No heating or hot water for a week in rented house

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

OP, sorry to hear about your trouble. Please see Shelter transcript below for your situation. I have made some assumptions (AST, FTC, etc). It's a long one but I have highlighted the parts which are most relevant and show some actions you could take.

If you need further help, feel free to contact Shelter here https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help they have a free webchat facility and telephone support throughout the year.

Good luck, I hope it gets sorted soon!

Your chat with Vicky
Dec 17 2019, 10:12 AM UTC
FROM URL: https://england.shelter.org.uk/

Me: I’ve been without heating or hot water for a week now. I have 2 small children and am on the verge of tears. My boiler broke on last Monday night, I contacted my landlord and she sent her boiler guy round on Tuesday He decided it needed a new circuit board he ordered one 2nd hand and came to fix it on Friday, turns out he’d ordered the wrong one and has now passed the job onto to another plumber to sort. I’ve heard nothing from my landlord or either plumber since Friday. How long is a reasonable time for this problem to be fixed? Should my landlord be doing more?

Shelter: Hi, my name is Vicky. Apologies for the delay in getting through to our webchat service. We're dealing with a high volume of requests at the moment. Please bear with me a little longer while I read your enquiry.

Me: Thanks Vicky, no problem.

Shelter: I’m sorry to hear about the conditions in your home. I can appreciate how worrying this may be. Before I go through some advice with you, I'll need to ask you a few questions about your situation.

Me: Thanks you. Sure, please go ahead.

Shelter: Do you know the type of tenancy you have please? For example, many people who rent from a private landlord/letting agent have an assured shorthold tenancy. This is often the case when the landlord and tenant don't occupy the same property.

Me: It is an AST, the landlord lives elsewhere

Shelter: Thanks for confirming that. Do you have an agreement for a fixed term (say 6 or 12 months) or do you have a periodic agreement which rolls on from month to month or from week to week?

Me: It's a fixed term of 12 months

Shelter: Thanks for clarifying. Do you know if the property is within an area that requires the landlord to get a license from the local council?

Me: Sorry, I don't know.

Shelter: Has the landlord provided you with any other form of heating?

Me: No

Shelter: Okay. Thanks for answering my questions, I'll go through some information with you now. There are a few different issues I want to cover for you. If you could bear with me, I’ll do this as quickly as possible and then answer any questions you may have. It's likely to take me a few minutes to go through everything. You may already be aware of some of this information, but it's important that I go through your rights in full to make sure that I give you all the advice that may apply.

Shelter: There might be a lot of information to take in, but you can request a transcript now by clicking on the circle containing 3 dots below. Select the option to 'request email transcript' then enter your email address and click 'Okay'. You'll be sent the transcript once the chat has ended.

Me: Thanks Vicky, please go ahead.

Shelter: Thank you.You'll receive the transcript once our chat has ended.

Shelter: Landlords of assured shorthold tenants are legally responsible for dealing with certain types of disrepair. You can read more about who is responsible for what here: england.shelter.org.uk/housing...

Shelter: I'm afraid there's no specific timescales within housing law that state how long a landlord should take to deal with issues such as a faulty boiler but if your landlord does not sort this out soon, you may be able to attempt to seek compensation for any expenses you incur. I’d suggest keeping any receipts and a diary of the impact this has on you until it gets sorted.

Shelter: If the landlord fails to carry out repairs for which they’re responsible or fails to deal with poor conditions in the property within a reasonable time (no specific timescale), you can contact the environmental health team at the local council, especially if there’s a risk to health or safety, which might differ based on the occupants, especially when there are small children in the house. If the council find that the landlord is at fault, they may take action to get the landlord to carry out any necessary work.

Shelter: Generally, landlords have a responsibility to keep their properties free of significant health hazards that may affect tenants. They should also ensure their properties are fit to be lived in. Insufficient heating and hot water would be classed as a hazard, therefore if the landlord doesn't resolve the issue or provide you with an alternative in the meantime, you could contact your local council and ask the environmental health officer to get involved. They can carry out an inspection under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS).

Shelter: If your council has an effective Environmental health department, they may try to work with your landlord more informally if they can to ensure the disrepair is dealt with. If your landlord won't agree to make the property safe, the council will decide on the best course of formal action.

Shelter: As a first step, I would recommend that you ask the landlord (in writing) to provide the means to heat one/two rooms, a reasonable discount on your rent during the period that you did not have any heating to compensate for the inconvenience and additional costs. This can help if you later have to go to the council or seek compensation otherwise. If the property is in an area covered by selective licensing, the landlord could have additional responsibilities with regard to repairs and especially those related to heating. The council might have the power to take action against the landlord within the license conditions.

Me: Thanks.

