Housing association not communicating and not doing repair no hot water or heating

casper_gutman

macman said:

Ask for some convectors in the meantime.

I would think that in a home with children oil filled radiators would be better than convectors, as the high surface temperatures of convectors means increased risk of burns and of fire if anything falls/is left on top of a heater.

A couple of reasonably powerful oil filled radiators wouldn't seem an unreasonable request of an HA after almost two weeks with no central heating.

babyblade41

Contact your local press & get them to run the story, that might help 

[Deleted User]

Again thanks everyone for your replies Macman yes I did contact my local councilor 10 days ago but got not reply I'm going to try contacting them again today.

So there is no maximum amount of time they have to do a repair, as long as they have come out and looked at boiler they can leave me weeks,  months or years without heating or hot water as long as they claim they are waiting for parts.  Is that what your saying Macmam?

This seems rediculous and a big loop hole, any landlord etc could just have engineer say they need to get parts when they don't want to payout to repair boiler and could leave you indefinitely with no heating or hot water. With no repercussions. 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that for a house to be fit for living in it has to have heating and hot water so how can they get away with renting out a house that is not fit to live in.

I understand it can take time to get parts if needed  so repairs can take time, but that's not my problem surely at the very least they should supply us suitable replacement heating and hot water or move us some where else temporarily until fixed.

Also what about if someone living in house has medical conditions. My youngest son has a medical condition that causes him to have a low level of a type of white blood cell that normally fights infection, this leaves him with a compromised weak immune system. He gets very sick very easily. He has ended up in hospital many times in past from just a small cold. We have to be very careful. Being in such a cold house is not good for him, I'm worried he is going to get sick. 

Temperature dropped to -8.8 last night it's still -7 outside right now. House is so cold there was ice on inside of house on front door and some windows downstairs this morning.

Do you think this is acceptable. All we were given is 2 tiny fan heaters. I've gone out and brought 2 decent electric heaters my self out of my own pocket.  But can't afford to buy one for every room. 

I put one upstairs we have all been sleeping in same room to try and keep warm. 

I have the other downstairs in living room for during day.

I have asked for better heaters but there response was we only have the small fan heaters. We have nothing else we can give you. That's why I had to buy my own. I've spent around £150 on 2 heaters.

I hate to think how much it's going to cost in electricity to run them.

Any way sitting by phone right now waiting to see if they ring back this morning.

gwynlas

Sorry to hear of your predicament but things would be very simlar if you were a homeowner waiting on repairs. You need to dress yourselves and the children warmly and perhaps restrict moving around the house so that rooms remain warm where heated. Yes it is a very different way of living to what you are used to but it should be time limited. Always retain copies of correspondence with HA local councillors etc and ask for a copy of their disrepair policy so that you can get recompense for extra expenses,

casper_gutman

Have you used the fan heaters they've given you and found they don't keep the house warm enough? What is the power rating of the heaters (in Watts or Kilowatts)? This is more important than the physical size of the heaters.

When my boiler was being replaced, the whole house was kept pretty toasty by two very small 2kW fan heaters (though this was in milder weather than we're currently experiencing). It's not a suitable solution long term, but could be okay as a stop-gap.

Any electric heater will cost more to run than the gas boiler, but as others have said you should be able to reclaim expenses such as additional energy costs.

[Deleted User]

Gwynlas I'm afraid I have to disagree with you it would not be similar if I was a home owner.
As a home owner I could have chosen any engineer I want to come out, I could have called them out straight away instead of fighting for  10 days for housing association to send someone.  I could have called a different engineer out if not happy with first or taking too long. If a home owner I would even have choice to order and buy parts my self if need be.

So completely different.
Me and my children are dressed warmly we all went to bed with two jumpers, coats and blankets and duvets last night.
During day we have been wearing 2 jumpers and a coat.

During day we all stay in Living room and  at night we are all sleeping in same room. We can't restrict our movements any more than that.

I can cope with being cold I am most concerned about my children in particular my youngest son who has a medical condition.

I need the heating for medical reasons more than anything else.

Casper_gutman the 2 fan heaters we were given were 1kw fan heaters and honestly they do nothing unless you sit or stand right Infront of them, like cm's away from them. The do nothing to warm room.

macman

How did you manage to spend £75 each on a heater? You can get perfectly adequate convectors for about £30 a go.
But yes, it's the responsibility of your HA to provide adequate heating in the absence of a working boiler.
Can you get a note from your GP pointing out that your son has a condition that makes him vulnerable to cold? Are you on your supplier's Priority Services Register for this reason? If not, do so.

[Deleted User]

Firstly I don't drive due to medical reasons so had to order online. Most places were out of stock of alot of the heaters in My area, I ordered what I could find at time from Argos the only heaters available. Had them delivered same day as needed urgently. 

They had no cheap heaters in stock.

Secondly yes we are on priority services register for this reason.

casper_gutman

[Deleted User] said:

Casper_gutman the 2 fan heaters we were given were 1kw fan heaters and honestly they do nothing unless you sit or stand right Infront of them, like cm's away from them. The do nothing to warm room.

The heating you need will depend on the size, level of insulation and outside temperature, but a fairly modern house might need about 100W/m² to heat it and a typical living room might be 20m². So, you'd need about 2000W = 2kW just for the one room.

Based on that, two 1kW heaters for a whole house in the current freezing temperatures doesn't sound anything like enough. No wonder you're feeling cold!

That said, if you had them both going full blast in one room, with the doors closed, they should definitely help. Better that than your child's health suffering. The cost of the energy to run them is another issue though. 

[Deleted User]

I did have them both going at same time in same room with door closed before I went and brought some better heaters but still didn't do much. Maybe just took chill off room abit, but not much.

Still using them a bit but still don't think they are a acceptable temporary replacement for heating.

I am trying my best to keep my youngest warm. The last thing I want is for his health to suffer. He only just came out of hospital just before boiler went I really don't want him back in hospital.

Any way a quick update boiler engineer company rang back this afternoon Finally and said they would have to send another boiler engineer out tomorrow to have another look and trouble shoot boiler. Apparently they haven't ordered any parts yet. 
Apparently housing association want to know exactly what's wrong before they will agree to pay and have any parts replaced.

Engineer who came on Friday had no idea what was wrong and even resulted to hitting boiler with a wrench.

I don't hold out much hope that engineer coming tomorrow will work out what wrong. I feel like this is going to drag on and on.