Responsibilities of a tenant in cold weather

silvercar

Given that many people will be struggling with their fuel bills this winter and some may decide they can’t afford to heat their homes, it is an interesting topic as to whether tenants are obliged to keep their heating at a level to avoid boiler problems and burst pipes.

Grumpy_chap

silvercar said:

Given that many people will be struggling with their fuel bills this winter and some may decide they can’t afford to heat their homes, it is an interesting topic as to whether tenants are obliged to keep their heating at a level to avoid boiler problems and burst pipes.

I would have thought that most tenants would have the heating on to at least a sufficient level to prevent burst water pipes, partly because of their need to have any kind of comfort but also they won't want their possessions ruined by water and / or to be homeless if significant damage is caused, even if they are less concerned about the landlord's costs.

BUT, how long does it have to be below 5 deg C for the temperature within the property to be below 5 deg C and the possibility of burst water pipes become a high probability?  
I ask because, as an owner-occupier, we went away for 2 weeks December 2019 and turned all the heating off.  It was too cold for comfort on our return, but no where near freezing inside.

user1977

Grumpy_chap said:

silvercar said:

Given that many people will be struggling with their fuel bills this winter and some may decide they can’t afford to heat their homes, it is an interesting topic as to whether tenants are obliged to keep their heating at a level to avoid boiler problems and burst pipes.

BUT, how long does it have to be below 5 deg C for the temperature within the property to be below 5 deg C and the possibility of burst water pipes become a high probability?  
I ask because, as an owner-occupier, we went away for 2 weeks December 2019 and turned all the heating off.  It was too cold for comfort on our return, but no where near freezing inside.

As I alluded to above, that's really going to depend on the property, where the pipes are, and how well everything is insulated. And it's not so much whether the rooms you're in feel warm, but whether there are any cold stretches of pipe under floors, in lofts etc.

_Penny_Dreadful

I rented 4 properties in this city before buying my own home. All 4 rentals had the same things in common, no room thermostat, no “away” mode where the heating kicks in when you’re away from the property and all the TRV were installed on the outlets of the radiators rather than the inlets so had to be kept fully open otherwise the radiators would start banging. I never bothered leaving the heating on when I was away. Had there been a thermostat with an “away” mode or even just a thermostat I would have just like I do with my current home which has proper heating controls. 

Gycraig

diystarter7 said:

Hi

Please start another thread as this appears to be  IMO an attack on me as the topic is about something else, and  NOT my thread from May 2022 about the possibility of adding property via bTL and at the time possible increases in rates
I may have not made it clear, but we have never gone down the mortgage rates/BTL as we were thinking in our current place.

So, please remain on topic, your choice as I can only request and am clear on where I stand, and feel free to discuss BTL on another thread.


Thanks

So you have had properties for two years but would use a letting agent recommended by a friend ? Sounding a bit walter Mitty here. 

If you already have some properties rented out with agents surely it’s a simple case of doing the maths ?. 

diystarter7

Hi

I've been looking on speacilsit LL sites and this is the nearest I've found and as suggested here by some, ie remind T's

I'm going to tell the EA tomorrow to contact T's

Very detailed article but to me it reads as though T's don't have to leave the heating one at lows etc if they are away overnight etc in cold spells like we had. So i guess, if pipes freeze and burst the T will jump up and down and LL foots the bill.

I will ask family that have a lot more experience in this fireld and i've read LL's sites for years and never came across the question I raised.

https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/information/winter-proof-rental-properties/#:~:text=When tenants leave a property,than 14 to 30 days.

from the above site and I quote

It’s not a bad idea to write* to your tenants just to remind them that freezing temperatures can lead to water leaks and floods in the property, if they don’t maintain a minimum amount of heat in the building.

• Make sure that your tenants know how the boiler works, the location of the water stop tap and how to adjust the thermostat in their properties. They should have a full set of instructions for this.
• Make sure your tenants have emergency contact numbers, in case there are problems.
• Remind your tenants that if they intend to go away for any length of time in winter, heating precautions must be taken, and that your insurance may be invalid if the stay away is longer than a certain period of time – check with your insurance for this.

A few other pre-winter precautions can help avoid this situation, or at the................

Thanks

diystarter7

Hi

Just read this thread, see link below. Not a T and LL scenario but a  new buy, completion and new owners moving into an empty house find it flooded due to cold snap, burst pipes due to heating.

As I posted earlier when in london and other parts of England you don't get very cold spells for more than a day many forget about leaving property empty, staying away for night/s and heating not set on and return to flooded property.

Education is the way forward backed by adverts on tv.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6411989/issues-after-completion-of-property-sale#latest

Longwalker

diystarter7 said:

Hi

Just read this thread, see link below. Not a T and LL scenario but a  new buy, completion and new owners moving into an empty house find it flooded due to cold snap, burst pipes due to heating.

As I posted earlier when in london and other parts of England you don't get very cold spells for more than a day many forget about leaving property empty, staying away for night/s and heating not set on and return to flooded property.

Education is the way forward backed by adverts on tv.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6411989/issues-after-completion-of-property-sale#latest

Sorry but yet once again you are making unfound claims

No where on the OP does it say a New Build, nor has the OP been back to update the thread


When I moved into this house, the previous owners had drained the oil, there was a foot of snow outside the doors and the house hadn't been heated 2 weeks. Ordered oil to be delivered that day, the tank bled, not a burst pipe to be seen

JReacher1

Longwalker said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi

Just read this thread, see link below. Not a T and LL scenario but a  new buy, completion and new owners moving into an empty house find it flooded due to cold snap, burst pipes due to heating.

As I posted earlier when in london and other parts of England you don't get very cold spells for more than a day many forget about leaving property empty, staying away for night/s and heating not set on and return to flooded property.

Education is the way forward backed by adverts on tv.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6411989/issues-after-completion-of-property-sale#latest

Sorry but yet once again you are making unfound claims

No where on the OP does it say a New Build, nor has the OP been back to update the thread


When I moved into this house, the previous owners had drained the oil, there was a foot of snow outside the doors and the house hadn't been heated 2 weeks. Ordered oil to be delivered that day, the tank bled, not a burst pipe to be seen

I don’t think English is the OP’s first language and they didn’t mean new build but meant just a purchase of a house. 

diystarter7

Good morning

As some may recall, I sent an email to our LA yesterday about adverse weather, T's responsibilities, etc

To my pleasant surprise, there was a response from this around 8 am stating they had already done this before and during the adverse weather. They will also as per my request send a polite reminder to the ones I've requested reminding them to leave their thermo on at min setting to avoid burst pipes.

As we don't often get weather like this in London, even homeowners and never mind T's forget to leave the heating on at frost settings. We in our home do even when out for several hours and at times the whole day leavi the heating on so we come back to a comfy home and hopefully avoid frozen pipes.

Thanks to all that tried to genuinely help, appreciated.


Thanks