Shelter: You're welcome. In terms of compensation, I'm afraid there is no automatic entitlement to this, regardless of how bad the conditions are in a property. However, sometimes it can be possible for a tenant to make a damages claim through court for compensation due to disrepair or poor conditions. A judge can take various factors into account including inconvenience, damage to belongings, ill health and how long it's taken for the landlord to act.

Shelter: Is there anything else I can help with?

Me: Nothing else, thanks.

Shelter: No problem. I hope your situation improves. All the best. Please don't hesitate to come back if you need more support.

PensionNs

Well done RMA.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser wrote: »

OP, sorry to hear about your trouble. Please see Shelter transcript below for your situation. I have made some assumptions (AST, FTC, etc). It's a long one but I have highlighted the parts which are most relevant and show some actions you could take.

If you need further help, feel free to contact Shelter here https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help they have a free webchat facility and telephone support throughout the year.

Good luck, I hope it gets sorted soon!

movingtomacc

Caroline, do ask the LL to provide space heaters and (once it's all sorted out) for a small (say 50%) rent reduction for the period that you were without the boiler. The one time I had a boiler fail in a rental and it took the repairman 5 days to get the relevant part, I gave the tenant a week's rent as rebate.

Mind you I had cover for boiler repair so did not have to go out of pocket for the repair.

AdrianC

A reasonable reduction would certainly be nice - but let's put it in proportion. The OP still has a roof over their heads, and we're currently looking at a quarter of the rent period. Even a 50% reduction for that period would be just 12.5% - £1 in £8 - of the total month's rent.

millwalls

I've always wondered about this as well. The same posters will advise you to raise hell about minor issues as an owner-occupier but think it is perfectly fine for tenants to be without a working boiler for a few days. I think it's ingrained in the psyche, this notion that tenants are a sub-class of residents living their lives at the pleasure of the landlord.

The worst of it is that even many tenants have imbibed that attitude, being grateful for the landlord barely meeting his legal obligations.

foxy-stoat wrote: »

I bet if the Landlord's own boiler broke they wouldnt p1ss about repairing it cheaply.

foxy-stoat

AdrianC wrote: »

That's quite some assumption, with zero basis in anything we've been told.
<points back up to post #6>

I do not know any plumber that would use a second hand part to repair a boiler and put his name and reputation on it. They would say it needs a new PCB that will be £200 at most, maybe as low as £120, part should be available that or next day from most plumbing stores. Landlord may of said, I can get one for £50 on ebay - takes 2 or 3 days to post out...wrong part....oh well its only my paying tenants.

I may be wrong of course but where are we now, over a week since they reported the problem and they dont have hot water or heating.

Stebani

But but but, they have a roof over their heads, surely they should be grateful for that. Besides, hot water is for wimps.

foxy-stoat wrote: »

I may be wrong of course but where are we now, over a week since they reported the problem and they dont have hot water or heating.

AdrianC

foxy-stoat wrote: »

I do not know any plumber that would use a second hand part to repair a boiler and put his name and reputation on it. They would say it needs a new PCB that will be £200 at most, maybe as low as £120, part should be available that or next day from most plumbing stores. Landlord may of said, I can get one for £50 on ebay - takes 2 or 3 days to post out...wrong part....oh well its only my paying tenants.

I may be wrong of course

You may well be, given that the OP stated the plumber ordered the part.

but where are we now, over a week since they reported the problem and they dont have hot water or heating.

Plumber arrived next working day.
Part arrived on third working day after diagnosis.
We're now mid-morning on the second working day after that.

Lokolo

foxy-stoat wrote: »

I dont think they are - boiler broke, tried to repair it cheaply with secondhand part probably bought from ebay but failed.

They should of come round within 24 hours, found the fault, ordered a NEW part and fitted it.

I bet if the Landlord's own boiler broke they wouldnt p1ss about repairing it cheaply.

I am a landlord.
My boiler broke this time last year (couldn't get the heating working)
It took 3 days for me to get an emergency repair.
Luckily it was just a diverter valve, and the heating would have worked when the hot water was on. The guy had to go out and get the part, and it was the last one they had in stock. If it had run out, I would have had to wait another 2-3 working days

Too many assumptions in your post. I assume you know what PCB board they required and where they could get it from?

stingey

The landlord has acknowledged the no heating and hot water by sending an engineer out the next day.
The landlord has attempted the repair but has been let down by a 3rd party contractor and supplier.
The landlord is meeting their responsibilities by instructing the works to be done .
Waiting on parts to come from a supplier (especially if that part is out of stock) then waiting on the engineer to fit the part for a least a week isn't unreasonable.
Ask your landlord for heaters in the meantime.

Your landlord is only failing in their responsibilities if they don't send engineers, instruct works etc and actively avoid doing the repair.