No Gas, Hot Water or Heating for 3 Weeks (Renting)

leodis23

Almost 3 weeks ago, my landlord's letting agent (it's a managed property in his behalf) sent a gas engineer over to do the annual gas safety check. My flat's boiler was condemned on the spot (flat was built in 2004, so can't be that old), and that's when the problems began. The external wall the boiler is attached to backs on to a police compound, the police refused to let the engineer in the compound to look at the flue, and there are no external windows on that wall the engineer can lean out of for a visual inspection.

I've been chasing the management company (Sequence) every few days since the end of Feb, and the only things they tell me is they're trying to co-ordinate between themselves, my building's management company (who apparently have just one person the police have authorised to access the compound) and an engineer. I've been told I can buy 2 heaters for up to £30 each, and have that taken off my next rent payment, however I'm still without hot water. I'm now being forced to work remotely so can't use my office's showers, and can't wash my hands with warm water (my partner is an NHS hospital nurse so the chances of us catching COVID-19 is fairly high).

With offices and businesses closing, I'm losing hope the letting agent will fix it this week, and I can't go on without hot water. Any advice on what I can do? I'm going to file a complaint with the letting agent's parent company about them ignoring my emails and dragging their feet, what sort of compensation should I be chasing for? The rent is £1,350 PCM (1-bed flat above a shop... gotta love London prices!). Also is there anything the council can do?

anselld

Personally I would turn the boiler back on.  It will not have suddenly become unsafe just because the gas man couldn't inspect the flue.  Make sure you have a working CO detector.

leodis23

anselld said:

Personally I would turn the boiler back on.  It will not have suddenly become unsafe just because the gas man couldn't inspect the flue.  Make sure you have a working CO detector.

He turned the gas supply off, but the lever is in the same cupboard so could do it - there's no risk that he'd have removed/loosened anything that could then cause a leak? There's a CO monitor in there too which has been tested recently

greatcrested

Formal letter addressed to the landlord, sent to the address "for serving notices". Copy to the agent.

And Environmental Health / Provate Tenancy Officer.

Though to be fair, it does sound like the LL via Sequence is doing what they can via the building managers and police.

xylophone

I'm sure that your partner will wash thoroughly and change before leaving the hospital.
Buy a couple of plastic bowls and boil kettles for hot water? Buy half a dozen flannels and wash down?

Bluebell1000

On a practical level, why don't you boil the kettle for hot water for washing? Not for baths obviously but you can wash your hands. We are now into our second week without heating or hot water after our boiler went bang, and that's what we are doing. I hope you get yours sorted soon. Ours is booked for replacement on Friday.

[Deleted User]

I think you'll find washing hands with soap is the important thing, hot water is not so important - you would be in trouble if you tried to wash your hands in boiling water or 60 degree water so best avoid that (the time at which water is hot enough to kill bugs).

Windofchange

Sounds like the mirror image of us last year. Moved into a new build, and there was no hot water. Mailed, called, texted etc the landlord who couldn't have been less bothered. It's all fine, we tested it, it's new so can't be faulty etc. He finally came round a month later and just stood in the kitchen area and said it's all fine whilst I ran the 'hot' water tap with no hot water coming out of it. Finally after a lot more complaining and a very angry phone call, he sent a boiler man round who said that the whole thing had been put in wrong, and the hot water wasn't wired up. My other half is an NHS nurse too, so similar difficulties to yours re: having to shower at work etc. 

The boiler man came round a few weeks later and fixed it all up, and now it is working fine. It's ridiculous isn't it that you pay rent (ours was slightly more than you pay), and it's like you're bothering them with your petty needs for hot water etc. Once we have moved out (hopefully next month) into our own house, we are going to send the mother of all complaints - the boiler was just one of many things that didn't work / still doesn't work. How far I take it will depend on how much of our deposit he tries to claim.

The sad thing is that you cannot claim for any compensation. You cannot deduct rental money without being at fault, and as far as I know, the only option open to you is to raise a dispute with the local council who can inspect and demand that a repair is made. However, you then of course run the risk of a revenge eviction etc. One thing that may help you - has he protected your deposit / sent you information of the scheme that he has used? If not within the first 30 days, then you can sue him for up to 3 x the deposit amount back when you leave. It will of course mess up the chances of any reference from him that you may need for your next place, but is a way to at least give you some pay back.

AdrianC

leodis23 said:

Almost 3 weeks ago, my landlord's letting agent (it's a managed property in his behalf) sent a gas engineer over to do the annual gas safety check. My flat's boiler was condemned on the spot (flat was built in 2004, so can't be that old), and that's when the problems began. The external wall the boiler is attached to backs on to a police compound, the police refused to let the engineer in the compound to look at the flue, and there are no external windows on that wall the engineer can lean out of for a visual inspection.

I've been chasing the management company (Sequence) every few days since the end of Feb, and the only things they tell me is they're trying to co-ordinate between themselves, my building's management company (who apparently have just one person the police have authorised to access the compound) and an engineer.
...
I'm going to file a complaint with the letting agent's parent company about them ignoring my emails and dragging their feet

As a rough rule of thumb, the question is always whether it would be fixed any quicker if you were an owner-occupier. And the answer here is clearly no. (Except that if you were an owner-occupier, there wouldn't have been a safety check in the first place...)

The LA clearly aren't dragging their feet - I'm really not sure what more you want them to do. The issue here is clearly co-ordination between the building's management company and the building's neighbours who are restricting access to their compound. In this instance, it may well be that the reasons for that restriction are sensible - but that doesn't mean it's going to happen any more quickly.

Others have pointed out that you can, of course, still use hot water to wash. It's not optimal, no...

Have you considered asking the LA to release you from your tenancy?

orangecrush

I can't really help with the getting-it-fixed side, but for washing, we were without heat and hot water recently and bought a few 20L catering boilers; £70 each.  Absolute life saver - they made enough hot water to have a bath every evening, and have sinks of hot water.