To expect more from landlord?

[jojane]

Boiler has been condemned.
Last summer we had the annual gas safety check. Gasman said there was a slight leak with boiler and would notify landlord.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, woke up to no heating and pilot light had gone out, same the next day and same again the day after. Emailed landlords PA to let them know of problem, but as we could relight pilot light wasn't an emergency.
Come Monday couldn't get pilot light to relight. Sat watching tv Monday night and all of a sudden a sizzling noise like a sparkler came from gas fire which has the boiler behind it. Massive spark and bang, looked like fuse in boiler had gone. Contacted landlords pa, tues morning first thing landlords normal plumber came round, they ummed and arghed but basically gave me the impression that a new boiler would be needed, would need to be a combo boiler put in upstairs and we discussed where drains and gas meter etc was. Didn't hear anything until the fri, when we were told, sorry landlord has been out of the country and that they had been waiting for quotes but boiler was going to be repaired and parts had been orderded.
Tue was had heard nothing so contacted landlords handyman who said original plumber couldn't do job but another plumber was coming on thurs to do repair. Waited in thurs, no one showed, we're told parts hadn't arrived but should be here fri and someone round, again waited in fri and no one showed. Parts had arrived late fri but now new plumber couldn't fit us in until today (thur)
new plumber has just been round, taken one look at boiler and basically said the whole thing is rotten and corroded and no way can he repair it. Also shut off gas fire as saying unsafe (we've been using it for the past 2 weeks!)
Best case scenario is landlord agrees to new boiler and plumber says he will cancel some other jobs and do it mon/tue.

Cold weekend coming up and we no longer have gas fire in lounge! No central heating and have been using little fan heaters as necessary. We have electric shower and also can use immersion tank as long as we remember to put it on in time for kids baths.
Husband is fuming and on about going to a hotel and charging landlord. Part of me agrees that 3 weeks is way to long as we have been freezing, can't afford to run electric heaters all day or have immersion on all day. But as we have access to hot water how unreasonable are we being (won't actually go to a hotel as have no money) but really want to scream at someone,
not 100% who's fault it actually is, 1st plumber for giving impression he could fix it (and then not actually being available to do job, part of me thinks he realised he wouldn't be able to so fobbed job off ), landlord is the type who would have said not replacing just fix it somehow cheaply, parts place for not getting parts on time so delaying 2nd plumber by a week!
Would love to move but where we are houses don't come up very often in our price range, couldn't get deposit and upfront rent together anyway, and don't want to move further afield as kids schools, friends etc are here.

Our boiler broke in November, and wasn't fixed 'til January.

Shelter advised asking the landlord for oil heaters, if they had some, and a kettle if we didn't aleady have one. That's all they need to provide. If you've got any sort of heating yourself, they don't need to bring the oil heater.

You could call them to see if they have any other advice, but they basically told me to keep pushing and pushing the landlord - but like yours, the landlord and plumbers seemed in no rush, and we were freezing. We had no hot water or showers, either.

Shelter did say we could stay at a B&B and try and get the landlord to pay for some of it but he seemed to think this never really worked, and didn't advise it. He said if we could afford too, we should go, so that we could wash etc, but not to plan to be able to take it out of the rent.

I hope the plumbers speed up for you.

Oh jojane that is awful. I don 't know the legal ins and outs so can only suggest you look onengland.shelter.org.uk/about_us/how_we_make_a_difference/housing_advice_and_information Their helpline is very good (IF you can get through!). Alternatively you may find that your local council has a tenancy officer for private tenants, who can give advice and maybe lean on your landlord.

I would also suggest posting on www.landlordzone.com. Yes it is mainly for landlords rather than tenants but they tend to be very fairminded and give some very good legal advice.

Also, If you have an insurance policy for your contents you may find you get free legal cover as part of this.

I realise that having some hot water and a shower etc means our situation is better than most with no boiler, it's just so bloody cold, even the loo seat! Unless you are right on top of a little fan heater. The electrics in this house are atroucious too. We have an old style fuse box with wires. The electrics in the kitchen went last year (and caused electrical archs in the shower tray, DH was almost got!) and instead of ripping up the bathroom floor and retiring as suggested the landlord just got them to trunk the wiring across the kitchen ceiling and bypass the old wiring, everything in this place is 30 years old regarding wiring and plumbing etc. would say bathroom and kitchen are 10 years old and looking very shabby :-(. It's a concrete house so all the wiring and pipes etc are outside the walls which makes it all look so untidy and a lot harder to clean.

I think what has gotten to me is the fact that 2.5 weeks ago a plumber are round and basically said we need a new boiler, today a plumber has come round and said we need a new boiler!!! Just seems such a waste of 2.5 cold weeks!!

I'm a landlord and have had the same scenario. We didn't leave the situation for more than a few days without an answer and decided quickly to get a new boiler when the plumber suggested that we'd start to get the same issues every few months. You're landlord is being unfair and inconsiderate.

Your, not you're.....sorry!

I think that part of the problem is we contact the landlords PA who I think is a family member living up country somewhere, she isn't instantly contactable (never answers mobile phone). She then has to contact landlord who is often abroad, he then speaks to his handyman who comes round then has to report back to landlord who then tells handyman to arrange trades person, so back and forth the messages go with no one able to make an instant decision!!
I think it's just an unfortunate set of circumstances that have led to it being this long with no heating so don't really think its any one persons fault Per se,

Try speaking to your local environmental health team