No Heating For 8 weeks

northern88

Hi , 

So 8-9 weeks ago my heating broke down in the property i rent. It was reported immediately, a plumper come out after a couple of weeks fitted a new "pump" in the roof space off he went and.....yeah the heating still didn't work. Now the landlord has communicated and so has the letting agency. They seem to be now passing the book to the property management company as the boilers are communal outside.  Although things are moving it seems very slow and i personally don't think 8-9 week without heating is acceptable.

anyway within the rent i pay a service charge on top which includes my gas electric etc  do you think I have the right to be asking for a refund for the loss of heating as it's a charge I'm paying but a service I'm not receiving.

The landlord has always been good and I don't want to rustle any feathers but i think all this time without heating isn't reasonable.

mr_stripey

if it was the middle of winter I might be inclined to agree. But most people wouldn't have had their heating on at any point in the last few months. 

What about hot water? Do you have that, or is that broken too?

northern88

No the water is working, I agree and i don't want an all out war , just asking the question. 

But then on the other hand when I'm coming in soaked from work I'm unable to dry my clothes.

what timescale would you give it until you made next steps ?!  I just feel like things are not moving positively 

saajan_12

The timescales don't actually sound bad at all.. 
- LL got someone to quote, order parts, and fit new pump in 2-3 weeks
- figure out heating still not working, report to building management and then investigate in the next 5 weeks

Communal systems, shared costs they have to prove and generally more middlemen can make things take longer, even if no one is sitting on their hands. 

The responsibility is on the LL to act in a reasonable timescale, and if they do then rent continues to be due (they don't guarantee it will work 100% of the time). However here it seems to be a separate service charge - how exactly is that structured? eg
- just part of the agreed rent and you happen to know the breakdown, or
- energy bills passed on to you at cost (not also covering other service charges eg communal maintenance / insurance)
- an extra, possibly prohibited fee

MultiFuelBurner

So you are saying in June/July to dry wet clothes you put the heating on?

If it was winter I would expect the landlord to supply you with some stand alone heaters.

All that said keep the pressure on as you don't want it dragging into the cold August month 🤣🤣

Joking, keep the pressure on so that the LL knows he has to chase everyone he is dealing with.

housebuyer143

I don't think it's unreasonable in summer this timeframe as long as you have hot water. 
I don't know anyone who has put their heating on since end of April and I doubt anyone is putting it on before September.

Keep pressure on them but at the moment I wouldn't say it's something that warrants compensation.

northern88

MultiFuelBurner said:

So you are saying in June/July to dry wet clothes you put the heating on?

If it was winter I would expect the landlord to supply you with some stand alone heaters.

All that said keep the pressure on as you don't want it dragging into the cold August month 🤣🤣

Joking, keep the pressure on so that the LL knows he has to chase everyone he is dealing with.

I work nights so do not see the day time,

But thanks for your reply cheers 

MattMattMattUK

northern88 said:

No the water is working, I agree and i don't want an all out war , just asking the question. 

But then on the other hand when I'm coming in soaked from work I'm unable to dry my clothes.

You should not be drying clothes using the heating unless you want to destroy the property with mould. We had one of the hottest Junes on record and July is roughly seasonal average, I cannot imagine anyone needs the heating on.

northern88 said:

what timescale would you give it until you made next steps ?!  I just feel like things are not moving positively 

Probably a few months at this time of year when heating is not likely needed until at least September. Many communal heating systems are turned off over summer due to them not being needed, are you sure yours has not been turned off?

northern88

MattMattMattUK said:

northern88 said:

No the water is working, I agree and i don't want an all out war , just asking the question. 

But then on the other hand when I'm coming in soaked from work I'm unable to dry my clothes.

You should not be drying clothes using the heating unless you want to destroy the property with mould. We had one of the hottest Junes on record and July is roughly seasonal average, I cannot imagine anyone needs the heating on.

northern88 said:

what timescale would you give it until you made next steps ?!  I just feel like things are not moving positively 

Probably a few months at this time of year when heating is not likely needed until at least September. Many communal heating systems are turned off over summer due to them not being needed, are you sure yours has not been turned off?

In 4 years there has never been a problem drying clothes with heating , with the windows open , I live in ground floor flat with no garden etc straight on to the main path.
No it's not been switched off.

Regardless of anyone's opinion to wether you need your heating on or not is it's a service I'm paying for which I've not had for 8 week + now.

one can't assume some just doesn't need there heating on because of the weather outside! Medical problems? Children sleeping over ?

[Deleted User]

Even in summer there are standing charges for gas, so there is some cost still to be met. I imagine that the component that you pay for heating,  would be an average of the annual bill. As such the majority of what you pay in summer months for heating,  actually covers the high use in winter months.

MeteredOut

northern88 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

northern88 said:

No the water is working, I agree and i don't want an all out war , just asking the question. 

But then on the other hand when I'm coming in soaked from work I'm unable to dry my clothes.

You should not be drying clothes using the heating unless you want to destroy the property with mould. We had one of the hottest Junes on record and July is roughly seasonal average, I cannot imagine anyone needs the heating on.

northern88 said:

what timescale would you give it until you made next steps ?!  I just feel like things are not moving positively 

Probably a few months at this time of year when heating is not likely needed until at least September. Many communal heating systems are turned off over summer due to them not being needed, are you sure yours has not been turned off?

In 4 years there has never been a problem drying clothes with heating , with the windows open , I live in ground floor flat with no garden etc straight on to the main path.
No it's not been switched off.

Regardless of anyone's opinion to wether you need your heating on or not is it's a service I'm paying for which I've not had for 8 week + now.

one can't assume some just doesn't need there heating on because of the weather outside! Medical problems? Children sleeping over ?

Do you have medical conditions, or children sleeping over, that requires the heating to be on? If so, use that as ammo as to why the issue needs resolved sooner. If not, then its moot in relation to the time is has taken.

If, as I suspect, you're real goal (so long as the heating is fixed before it gets colder) is getting some refund/compensation, then ask for that, but it might be best to wait until the issue has been resolved, so you can better quantify the negative impact its had on your life.