Heating repair gone wrong!

scoey8 · 12 April 2018 at 3:36PM

UPDATE :

Hi all, thought i would provide an update on this. The complaint is now with the ombudsman after a total of 14 engineer visits and still no resolution.

The last visit was from an independent auditor who concluded the following - New pipework will need to be run under the laminate floor due to a combination of the following;

1. The current pipework installed by the landlord is of insufficient size (needs upgrading from 15mm to 22mm)
2. There is a blockage/kink in the pipework somewhere that needs to be bypassed by running new pipework (as the powerflush was unsuccessful).

* The only time the pipework has been accessed was by the landlord to fix a pipe leaking into the flat below, they did this from the neighbours flat from the ceiling. Hence this is the only time a pipe could have been damaged.

The sticking point is the landlord is still saying it is down to us to replace the laminate with carpet (see disclaimer above). Which i dispute as i believe it falls outside of the wording of the disclaimer. But i am having trouble convincing them of this. I believe that as the system was not fit for purpose to begin with (hence recommended increase in size of pipe) and as above only the landlord has accessed the pipework, it does not constitute 'falling into disrepair' as per disclaimer.

Please can anyone offer advice? Thanks

Smodlet · 12 April 2018 at 3:56PM

Many tenancy (and indeed leasehold) agreements require carpet to be used to minimise the noise of walking about for the occupants of the flat below. If you have laminate flooring you/your partner may be in breach of the agreement and I am surprised you/they have not received complaints.

As to the 4 hour thing, this usually means 4 working hours i.e. between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Whether this applies in your instance is unclear.

scoey8 · 12 April 2018 at 4:09PM

Smodlet wrote: »

Many tenancy (and indeed leasehold) agreements require carpet to be used to minimise the noise of walking about for the occupants of the flat below. If you have laminate flooring you/your partner may be in breach of the agreement and I am surprised you/they have not received complaints.

As to the 4 hour thing, this usually means 4 working hours i.e. between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Whether this applies in your instance is unclear.

Hi, as stated above the flooring was already in situ when she moved in, hence the disclaimer.

Also re: 4 hour it actually states on their website 24 hours a day 365 days a year! which is incredibly optimistic lol.

[Deleted User] · 12 April 2018 at 4:15PM

Unless you have glue laminate, it can be taken up and relaid. I have done it for similar jobs to the one you need. If you have laminate, that is. If you have real wood flooring, I am afraid its one of the problems with it. But it might still be possible to relay it.

With the central heating, I had the same problem. A few repairs that didn't work, then it broke again. In the end the council replaced the boiler and the radiators, which included some 15cm pipework which was replaced with 22 cm pipework. I think we were lucky and had a more senior engineer come round and he must have ordered the replacement although we did point out the problems and how old the system was (over 25 years) every time someone came round. Eventually I suspect we pressed the right button.

I am afraid that if you want the major repair, and a working central heating system, you will probably have to be prepared to do some decorating and mess with your flooring. For me it was a fair exhange. Once the new system was in, the place was warmer, quicker and cost 1/3 less than previously.

I've just seen you say the flooring was already in place, so you didn't even pay for it! I'm sorry but I think you are expecting a bit much. You could view that you were very lucky to have that in place for the time you have been there. If you need to replace it, now you can choose your own. Central heating systems do break. They may need repairs. Its just part of living in a property.

scoey8 · 12 April 2018 at 4:32PM

deannatrois wrote: »

Unless you have glue laminate, it can be taken up and relaid. I have done it for similar jobs to the one you need. If you have laminate, that is. If you have real wood flooring, I am afraid its one of the problems with it. But it might still be possible to relay it.

With the central heating, I had the same problem. A few repairs that didn't work, then it broke again. In the end the council replaced the boiler and the radiators, which included some 15cm pipework which was replaced with 22 cm pipework. I think we were lucky and had a more senior engineer come round and he must have ordered the replacement although we did point out the problems and how old the system was (over 25 years) every time someone came round. Eventually I suspect we pressed the right button.

I am afraid that if you want the major repair, and a working central heating system, you will probably have to be prepared to do some decorating and mess with your flooring. For me it was a fair exhange. Once the new system was in, the place was warmer, quicker and cost 1/3 less than previously.

I've just seen you say the flooring was already in place, so you didn't even pay for it! I'm sorry but I think you are expecting a bit much. You could view that you were very lucky to have that in place for the time you have been there. If you need to replace it, now you can choose your own. Central heating systems do break. They may need repairs. Its just part of living in a property.

