Serious Boiler Problems - Housing Association Property

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1. Does your block/area have a Tenants’ Association? If it does, intervention from them will often make a HA move more quickly than a Tenant on their own.

2. Does your Tenancy Agreement give a Priorities Schedule for different types of Repair? It may be within the actual agreement or you may have been given a separate letter/booklet at the time you applied for your Tenancy.

Write to the HA - to your own block’s named Manager, and at the bottom of the letter type cc: Chief Executive xxxx Housing Association
( find out the name and address - will be online or in info you already have ) and send a copy to them. Send the letters by Recorded Delivery and keep copies for your own records.

Write along the lines of:

Dear…..

Unresolved Repairs Issue

I first contacted you on………… about problems with the boiler at the above address.

So far,
……………………..

………………………
(list out who has phoned written to you, called at the property, TRANSCO visits etc, & enclose photocopies of any letters/forms/service sheets received by you)

However, we are still without use of the boiler………..(days/weeks) later and have no heating or hot water.

( If you have found the necessary info add here - “In the HA booklet/my Tenancy Agmt it states that you will seek to resolve boiler/heating issues within……..days”)

Please would you now deal with this as a matter of urgency: if I have not heard from you within 48hours, I shall contact the HSE (Health & Safety Executive) and the Council’s Environmental Health Officer and ask them to carry out an inspection.

I can be contacted on ………

Yours etc

The EHO can serve notice on the HA to get the work done, and in extreme cases they can arrange for any necessary work to be done and make the HA pay up.

Under the Housing Act 1996 social LLs /HA (not Councils) have to belong to the Housing Ombudsman Service but you have to have gone through your HA’s complaints system, and given them a reasonable chance to respond, before contacting the Ombudsman.

Your rent arrears are a separate issue to this, and you’ve already agreed a repayment schedule and are sticking to it so they can’t use that against you. If you are threatened with eviction, seek help immediately from a local housing aid centre, from Shelter (helpline: 0808 800 4444) or from the local CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau).