No heating or hot water for over a week??

[MsMarvel]

Can a landlord do this?? Freezing cold, children in the house. What can I do to fix this?

I need a new boiler and will have had no heating for 4 weeks because that's how long it took to get the appointment to replace it. British Gas would have been quicker, but £800 more. It's horrible!

£800 more. Fucking hell Is it gold plated.

I take it he posted a card through the door saying he had been.

Boiler same cost. Labour more with BG.

Well i hope you get a first class service for that price.

I'm going on 7 years straight with neither. (thankfully shower is electric) And my gas fire doesnt work either.
Boiler broke, old model so can't get parts to fix, can't replace because new health and safety laws make the placement of current one illegal so can't put another in its place. Small house, literally nowhere else one will fit so can't move it. (not to mention can't afford it or the re decorating from ripped up floors and walls.)
It's hot water bottles and space heaters in this 90+ year old house. Bathroom is the worst, old rotting wooden window.

Victoria a decent gas engineer told me that combi boilers are crap and keep breaking down and going by what ive seen he is correct. They cant seem to cope with a bit of cold weather which is the whole fucking point of them.

Its likely you would end up with one of these anyway.

It's just a pita knowing the electric bill is at least £100 more because of the fan heater. I didn't dare use it til mid november and now i typically try to get by without it, max an hour of a night, because i'm already unable to afford the electricity bill without the added cost!

Totally agree with your stance on the timing. If that was agreed, that's what you should expect.

Otherwise, the engineer might as well have pitched up at 2 or on a different day!

Also, how spiteful of the plumber. That's a sad indictment on a tradie who hasn't really thought about what their role actually entails.

Totally agree with hot water bottles. They are a lovely invention. Especially with a cute snuggly case. They can take some of the horrible emotional aspect out of this... if only for a while. The impact of stress in housing situations is almost half of the issue. 🍰🍲🍷

That's terrible! Hope you get it sorted!

OP. If you want it fixed tomorrow I would strongly advise you calling today and booking in with the repairs desk, unless I have misunderstood and that you already have a second appointment in place.

Same here - but I own the house. Can't afford to replace or fix boiler - had plumber in once - cost money but he couldn't fix - has to be replaced.

HB won't pay a mortgage so not an option. Have to sell but no one is buying and anyway costs of selling huge. We know we will lose the house.

I do have an electric shower so hot showers possible. Apart from that we use snuggle-blankets for the sofa, warm clothes and good bedding.

We have fan heaters but the house is very open plan so they only really work in bedroom or for sitting in front of for ten minutes to get warm and then diving back under a quilt.

Good luck OP - push the Landlord again - but at this time of year gas engineers all very busy - it can be slow. No excuse of course - so keep pushing.

I moved into a £500 a month property, paid £365 to hold it whilst I completed my application, paid a £600 deposit and further fees over £200. First night the boiler is broken, I'm left the night without heating or hot water. Useless creep engineer comes out and temporarily fixes it but says it's broken and needs replacing. After a couple of hours it goes off again. By now it's a Friday and he doesn't come out again until Monday. Bearing in mind I am renting through a popular estate agents, no housing association bs excuses here.

The boiler was finally replaced on the Wednesday. Had issues with engineer as left him in my home whilst he fitted said boiler and he went in my bedroom without asking to obviously bleed to radiator but my underwear was on there and if I was there he would have asked me first. I also had to go in and turn his radio off because it was using my electric. He had it turned on for 9 hours straight, lovely neighbours with a baby too told me and I went back to sort him out. I am yet to be paid back from his contractors for that. It's fantastic it was done so fast but it should have been done before I moved in. What kind of person lets someone with a baby pay money for a property and move in knowing the boiler is broken. I was without heating for 6 nights in November with a 9 month old who already had a cold. No one has apologised for this and no heating alternatives were offered.

A door also fell off from the attic room and injured my arm. There were screws missing and the hinges were lose, it did feel dodgy but I didn't think much to it as they do tend to be in townhouses. I have photographic evidence and sueing has come mind. Estate agents and private landlords for you

Oh and also paid first months rent 2 weeks before moving in, in those 2 weeks the contractors were apparently completing jobs which is not true if boiler was broken and door hinges were lose and unsafe. They should give me £250 back. Ugh need So sorry for what you're going through OP, hang in there

I also had to go in and turn his radio off because it was using my electric. bloody hell, I didn't realise anyone was actually that mean. Also I wouldn't worry about your underwear on the radiator, it's just underwear.

How would I go about billing them for the cost of the fan heaters? Assuming that this gets fixed on Monday I've calculated that the two fans on 24 hours since we got then would have cost us £33.22 and want them to reimburse us for this.

Dp is wanting to deduct this off the rent we are paying but I don't think we can do that can we? Does it need to be separate to our rent?

Electric on a meter, I'm a single mum who's already forked out loads for a broken house. If you want to listen to music that's what phones are for now it's just disrespectful. He was blasting it too all day long when neighbours have a small baby. I was being sensible and considerate turning it off

He's there to fit a boiler not dance around to Frank Sinatra all day. You ask before you enter someone's bedroom when the door is closed, or you at least inform them that you're going in to do something. How am I meant to know he has to bleed all the radiators? I was not informed of this if I was told of the procedures I would have made sure my private things were away as I deserve some bloody privacy after I've paid so much for useless services

Offer to deduct from the rent or just send them the full bill. I'm going ahead with a case against my landlord. No heating for a week with small baby, burst vein in arm from unsafe door. An incident where if I had been holding my baby she could have died if it had hit her head. Very heavy attic townhouse door opening towards me and coming completely off the hinges with two wide steps below so a fair distance. All within 2 weeks of living here, rent includes 2 weeks before I moved in when contractors were doing jobs. Yeah not a fantastic start.

Yanbu. Its hell, we had winter 2013/2014 no heating and limited hot water. (Private ll, gave notice and left and noticed probably had a lot of turn over after we left...wonder ehy). Luckily pre children. Talk to cab. There must be rules. Which housing association as name of person in charge might be who to write too. (Hands out gloves, jumpers, hot water bottles and hot soup). We survived by keeping lounge only warm (if you had three jumpers on and were under the blanket) keep doors shut etc xxx

OP if you want to make a compensation claim you need to ask for a compensation form once the repair has been carried out. Do not deduct it from your rent. Have you called the repairs desk to book the repair again? Also, do you have the date and time of the original phone call to the repairs desk? If you want to make a claim for compensation the HA will need to listen to the call to see what was agreed between you and the advisor.

The fans were not mentioned on any phone call. When the engineer initially came out and diagnosed the problem as being the fan burning out, he just jumped down to his van and got a couple of fans to leave with us. So no official record of them being given to us iykwim?

The fans are standard practice. If an engineer can't fix it in the first visit for whatever reason they are told to leave fans with you so you have some heat. So that's fine. I meant he conversation you had that said the engineer would be with you at 4. That's the one they will need to listen to, and any subsequent calls to the repairs desk.

Just wear loads of clothes, use hot water bottles and drink hot chocolate (holding the mug is cozy for a while). We had no heating all last winter and no hot water for about 5 weeks, we own our tiny house though so get no help and had to make do. I recommend thick tights, pyjamas and a onesie over the top with slipper socks and slippers. I wore a hat and sometimes gloves in the kitchen as that was the coldest room. Neighbours and friends are usually more than happy to let you bath at their house and laugh at you for wandering the streets with a towel on your head, if nothing else, it's good for community relations!