Private renter is cold!

RandyRos

We have rented our house privately for 27 years and it's heated only by 2 open fires.
I have been told that we should have central heating fitted. As I am disabled and have Osteoarthritis which is made worse by being cold, how do I got about asking the landlord for central heating? I've a strong feeling she won't bother

davidmcn

RandyRos wrote: »

I have been told

By whom? There needs to be some form of heating, but I'm not aware of any obligation on landlords to install central heating.

RandyRos

davidmcn wrote: »

By whom? There needs to be some form of heating, but I'm not aware of any obligation on landlords to install central heating.

a friend of my son. he works for Howards, in the rental department

theartfullodger

Sorry to read your story: Your heating is clearly inadequate if two coal fires only & that landlord should fix it & get CH installed. But what's this about storage radiators?

Invite council to do HHSRS survey and get that done before contacting landlord.
See here guidance on this
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/health_and_safety_standards_for_rented_homes_hhsrs

- After council have done HHSRS then you write (yes WRITE - keep copy) to landlord, copy any agent, requesting repairs and effective heating using guidance and draft letter here...
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/how_to_report_repairs_to_a_private_landlord

Presumably you are an assured tenancy tenant? See

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/assured_tenancies

Are you an assured tenant?

You are likely to be an assured tenant if all these apply:

• you pay rent to a private landlord
• your landlord does not live in the same building as you
• you moved in between 15 January 1989 and 27 February 1997 and your landlord did not give you a notice saying that you have an assured shorthold tenancy

If that is the case the landlord cannot evict you using an s21 notice. Please confirm
- you are in England?
- That your landlord did not give you a notice saying that you have an assured shorthold tenancy.

- Have you signed any new tenancies since you first moved in?
-Are you getting Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit?
- Is it just coal fires or are there storage radiators also?
- Are you on the housing register waiting list for council housing?


For detailed guidance 'phone Shelter, the experts, 0808 800 4444: Expect a delay from this overworked charity.

Best wishes: Hope things improve.

davidmcn

RandyRos wrote: »

a friend of my son. he works for Howards, in the rental department

I've no idea who or what Howards are. On what basis does he think your landlord should install heating?

In any event I see from your other thread that you do have storage heaters. Certainly no obligation for the landlord to take those out and give you gas central heating.

And given the rural location, is there a gas supply handy anyway?

PasturesNew

All you can do is have a conversation with the landlord. As you say, you've been there 27 years and managed. It's only your recent change of health that's made it an issue.

It might be the LL would've installed it 10 years ago, but you seemed happy so they never suggested it due to disruption/cost.

It might be the LL has no intention, ever, of doing it.

But there's also the flipside.

The LL might've thought of selling, but realised it'd need CH first, so not done anything about it.

The LL might do it, but the rent might be increased to pay for it.

You need to think through all the possible outcomes and know what you'd think/do should each of them occur.

Once you know what you want - and have prepared for "surprises" - then have a conversation/write to the LL to make enquiries.

AdrianC

You've been living there for 25-26 years without central heating quite happily, right?

So what's changed? Your health.
At what point is the landlord obligated to make changes to the property to accommodate that?

On the other hand, if you were to move out, the landlord would almost certainly need to improve the heating before being able to re-let.

Are you willing to have the hassle of living around the installation of CH? Lifting of floors for pipework, losing a kitchen cupboard for the boiler. Do you have a mains gas hob? If not, then where's the boiler being fuelled from?

On top of the higher bills you'll inevitably face, are you willing to pay an increased rent to allow the landlord to recoup his investment? Do you currently pay a market rent, or has your rent lagged way behind the market due to the length of your tenancy?

As for the local authority - remember that even if they do investigate and deem the heating inadequate, simply putting a couple of electric panel heaters in would resolve that.

need_an_answer

27 years is a long time to be in a property,especially if you don't know your LL well enough to approach them and ask for upgrades.

Are you paying a current market rent for the property in line with other similar ones that have been upgraded to include heating?

Maybe you are even on a protected tenancy,so it might help if you were to give a little information about the type of tenancy you have and indeed what upgrades you have had in that time.

On the face of it I completely understand someone who works in the rental sector perhaps advising you that you should have more mod cons however you also need to balance this with the agreement you have with your LL.

Yes you could and probably should request that your LL meets with you to discuss the way forward, but the flup side might be that you get the heating you want but at an additional rental amount each month.

Is there anything stopping you looking for another property to rent other than you perhaps consider this property to be your home?

There probably are a few things that you could do or buy to make your home more warm without the need to install central heating the question would be do you want to invest in ,for example stand alone heaters which will no doubt increase your energy bills above perhaps what you are spending on coal.

The key here is communication between yourself and the LL to come to a solution that allows you to live in the property in the manner you wish however you do need to be mindful that the LL isn't automatically obliged to install something for you and it may not be quite as easy or non disruptive to install as this friend may make out.

Without wanting to sound harsh the best thing this friend of your son could do is perhaps look to find you a property to rent that suits your needs and budget from the company with whom he is associated.

Reading between the lines there is I believe far more to the story than you have given in the few short lines of your opening post.

RandyRos

theartfullodger wrote: »

Sorry to read your story: Your heating is clearly inadequate if two coal fires only & that landlord should fix it & get CH installed. But what's this about storage radiators?

Invite council to do HHSRS survey and get that done before contacting landlord.
See here guidance on this
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/health_and_safety_standards_for_rented_homes_hhsrs

- After council have done HHSRS then you write (yes WRITE - keep copy) to landlord, copy any agent, requesting repairs and effective heating using guidance and draft letter here...
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/how_to_report_repairs_to_a_private_landlord

Presumably you are an assured tenancy tenant? See

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/assured_tenancies
If that is the case the landlord cannot evict you using an s21 notice. Please confirm
- you are in England?
- That your landlord did not give you a notice saying that you have an assured shorthold tenancy.

- Have you signed any new tenancies since you first moved in?
-Are you getting Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit?
- Is it just coal fires or are there storage radiators also?
- Are you on the housing register waiting list for council housing?


For detailed guidance 'phone Shelter, the experts, 0808 800 4444: Expect a delay from this overworked charity.

Best wishes: Hope things improve.

Thanks. We have/had an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement, which ran for one year but was never updated. At the time it was a tied property with my husband's farm job (landlord was also his employer). No other tenancy agreements have been offered since.

Yes, we are in England. No, no benefits except my PIP. Hubby works full time. 2 coal fires (normally only run one unless it's VERY cold. 2 storage heaters fitted in 2002 by Warm Front (charity) but far too expensive to run! Council won't let us apply for housing unless we can't get heating sorted.

45002

RandyRos

I noticed on another thread, your in receipt of certain benefits

Have you applied for this

https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme

to help you out with your electric bill.






....

RandyRos

davidmcn wrote: »

I've no idea who or what Howards are. On what basis does he think your landlord should install heating?

In any event I see from your other thread that you do have storage heaters. Certainly no obligation for the landlord to take those out and give you gas central heating.

And given the rural location, is there a gas supply handy anyway?

Sorry, Howard's is an Estate Agents. Son's pal said by law every landlord has to make sure their properties have "adequate heating in every room". Since he handles rentals, I assumed he'd know about the law.

Storage heaters are VERY old and VERY expensive to run. Warm Front (charity) installed them for free in 2002 when my youngest was a baby and hubby was temporarily out of work. Last time we used them probably 10 years ago, we ran up £500 debt on the electric :eek: never again!!
No, no gas here. Neighbours have heating oil. Apart from 2 of the other 3 cottages that the landlord owns. The one with her son in got CH many many years ago.