Private renter is cold!

RandyRos

45002 wrote: »

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.






....

Thanks, but the only benefit we get is my PIP. I've already tried to apply but we don't qualify

45002

RandyRos wrote: »

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.

RandyRos

Was you served with a section 20 notice before the tenancy 1st started ?

About 3/4 down this page http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/2203/schedules/made

FORM No. 7
Housing Act 1988 section 20 Notice of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy

If LL did not serve s20, you have a Assured "secure" tenancy and Not a AST.






,,,,

AdrianC

RandyRos wrote: »

2 storage heaters fitted in 2002 by Warm Front (charity) but far too expensive to run!

Aaaahhh...

"There but I don't want to use it" is very different to "Not there at all".

RandyRos wrote: »

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!!

How much do you pay per kWh?
What watt rating are the storage heaters?

Generally speaking, let's work on a 3kW storage heater and 15p/kWh. It's going to cost 45p/hour, flat out. Normally storage heaters are only "on" for 7 hours overnight - Economy 7 - which is cheaper. So 7hrs x 10p x 3kW = £2.10/day. Quite how you ran up a five hundred quid debt...

No, no gas here. Neighbours have heating oil.

Or bulk LPG is the other option. So add in the disruption of getting the tank installed, getting the pipe to the house installed. Then you're going to need to be on contract to fill LPG, or phoning around to find the best price for oil - both of which are more expensive than mains gas (which is cheaper at any given time will vary). Oil often gets nicked. Both are more hassle than townies expect when they say "central heating", simply because you need to think about tank levels.

davidmcn

RandyRos wrote: »

Son's pal said by law every landlord has to make sure their properties have "adequate heating in every room".

Ok, but it sounds like there is adequate heating, you're just finding it too expensive?

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

Are they on a suitable tariff? (i.e. with lower rates at night) Or to put it another way, if you're not using the storage heaters is your daytime electricity currently on a "normal" tariff rather than one which assumes your heating is done at night?

Storage heaters will tend to be more expensive than gas CH, though I suspect the difference is less if compared with oil CH, so you might want to do your sums in case you still end up with something too expensive for you to run. Do you know what the neighbours spend on their oil?

diggingdude

At best it sounds like you will get some more electric heaters which will be expensive to run, can't see them fitting oil. Are you on a cheap rent or market rate, that would make a big difference to how much willingness there will be from landlord

G_M

As artful says, ask the council to do HHSRS survey- however given that you have 2 open fires, 2 storage heaters and a bathroom electric heater is is quite likely they will assess that as adequate. I'm afraid they are unlikely to take into account the respective costs of running them, only the fact that heating sources are suppiled by the landlord.

See what the survey says.

So the property was originally tied. When did the tied tenancy end and the AST start (ie when did he retire)?


Assuming an AST, it's likely that IF oil ch is installed, the rent will increase. You could challange the rent increase so... how does it compare aganst similar sized local properties with ch?

Davesnave

RandyRos wrote: »

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.

The landlord's bottom is probably covered by the storage heaters, which wouldn't be viewed as very old by most people,as they're only 17. For an electrical device with virtually no moving parts and 100% efficiency, they'd be seen as adequate, if there's the right number of them.

Installing oil central heating from scratch in an average sized cottage costs around £8k+, so you will be the best judge of how likely that is to happen. Even if forced to upgrade the heating in some way, there are much cheaper options available to a landlord.

FestiveJoy

RandyRos wrote: »

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

How abouit something like this?

Dear Sir or Madam,

I trust you will not consider it an impertinence, but I am venturing to make a request for central heating to be fitted to my home.

We have rented our house privately for 27 years and it's heated only by 2 open fires.

As I am disabled and have Osteoarthritis which is made worse by being cold, I have been told that we should have central heating fitted.

May I beg your indulgence in arranging this for us us without further delay.

I trust you may find yourself to be able to give favourable consideration to my request and, if so, I should be grateful if you can confirm the arrangements by return.

I remain, yours respectfully,


RandyRos

P.S. My 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.

:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmassign:

AdrianC

FestiveJoy wrote: »

How abouit something like this?

Something between Dickensian and grovelling.

Dear Landlord,
As you will be aware, <husband> and I have been your tenants at <address> since 1992.

In the last few winters, my osteoarthritis has been made noticeably worse by the cold temperatures that go with having two open fires as our primary heating. While we do have auxiliary electric heating, we feel the running costs make them prohibitively expensive to use routinely.

I'd now like to ask you to consider installing central heating in the property, as I believe is already installed in <other property/s>.

You may agree with me that, if and when we move, any future tenants would be very likely to require it, so you may feel installation inevitable sooner or later anyway.

With reasonable notice, we'll be happy to provide access for you and any trades to investigate the situation, and to draw up any plans and estimates you may require. We understand that installation will involve disruption within the property, and are happy to accommodate that.

I look forward to your response.

RandyRos.

PS - don't bother with that PS...

Davesnave

FestiveJoy wrote: »

How about something like this?
:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmassign:

Festive or not, it isn't accurate.