Rented house is FREEZING. Is there owt I can do?

mr_fishbulb

A dehumidifier might help. Takes the condensation out from the room, and it kicks out some nice warm air.

melancholly

hot water bottles and the things you can heat up in the microwave are useful to have around in cold houses (i live in one!). the other thing i do in my room is to light a few tealights or other candles - the heat from 15 tea lights is quite impressive and makes the whole room a little warmer rather than electric heaters which go on and off (i.e. freezing to warm very quickly!).

most things i do have been covered already (put a thick blanket under your sheets on your bed - that made a huge difference to me!), expect maybe to put a board covered in foil behind your radiator. my mum suggested it so that the heat from your radiator stays in your room rather than going into the wall. you could also get thick curtains to keep what little warmth there is in the room.

i got a dressing gown in the sales and wear that over my clothes when it gets bitter in the evenings - and thick slippers, they are amazing too!


oh - and have you tried bleeding your radiator? can make it that little bit more efficient (everything has to be worth a try, right?!)

scrummy_mummy_2

chriserenity wrote: »

Hence the EPC TBH. I'd dread to think what score your landlord will receive on his property after October!

I'd advise in instances like this to contact the local council and see if you and your landlord can get any help with insulating the property either for free or at discounted rates. Try using buzzwords like 'fuel poverty'. If the property has solid walls try finding grants you and/or your landlord can apply for which have money available for solid wall insulation.

Council may give help for double or secondary glazing in extreme circumstances.

Your energy supplier and/or warmfront and/or the Energy Saving Trust are all also excellent places to inquire about this - see whats available. You're more likely to get help if any of your household are on any kind of benefits. Energy suppliers have to give help to people when they have over a certain number of customers by law - give them a call.

Do some digging - its surprising how much free money is available for this sort of thing.

it's not about that...if the LL can't be bothered to make sure the tenants are living in accommodation that is decent (ie: warm etc) he's not going to be bothered to insulate it/apply for grants/bother to get an EPC......like most legislation, it will only really affect those landlord's who give a monkey's in the first place. I foretold a smillar thing this time last year with deposit protection...anyone got 3 times the original deposit back off their landlords yet....nope...didn't think so.
Chriserenity.....dodgy landlords who build thier portfolios at the expense of students don't give a damn...money for old rope, they don't give a s*** generally.

Biggles

If you pay on a meter, do you have the say on how long the heating runs for?

Doesn't sound as though it runs long enough to warm the place up, so it can't do its job properly. I think insulation and supplementary heating are side issues. Depending how many rooms there are, £100pm in the winter isn't much.

Start the heating up earlier. Once the place is warm, it doesn't cost too much extra too keep the radiators ticking over during the evening.

chriserenity

scrummy_mummy wrote: »

it's not about that...if the LL can't be bothered to make sure the tenants are living in accommodation that is decent (ie: warm etc) he's not going to be bothered to insulate it/apply for grants/bother to get an EPC......like most legislation, it will only really affect those landlord's who give a monkey's in the first place. I foretold a smillar thing this time last year with deposit protection...anyone got 3 times the original deposit back off their landlords yet....nope...didn't think so.
Chriserenity.....dodgy landlords who build thier portfolios at the expense of students don't give a damn...money for old rope, they don't give a s*** generally.

Hello again SM!

I understand what you mean but at the end of the day the EPC will be available to tenants before they sign the tenancy agreement - legally tenants have the right to see it. If tenants know their rights the landlord can't restrict access to it. If the property is very inefficient and will cost loads to heat and light the EPC will reflect this. Landlords who don't improve their properties will be VERY visible to new tenants - won't tenants just choose a more efficient property to live in (assuming rent, location etc are the same)?

I mean given that trading standards will be charged with enforcing the EPC rules for landlords (they ARE enforcing them now in HIPs) and that since we corresponded you now know more about EPCs than your average landlord , From your experience do you think EPCs will make any difference to the people in the OP's situation?