Hi there, understand what you are saying. However it is clear the heating system was not designed properly in the first place (hence recommendation for large pipework). And also the fault only occurred after the landlord accessed the pipework from the flat below. So i don't see as the system breaking but rather a combination of not being fit for purpose and being damaged by other works. Therefore incompetence by the landlord will leave me up to £1500 out of pocket to lay new carpet in 2 large rooms.

And 14 engineer visits (plus 2 no shows) including breaking the boiler on 4 occasions, to an issue which the specialist auditor said should have been diagnosed in 1 visit is a joke. I have lost a weeks annual leave not to mention the countless hours chasing progress.

[Deleted User] · 12 April 2018 at 4:54PM

No the 15cm pipework is old. Now they use 22cm. It just wasn't upgraded in all areas, same as with mine. It happens whether in social housing or a purchased house. It probably wasn't even noticed. It wouldn't have been until detailed investigations were done. Same as with mine. It happens.

It is annoying, there are times when the council actually pays out more in the end on inadequate repairs but you aren't paying for them directly so when you move into social housing, you don't have any control over who goes in and who is employed. That's the way it goes. I'm not condoning the council's actions, but you need some perspective.

Believe you me you don't need to pay £1,500 for 2 rooms of carpet unless you are living in a palace. Just relay the floor you have. That you have had for free for x no. of years. I mean, you haven't been overly helpful, forcing the council to go through someone else's ceiling so you don't have to to take floors up you didn't even pay for?????????

14 visits by engineers is very unfortunate, but it does happen. You should have bought your own place rather than going into social housing where they don't pay as much for repairs (and unfortunately repairs can be low standard) because they don't have the budget for it. One of the joys of social housing. In return you get rents that are less than private rents (more often than not) and a place you can normally live in as long as you want rather than risking being moved out every 6 months, or having to get a mortgage. Its not perfect, nothing is though.

Deary me.

scoey8 · 12 April 2018 at 5:03PM

deannatrois wrote: »

No the 15cm pipework is old. Now they use 22cm. It just wasn't upgraded, same as with mine. It happens whether in social housing or a purchased house. It probably wasn't even noticed. It wouldn't have been until detailed investigations were done. Same as with mine. It happens.

Believe you me you don't need to pay £1,500 for 2 rooms of carpet unless you are living in a palace. Just relay the floor you have. That you have had for free for x no. of years.

Deary me.

I can still be suprised by entitlement it seems.

As i say the fault only came about when the landlord accessed the pipework from the flat below. Hence they have been negligent. Difference between entitlement and paying for the landlords poor workmanship.

scoey1001 · 12 April 2018 at 5:31PM

Also i cannot simply relay floor as it is not allowed once taken up. So if your landlord caused a kink in your pipework when carrying out work in a neighbouring property then took 14 visits plus 2 no shows, losing you a week's annual leave, broke your boiler 4 times during said visits leaving you without heating and hot water to the whole property, you would be happy to foot the making good costs? Because that's what you are suggesting I do.

scoey1001 · 12 April 2018 at 5:44PM

And I didn't force the council to take someone's ceiling down! They never asked to lift the floor otherwise i would have let them. So don't know where you got that from. Also rent is comparable to private in this area and unfortunately cannot afford a deposit to buy at this time. I just ask them to fix their mistake and make good.

teddysmum · 12 April 2018 at 6:09PM

We have a private house built in the 1970s and the old pipework was not illegal, but when the boiler installers did their work they had to comply with newer regulations by replacing with wider piping.

We accepted the compromise of having a pipe run up the pantry wall and along an exterior wall, as otherwise solid floors would have to be excavated, meaning a very expensive job. Also we do have pipes up the wall in the hall, as our central heating was after market, but painted the same colour as the walls, they aren't really noticeable.

Many councils will not let tenants leave their carpet behind, in case a new tenant complains of contamination eg fleas from it.

There was a case (possibly on here) where a council would charge you if carpet was left behind, but a lady's mum had recently died leaving a brand new quality carpet , little used as she'd been in hospital. This lady won her case to leave the carpet and someone was very lucky.

Some (all?) councils no longer take responsibility for the decorative state of a residence, where once people would be given vouchers to buy materials.

The council did lay laminate on the ground floor of the house our son took on last year, but if the floors were Marley tiles, as ours are,when the previous tenant's really old carpet was removed, the floor would have been crumbling and so not safe. He had to do considerable decoration at his own expense, though, but was given a new set of kitchen units as the original was falling apart.

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Heating repair gone wrong!

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