4 days without hot water (boiler issue)

LondonNoob

Hello MSE community!

I’ll start by saying this is a bit of a read!

My fiancée and I have a good relationship with our landlord, and we have been good tenants during the past 4 years with no problems on either side.

Our flat is property managed by an agency on behalf of the landlord.

Timeline of events:

16/05/24
Gas engineer contacts us to arrange a gas safety inspection as instructed by the agency.

20/05/24
Gas engineer visits first thing Monday morning, finds a slight leak (valve needs to be replaced) and isolates the boiler. No more hot water from this point on, so we aren’t able to shower before work the next day as the water is ice cold. We also have no heating.

21/05/24
Over 24 hours since the boiler was isolated we receive an email from the agency with the gas safety record and the following statement:

’Please note; any issues or comments on the Gas Safety Record your property manager and Landlord are aware of and will be following up with the gas engineer. We will be in contact with any further details as soon as possible. 

In the meantime, or if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact your property manager.’

It sounds as though it’s all in hand and we expect a call from the agency or engineer at some point later on that day. No call. Another day without heating or hot water.

22/05/24 
Another day passes with radio silence. It gets to 5pm, and after waiting all day for some kind of update from the agency or an engineer calling to arrange a visit, I decided to contact the agency myself. The agent on the phone is extremely apologetic and when I ask what’s happening they respond with ‘there aren’t any notes on the system about this, I’ll contact your property manager and they’ll get back to you asap’

Then I messaged the landlord directly asking if he’d heard anything from the agency as it had been 2 days without gas at that point. He calls me back and he’s very apologetic, saying he hasn’t heard anything from them at all - ‘they’ve really dropped the ball on this one’ etc. and he’ll call them as soon as we’re off the phone. 

Lo and behold, an hour later the agency emails us the following:

’ I understand our compliance team arranged a gassafety and following this, the boiler was isolated as a new gas valve was needed.

A quote was sent to the landlord for approval. I have just spoken to the landlord and taken payment and therefore instructed <the contractor>.

They will contact you to arrange access directly and we have asked if they can carry this out asap as we understand you are currently without heating or hot water.’

It sounds nice enough but because of the time, it means another day at least.

Today being 23/05/25, coming up to 4 days without gas, this evening the landlord has told us the agency expects the contractor will have the part required to fix the boiler in another couple of days at most and he’s very sorry.

The thing is, despite the agency’s email the previous day stating ‘ any issues or comments on the Gas Safety Record your property manager and Landlord are aware of ’, the truth is the landlord wasn’t ‘aware of’ the issue at that point - because the agency had only sent him an email and hadn’t bothered to follow up on the phone? 

If I hadn’t contacted him directly on 22/05 (which prompted him to contact the agency) this wouldn’t have even begun to be resolved within a reasonable timeframe.

We’re obviously getting upset as it’s been a significant amount of time without heating or hot water. 

It’s not necessarily the time it’s taking to fix the boiler, it’s the negligence of the agency that annoys us the most. 

They have tried to blame the landlord for not seeing the email they sent to him a whole day after the boiler was isolated - but surely as the property manager it’s their responsibility to rectify this as soon as possible, which would include calling up the landlord to inform him there is a problem at least? 

We are paying rent in full as usual, of course, but I’ve read that tenants can get refunds on part of the rent if they’re left without hot water. We have requested 10% of the month’s rent refunded by the agency for the inconvenience which has so far lasted 10% of the month - but this was obviously denied by the agency. 

They’re claiming they’re not at fault, despite the extra delay they caused.

Do we have any rights here? Any suggestions?

It’s all been incredibly frustrating.

Thanks for reading.

propertyrental

My boiler packed in. Had to wait for engineer to call. Then had to wait for parts. Then had to wait for engineer to re-schedule and fit parts.

Close to 2 weeks.

Yes I guess there was a breakdown in communication and things might have been a mite faster for you, but everyone seems sympathetic helpful and responsive once you've contacted them ..... 4 days? You're really complaining?

Just be grateful it's not winter and snowing.

Or the height of summer and you're all sweaty.......

LondonNoob

@propertyrental

That does put things into perspective. I’m sorry it took so long to fix! What did you do in the meantime? We’ve tried boiling kettles and mixing that water with cold water to get warm water we can at least wash with to an extent before work each day. Out of interest, are you renting or do you own your own place?

We appreciate that we’re lucky it’s not happening during the winter, we’re just quite annoyed at the way the agency have (not)handled it (until we did it ourselves).

AskAsk

This is the disadvantage of a combi boiler.  When it breaks, there is no back up and it can take more than a week to fix.  What I do is to fill the bath tub with water and then pour hot water from the kettle into the tub.  Takes a bit of effort, but at least you can wash!

Not had the heating on for a couple of weeks now as it has been too hot.  You must be in a cold part of the country!

Ms_Chocaholic

When we had no hot water several years ago we bought a camping shower, filled it with warm water from the kettle and used that.  Not ideal but at least it was half a shower with warm water.

deannagone

I went over 6 weeks without hot water (parts had to actually be made for a fairly old boiler), with a toddler lol.  I was able to occasionally go to a friends for bath/shower, the rest of the time I used every saucepan I had and filled the bath with cold and boiling water until it was hot enough to use.  Viewed it as a challenge rather than a problem. 

