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

LadyDee

Older people genuinely do feel the cold more than young. It's all very well for people to be told to boil kettles, use electric heaters, etc. but I should imagine that there will be a very large jump in electric bills and this could well be a serious worry for some.

Anybody know whether Environmental Health would get involved especially as the temperature has dropped quite dramatically over the last couple of days - and the forecast suggests it will continue to be quite chilly for some time to come.

unsureandconfused

Fire_Fox wrote: »

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!

I definitely will do that and will update the thread also. Thanks for your help

unsureandconfused

macman wrote: »

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.

When I emailed the councillor last night I put in the email that I will take this to the newspapers if nothing is done to stop the situation we are all in

unsureandconfused

LadyDee wrote: »

Older people genuinely do feel the cold more than young. It's all very well for people to be told to boil kettles, use electric heaters, etc. but I should imagine that there will be a very large jump in electric bills and this could well be a serious worry for some.

Anybody know whether Environmental Health would get involved especially as the temperature has dropped quite dramatically over the last couple of days - and the forecast suggests it will continue to be quite chilly for some time to come.

Yes I agree that older people do feel the cold more. The heating being sporadic to be honest is not bothering me personally too much but for the old people here it is a massive issue. Us younger people (I am 54) are making sure they have hot water bottles even for sitting in the evening watching their tv.

Boiling kettles is the most expensive thing for electricity except I think using a tumble dryer. When I had my smart meter installed, the guy who installed it told me to fill and kettle and switch it on. He showed me how much it costs to boil 1 kettle and I really was shocked. He told me this is why they advise people not to fill a kettle to the top, but only fill it enough to make a couple of cups of tea as it costs so much to boil a full kettle.

Where environmental health is concerned, well that's another story. This town's EH dept are known as a joke. They do nothing if they can and love to just pass the buck to another department. If the out of hours emergency department is called for repairs, its actually EH AND repairs together. Last time I spoke to the out of hours I was told no one would come out as a part is needed. I said that this is also an EH issue and was told to email the housing officer as it was not their problem.

Welcome to sunny Bournemouth !!!

Fire_Fox

LadyDee wrote: »

Anybody know whether Environmental Health would get involved especially as the temperature has dropped quite dramatically over the last couple of days - and the forecast suggests it will continue to be quite chilly for some time to come.

They should .... heating and hot water in rented properties is within their remit.

HOWEVER my local EH department has outright refused to address excessively noisy events, because it would involve them investigating/ taking action again their own organisation! This was said via e-mail not even on the telephone.

LadyDee wrote: »

Older people genuinely do feel the cold more than young. It's all very well for people to be told to boil kettles, use electric heaters, etc. but I should imagine that there will be a very large jump in electric bills and this could well be a serious worry for some.

Given the time of year, the difference between the ambient temperature and the safe temperature may be quite small. If it is, the energy needed may be similarly small. It is in full winter that electric heating can become eyewatering expensive.

My block is mid-century construction but with newer double glazed windows. Surprisingly the temperature in the main areas of my flat very rarely falls below 14C, even through icy winter nights. This is with no heating used whatsoever, just the 'insulating' effect of the surrounding spaces.

IIRC the minimum recommended bedroom temperature is 18C for elderly people. Depending on the amount of the weekly charge, a refund could well cover the energy needed to raise the temperature to this level.

But of course the landlord has not bothered to assure the vulnerable tenants of any such refund.

unsureandconfused

Today is 2 full weeks with still no hot water. We have some heating but it is very sporadic. I spoke to the repairs dept again and was told this time that they are there doing the work now. I told the woman I was speaking to that no one is here and no one has been here as all the neighbours are keeping a watch for someone perhaps, maybe turning up. She said oh well I'm sure they will be there at some point today as it is showing that they are there now so must be on their way. I was told they are coming to fix parts - the same thing I and other neighbours have been told for 2 weeks. I told her that this situation is not good enough and that it is 2 weeks since we have had any hot water which in the eyes of law is classed as a hazard. She told me that she owned her own house and had to go without heating and hot water for 3 weeks once as she was waiting for the a repair she needed. She didn't see what my problem was. I told her that the 15 flats in this block are council tenants and NOT home owners and that there are laws in place to protect tenants.

I then called the housing officers number and spoke to the duty HO. I told her the full situation and asked her who we all contact to be refunded our heating and hot water money that we have to pay each week. she told me that she didn't think we would be refunded or compensated for all the extra electricity we are having to use for hot water from kettles and electric fires. She said she could send me a complaints form about the repair but that is a waste of time. Any complaints sent to Bournemouth Council are filed in the bin as soon as they arrive.

I have been checking the night time temperatures. They are average 10 degrees. I told the duty housing officer who informed me that they can't use this as the average for all the flats as some flats are warmer than others depending on which direction they face and which floor they are on.

moremore

You need to email the CEO of the council and stress what the housing officers are saying on the phone (you should record phone calls with them) for your own reference as these people do not care about resident and especially elderly people.
If it an older block they will not do much as they may not want to spend money and perhaps they want to get rid of older people with tenancy security and put in new tenants without any protection, when they come to redevelop the block it will be must cheaper without tenants in residing their flats.
Email the CEO and copy in the people you have email about the heating and hot water..

Fire_Fox

Again, communicate as much as possible in writing (e-mail or letter) so you have a paper trail. By all means use the telephone to alert them to your urgent e-mail or to check the direct e-mail address of a named individual (eg. Senior manager/ Ward Councillor/ Member of Parliament).

You are 'going round in circles' having the same conversation with people that do not know the law/ do not know the history of events/ are disinterested/ do not have sufficient authority.

Complaints forms are NOT a waste of time if sent to the correct place or person. Procedures help you speed up or escalate issues, and helps people working on your behalf (councillor/ MP). So keep a copy of your completed forms and e-mails (= paper trail).

unsureandconfused

Bit of an update. The council workers have just left. One of the guys came to my door and was telling me what they have been doing. They have been up in the plant area working and have said they THINK it just might be fixed. They said to give it a few hours to let the water heat. The heating is on. Fingers crossed the hot water might stay but who knows at this point. I will be contacting the council concerning reimbursement for the money we have all paid for heating and hot water and I am still waiting to see if the ward councillor bothers to reply to my email. i will give it a few days to see if the water stays hot before i make my next move

MX5huggy

Fingers crossed it’s fixed now.

You need to follow the complaints procedure.

https://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/ContactUs/CommentsandComplaints/CommentsandComplaints.aspx

Be clear what you want, but not ridiculous, ie a refund of your heating and hot water bill, this probably covers the extra you have spent on electric.

I see complaints like this in a council building maintenance department, if the claim is reasonable and fair we settle. It’s the ones who claim running the kettle cost £500 that get short shrift. £500 would run a kettle continually for over 40 days.