Rent Reduction due to lack of central heating?

ModernSlave

I live in a shared house with 3 others. We have 4 bedrooms in 2 floors upstairs and a lounge/kitchen area in the ground floor.

After moving in in July, we realized in September that the central heating only works in the ground floor. We got in touch with our landlord and they said they would take care of it. A man from British Gas came approximately 2 months ago to check the situation and said the system need to be changed.

Then we waited and asked on a weekly basis when it will be fixed. We have slept in freezing cold bedrooms since September and due to a communication failure between the landlord and British Gas, the central heating still isnt fixed. They will fix it supposedly next week, which is handy as everyone is going away for Christmas.

We are now looking into asking for a rent reduction for next month, can you advise what would be percentually the right amount to ask for under the circumstances?

Thanks!

drc

I would contact Shelter as they will be able to advise you on what to do.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/home/index.cfm

They have a freephone number; 0808 800 4444.

I would wait to see what they say before witholding or reducing any rent.

Good luck!

nicola1982_2

I second the above poster - DON'T EVER HOLD RENT BACK. You are then breaking a contract and lose all sorts of rights. Keep all documentation between yourself and LL and write a diary about the issue (include any health problems you have experienced during the period you haven't had CH - it may be relevant)

Keep vocal - if you had a baby in the home the baby would be at risk of SIDS because of the LL, if s/he isn't reported then the next problem she doesn't fix could have more serious results.

PasturesNew

We never had central heating when I was growing up. Just one coal fire in one room. So had to keep the door shut and stay in there all evening, before rushing off to sleep in a cold bedroom.

However, with central heating on the ground floor, in the meantime is it not possible to just leave the downstairs doors open and your bedroom doors open ... heat rises, the upstairs would get warm like that.

real1314

nicola1982 wrote: »

I second the above poster - DON'T EVER HOLD RENT BACK. You are then breaking a contract and lose all sorts of rights. Keep all documentation between yourself and LL and write a diary about the issue (include any health problems you have experienced during the period you haven't had CH - it may be relevant)

Keep vocal - if you had a baby in the home the baby would be at risk of SIDS because of the LL, if s/he isn't reported then the next problem she doesn't fix could have more serious results.

I think this is more than a little melodramatic. I've never seen any evidence that SIDS is caused by not having central heating, nor that health problems arise from a lack of central heating.
Also, from the OPs comments, it doesn't seem that the LL is deliberately not getting it fixed - they said there's been a communication breakdown.

We didn't have central heating when I was a kid, we didn;t even have hot water until I was 13, and that was in the mid 80s. Doesn't seem to have done me any harm.

iolanthe07

What a lot of molly-cuddled moaners we've all become! I grew up in the forties and fifties and central heating was unheard of then for ordinary people. You often woke up to ice on the inside of the window. So what - no one worried about SIDS then - what the hell is it, anyway! For goodness sake people!!

sooz

Why ask for a rent reduction AFTER the problem has been fixed?

Also not sure quite why you had to sleep in freezing bedrooms since September - could you have plugged a heater in? Then perhaps you could have asked for a rent reduction to compensate you for higher electricity bills, and the cost of buying a couple of small electric heaters.

As for the over-dramatic poster - did the OP anywhere mention a baby? Or old people...the cold affects them too

If you want some money back for your incovenience, put it in writing to the LL now, before the problem is fixed.

jamesd

iolanthe07, they are paying for a place with central heating and not getting it. What the past was doens't matter, it's simply paying for something not being delivered: places with central heating rent out for more than places without.

real1314, for health effects see for example "All else being equal, the proportion of deaths from circulatory & respiratory causes significantly increases with age, and with lower temperatures" and the other summaries there.

flower_72

Jamesd, You just beat me to it!

Who cares about how tough some people are or were. The point is, the op is paying for something he doesn't get...

ModernSlave

Thanks for all the constructive replies.

Paying monthly rent in excess of £2000 for a house without central heating when the lease states central heating seems unfair to me and we are simply seeking to redress the imbalance.

I wish all the posters who enjoy living in unheated houses good luck As I grew up in Finland I am well adjusted to the cold too, just don't like paying for it!

If you have any other tips for how to word the letter to our landlord, please pm me.

MS

eldowardo

there are some terrible landlords who dont do repairs when requested. i suggest you put some more covers on your beds at night, and take a hot water bottle to bed. simple solution. youll save money that way too. if you are still not happy move when your tenancy ends, simple as!