Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask for some form of compensation

60 replies

FleurDeLips · 26/07/2023 11:08

I live in a housing association property which is actually quite expensive to rent a month and pay service charges (meant to be affordable housing, but a mortgage would still cost me less). I’m a good tenant look after the property, always pay rent, claim no benefits and yes I appreciate I am luckier than some.

A month ago something went wrong in the HA managed heating system and I was left without any running water (hot or cold) apart from the cold mains supply in the kitchen. We could not flush the toilet without using a bucket filled from the kitchen tap and haven’t had access to any hot water apart from if I boil the kettle up. We did try to fill the bath with kettle water but it took so long it wasn’t worth it for 2 inches of water. We did also kind of slosh ourselves in the bath with kettle/cold water using jugs and bowls. Washing their hair in freezing cold water in the kitchen sink gave my kids headaches and made them cry.

They told me I could not get my own plumber in as this would invalidate all the electrical and heating systems in the house and then they would never do any maintenance to the system again and no one had authority to touch it.

I have had to take 9 days off work to let in various workmen over the past month. I have also had to drive around to other peoples houses or the local gym nearly every few days to access warm water/showers for myself and my DC. I don’t live near my family or friends or the gym so can’t walk to these places.

The main part of the repair has now taken place so I have access to hot water again. I still have to take more time off for the last part of the repair.

I’ve raised a complaint about the way this was handled with misinformation and delays. I was told by one workman that some people are without water for 2 years, as if that makes it any better or acceptable?

Is it worth pursuing anything from this? It’s fixed now but I can see that I may be entitled to under the right to repair scheme. They did in fact attend my property promptly when I reported it but they wouldn’t authorise the repair as it was a big job and instead kept trying to send workmen to investigate and replace parts.

OP posts:
HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 26/07/2023 19:20

It is tho.

the long hair is just an excuse, I regularly wash my hair over the sink and my hair is down to the sink.

From what you’ve said they tried a replacement part, that didn’t work and they’ve ended up having to replace the part in full, that is standard procedure and will be in your tenancy agreement to repair to maintain… then replace of the repair can’t be maintained then it will be a renewal.

You simply don’t go out and buy a new washing machine because it needs a part, you try and replace the part before buying a new one, it’s the same with any appliance.

Original poster
FleurDeLips · 26/07/2023 14:02

KarmaStar · 26/07/2023 11:55

You can try but doubt you would get anywhere.
Why wash kids hair in cold water when showering elsewhere? Try dry shampoo too if it happens again.
Sounds like you are passing out a legitimate,but fairly minor issue in order to claim cash.

I don’t think not being able to wash or flush your toilet in a rented home for 4 weeks is a minor issue

OP posts:
Original poster
FleurDeLips · 26/07/2023 14:00

Thanks lots of questions. We all have long hair. So we found that trying to wash long hair ineffectively in a bowl/sink of warm water as the soap would not rinse off properly and then we all had hard hair. I couldn’t easily store and keep warm lots of warm water although we did try, boiling the kettle multiple times and putting it into jugs I had to buy that I don’t otherwise need. Sometimes we could not get to the other places for showers so did throwing water on ourselves standing in the bath and washing hair quickly in the sink. This was extremely time consuming.

Nothing was wrong in the street with mains supply it was the water cylinder and a pipe in my house. They knew this from the first day but refused to change the tank for a new one so they tried to repair bits of it for a month or just came and stood and looked at it on 9 occasions. They have now replaced it.

If this was my own house I could have paid someone to come change the cylinder once we knew it was not working, but I was not able to as I had to wait for the other 8 engineers to come and look and fiddle with it first. If I was paying for a service and it wasn’t good enough I could have looked elsewhere. This service is included in my rent, it’s not my cost to bear.

It’s hard to convey how miserable and stressful this past 4 weeks have been. Not only have I had to take all these days off my full time job, often for no reason at all, at my own expense I have used up my annual leave, lots of additional driving and fuel that I didn’t need to do (to shower) my
employer is very unhappy with me and I am out of pocket. I can’t gain back 9 days of holiday so I can’t use it later in the year now.

OP posts:
LlynTegid · 26/07/2023 12:21

Have they turned up on time, or was it the 'between 8 and 1' time window (which is not an appointment)?

You can ask, I doubt you will get any money though.

KarmaStar · 26/07/2023 11:55

Padding

KarmaStar · 26/07/2023 11:55

You can try but doubt you would get anywhere.
Why wash kids hair in cold water when showering elsewhere? Try dry shampoo too if it happens again.
Sounds like you are passing out a legitimate,but fairly minor issue in order to claim cash.

BMW6 · 26/07/2023 11:45

Why were you washing hair in just cold water?

We own our home and when the combi boiler packed in we were without hot water for over a week, but used the kettle to boil water and bowls and jug over sink to wash body and hair in WARM water!

MatildaTheCat · 26/07/2023 11:35

To be honest this could just as easily have happened if you owned the property. You’ll generally start at a position of doing the least expensive repair and work upwards. Ordering parts and scheduling appointments all takes time. Very frustrating but life.

We were without heating or hot water for two weeks in February. Own house.

What sort of compensation are you looking for.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 26/07/2023 11:27

*Don’t need to be submerged

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 26/07/2023 11:26

YANBU however it depends on the circumstances, why were you without running water/hot water?

Did you have a burst mains and they needed the water board to attend or external contractors? Required parts for the repair?

Water main burst would be out of the hands of the HA and they would not be able to repair your heating system until the mains had been repaired etc…

I don’t understand why you were crying from washing your hair in cold water, why could you not have used some pans and heated the water up from using the cooker? You could also have used a cloth to wash, you need need to be submerged under water to wash.

Im not saying YABU however common sense prevails and I think you’re dramatising a little.

Swipe left for the next trending thread