also told me that the company who had the contract for years for the upkeep of the system now does not have the contract. Seems no one knows how to fix.

One of the things I wrote in the email to the councillor was that we pay a weekly charge 52 weeks per year for heating and hot water and are still having to pay this plus all the added electricity costs for kettles of water and electric fires - even the council didn't offer any other form of heating

moremore

unsureandconfused wrote: »

I am washing by filling kettles of water as I am doing for washing my dishes.

I am wondering how many kettles of water you used to have a bath?

This is a council block as I said. There is a central communal system as I said. It is not the responsibility of the tenants to pay for a new system.

I am TRYING to find out what legal rights we have as the Landlord is not fixing it, just procrastinating

Do you pay the council for heating and hot water in with your rent if you do the council should refund the money you paid for no heating and hot water but as far as I am aware they never do. Their inhouse people are useless and outside contractor will prolong job as much as possible to keep coming back and up their money this is well known within the council also they like to make works for their mates.
Get on to your local councillor and do not let up until you get your heating and hot water back, bear in mind some are useless as well, but they elected and paid to help you and you should get help from them in getting your hot water and heating back working again, you find their name and address from your council website who is your councillor for your ward to send them email. Do not forget to asked for the money you paid for heating and hot water to be returned to you
Best of Luck.

moremore

You should find your council landlord on twitter and expose them on there I expect other have been on there also about heating and hot water and other urgent council neglect. Your can include your councillor in your tweet of the stressful time you been having without heating and hot water. It is the quickest way of getting a result from them..

unsureandconfused

moremore wrote: »

Do you pay the council for heating and hot water in with your rent if you do the council should refund the money you paid for no heating and hot water but as far as I am aware they never do. Their inhouse people are useless and outside contractor will prolong job as much as possible to keep coming back and up their money this is well known within the council also they like to make works for their mates.
Get on to your local councillor and do not let up until you get your heating and hot water back, bear in mind some are useless as well, but they elected and paid to help you and you should get help from them in getting your hot water and heating back working again, you find their name and address from your council website who is your councillor for your ward to send them email. Do not forget to asked for the money you paid for heating and hot water to be returned to you
Best of Luck.

Yes we pay the heating and hot water weekly on top of our rent to the council. The outside company who had the contract before had been looking after the system for many many years but the council have cancelled their contract and as you said the inhouse are rubbish. I have emailed the ward councillor this evening. their surgery is the second week in the month so I actually said in the email that the situation could not wait until her next surgery. I was talking to a friend who said that usually they wouldn't hold their breath for the councillor to do anything but since its the local elections in the next week, they just might help for a change. Will see what she says

moremore

Most council had this 2025 plan in London anyway, councillor are hit and miss with them, you council will be on twitter go on there it is an eyeopener to see how many complaints they get from all councils your cllr will be be on twitter put in there name in search bar and the name will come up do same for your council you have to register with twitter for first but it is well worth it and get lots of support on there as others are doing the same.
Whare area is your council?

unsureandconfused

moremore wrote: »

Most council had this 2025 plan in London anyway, councillor are hit and miss with them, you council will be on twitter go on there it is an eyeopener to see how many complaints they get from all councils your cllr will be be on twitter put in there name in search bar and the name will come up do same for your council you have to register with twitter for first but it is well worth it and get lots of support on there as others are doing the same.
Whare area is your council?

Bournemouth council. I have sent an email last night to the ward councillor. I actually wrote that if nothing was forthcoming and we were still left with no hot water to wash etc in that i would take it to the national newspapers

moremore

https://www.hertsmere.gov.uk/List-of-Services.aspx?AZListing_AtoZLetter=A

Here they are on twitter hope it's the right one..

https://twitter.com/HertsmereBC

Lets hope you get some success soon...

Fire_Fox

unsureandconfused wrote: »

The block I live in is quite well known in the locality for looking out for one another. I have emailed the ward councillor and will take readings of the temperature at night over the next few days until she gets back to me, IF she gets back to me.

If you do not hear back from your Ward Councillor on Monday, try your Member of Parliament. Please keep updating this thread.

Fingers crossed for you all!

macman

Report this to your local paper. They love stories like this, involving cold and unwashed pensioners, it’ll definitely get a response from the council.