 Its only in the last few decades people decided showering every day was an essential.  People have had baths/showers far less frequently through the ages and the human race didn't die out.

[Deleted User]

LondonNoob said:

Hello MSE community!

I’ll start by saying this is a bit of a read!

My fiancée and I have a good relationship with our landlord, and we have been good tenants during the past 4 years with no problems on either side.

Our flat is property managed by an agency on behalf of the landlord.

Timeline of events:

16/05/24
Gas engineer contacts us to arrange a gas safety inspection as instructed by the agency.

20/05/24
Gas engineer visits first thing Monday morning, finds a slight leak (valve needs to be replaced) and isolates the boiler. No more hot water from this point on, so we aren’t able to shower before work the next day as the water is ice cold. We also have no heating.

21/05/24
Over 24 hours since the boiler was isolated we receive an email from the agency with the gas safety record and the following statement:

’Please note; any issues or comments on the Gas Safety Record your property manager and Landlord are aware of and will be following up with the gas engineer. We will be in contact with any further details as soon as possible. 

In the meantime, or if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact your property manager.’

It sounds as though it’s all in hand and we expect a call from the agency or engineer at some point later on that day. No call. Another day without heating or hot water.

22/05/24 
Another day passes with radio silence. It gets to 5pm, and after waiting all day for some kind of update from the agency or an engineer calling to arrange a visit, I decided to contact the agency myself. The agent on the phone is extremely apologetic and when I ask what’s happening they respond with ‘there aren’t any notes on the system about this, I’ll contact your property manager and they’ll get back to you asap’

Then I messaged the landlord directly asking if he’d heard anything from the agency as it had been 2 days without gas at that point. He calls me back and he’s very apologetic, saying he hasn’t heard anything from them at all - ‘they’ve really dropped the ball on this one’ etc. and he’ll call them as soon as we’re off the phone. 

Lo and behold, an hour later the agency emails us the following:

’ I understand our compliance team arranged a gassafety and following this, the boiler was isolated as a new gas valve was needed.

A quote was sent to the landlord for approval. I have just spoken to the landlord and taken payment and therefore instructed <the contractor>.

They will contact you to arrange access directly and we have asked if they can carry this out asap as we understand you are currently without heating or hot water.’

It sounds nice enough but because of the time, it means another day at least.

Today being 23/05/25, coming up to 4 days without gas, this evening the landlord has told us the agency expects the contractor will have the part required to fix the boiler in another couple of days at most and he’s very sorry.

The thing is, despite the agency’s email the previous day stating ‘ any issues or comments on the Gas Safety Record your property manager and Landlord are aware of ’, the truth is the landlord wasn’t ‘aware of’ the issue at that point - because the agency had only sent him an email and hadn’t bothered to follow up on the phone? 

If I hadn’t contacted him directly on 22/05 (which prompted him to contact the agency) this wouldn’t have even begun to be resolved within a reasonable timeframe.

We’re obviously getting upset as it’s been a significant amount of time without heating or hot water. 

It’s not necessarily the time it’s taking to fix the boiler, it’s the negligence of the agency that annoys us the most. 

They have tried to blame the landlord for not seeing the email they sent to him a whole day after the boiler was isolated - but surely as the property manager it’s their responsibility to rectify this as soon as possible, which would include calling up the landlord to inform him there is a problem at least? 

We are paying rent in full as usual, of course, but I’ve read that tenants can get refunds on part of the rent if they’re left without hot water. We have requested 10% of the month’s rent refunded by the agency for the inconvenience which has so far lasted 10% of the month - but this was obviously denied by the agency. 

They’re claiming they’re not at fault, despite the extra delay they caused.

Do we have any rights here? Any suggestions?

It’s all been incredibly frustrating.

Thanks for reading.

I think you need to check your expectations. It is not realistic to expect to be reimbursed full rent from the day a problem occurs.

They must resolve a problem within a reasonable timeframe. Hopefully it can be resolved within a couple of weeks or sooner. Tradesmen and parts are often not available straight away.

Southend_2

4 days isn't the end of the world, especially in summer. If you need hot water in the meantime you can boil a kettle.

Schwarzwald

Southend_2 said:

4 days isn't the end of the world, especially in summer. If you need hot water in the meantime you can boil a kettle.

I agree with this.
also 10% reduction is massively overstating the issue.
it’s not that you couldnt live within the flat.
its just that there was no hot water.
this is really part of live at times.
renting doesnt mean it will be 100% perfect every single time.
its being fixed….
but yes, if the LL offered you a few quid reduction this month, that would be a nice gesture.

gazfocus

I know you're not directly blaming the landlord here, but it does make my mind boggle how much tenants expect of landlords/their agents. We have a tenant that when something goes wrong, they expect it to be fixed immediately and we have to try and explain to her that a landlord cannot get a problem fixed any quicker than a homeowner can just because he's a landlord. If a plumber is booked up for example, then he is booked up for everyone. 

In your case, I don't feel like 4 days is unreasonable. Yes, it would have been a day quicker had the agents contacted the landlord right away, but you also have to understand the agent will have a number of properties they are looking after, and what might seem a priority for you, might pale in significance to an issue they might be dealing with for another house...no excuse for not making a phone call but just trying offer suggestions as to the reason for any delay. 

BikingBud

Perhaps the shoemaker's elves could do it?