How long is acceptable to be left without heating?

[lostandforgotten]

Living in a housing association property and the heating has broken down this morning. I am more annoyed as it was already leaking brown fluid all over my worktops when the engineer came out to look at it and the part was supposed to have been ordered and it turns out it hasn't although I'm not sure if this part is the reason it's broken down. The lady on the phone says it will be tomorrow when someone can come out and couldn't give me a time, they've got till 4 o'clock apparently. They are also refusing to provide any temporary heaters and told me to put some more blankets on . I also have no hot water either expect the shower. It's snowing a blizzard out there aibu that this isn't acceptable and they need to do something today?

24 hours is reasonable. I had a boiler break and it took my private landlord 3 days to get it sorted.

@lostandforgotten how are things now - has an engineer been out?

If not if you know what type of boiler you have it could be something fairly simple eg water pressure needs topping up or outside condenser pipe could be frozen.

Hope you at least have got some portable heaters sorted.

I rented privately. My boiler broke during the beast from the east. 2 weeks I waited. TWO WEEKS. Nothing to do with private, housing association, council.....it was the part that took the time to source. And my landlord didn't provide heaters. I got them myself. Get over yourself OP.

Regardless of whether you own, rent or whatever let this be a lesson that your heating will at some point break, most likely in winter and over a weekend when it's harder to get people/parts so why not plan ahead & take a bit of responsibility for yourself and have a fan heater or 2 (depending on your requirements) stashed away at the back of a cupboard just in case.
You may expect the council or land lord to magic some up but clearly that doesn't always happen, and if you own your own home there is nobody but you to deal with it. As a home owner not only will you be cold but you will also be the one trying to find a heating engineer who can fit you in and you'll be the one paying for it too.

@mumwon

try getting British Gas servicing out! I could write a whole thread on that (but I won't!) It may be op that all their heaters are already out (because they are waiting for engineers to fix things which is complicated by either engineers isolating or being sick re covid or they can't get the b++++y parts because of brexit!) Reality check: When you own your own property & try to get things done, believe me op, you have to wait even if you are in a priority group if they don't have parts or engineers

Yes indeed. My 84 year old mum pays £24 a month to British Gas Homecare and they won’t come out to her. That’s £300 a year. I couldn’t even get them on the phone after 5pm.

[quote Slub]@lostandforgotten how are things now - has an engineer been out?

If not if you know what type of boiler you have it could be something fairly simple eg water pressure needs topping up or outside condenser pipe could be frozen.

Hope you at least have got some portable heaters sorted.[/quote]
On the basis that the OP was saying their boiler was leaking over their worktops there is a very good chance it's just needing topped up.

Yes.I.know..which.is.why.I.was.asking.

@lostandforgotten

I love how people are making out I'm a snowflake and I want someone to come and cover me with a warm blankie, how fucking patronising. If you had worked a 13 hour shift in a care home looking after covid patients and then had to come home to a freezing cold house where you can't even have a bath and then spending the day chasing round heaters then tell me you wouldn't be pissed off. There are no words for what I want to call you, it would be deleted.

YANBU for wanting it fixed quickly (and being annoyed for them not doing the original repair promptly, which might have prevented this issue anyway).

But as your shower is electric, then you could fill the bath with it?

have u checked the outside pipe

The HA here will only provide temp heaters if the tenants are registered as vulnerable in relation to being without heat- those with children under a certain age, people over a certain age, and with some health conditions iirc. You would think in this weather though (aka bloody freezing) that they could sort something, how frustrating. The availability of someone to come over and the part are frustrating, but not sure what they can do about that, but I hope you get it sorted soon OP, sounds savage.

At least you don't have to pay for it and live in reasonable social housing that is secure
Be thankful for that

@marcella1

At least you don't have to pay for it and live in reasonable social housing that is secure Be thankful for that

The rent pays for the contracts the HA have with maintenance companies. Like when somebody pays private rent but the landlord has British Gas cover, just on a far larger scale.

Regardless of the rent paid or maintenance, the HA can't magic up every part on demand. Nor do engineers diagnose every fault immediately (talking to the one who sorted my boilers extremely intermittent but serious fault out, some are absolute nightmares to isolate).

Unless you've got some issue you're going to drip feed in that entitles you to heaters and so on, then put a jumper on.

Not suggesting a trip back to the pre central heating days but people really do need to get a grip.

@lostandforgotten I live in a housing association flat. (And yes surprise surprise, I work full time too, always have and have always paid my rent, council tax and all other household bills all by myself out of my wages. So ignore the ignorant people who like to throw insults whilst talking out of their arse).

My heating also broke down on 31st December, so I know how you feel. I on the other hand had to wait 2 weeks before they could send someone out. Another week before they had the new heaters and then a few more days for them to come for them. So 4 weeks in total. In January.

As part of the Landlords & Tenants Act, I believe the legal side of it states that during October - March (considered winter months), the HA should have someone out within 24 hours for loss of heating as its classed as an emergency. If the repair is then going to take considerably longer to sort, they SHOULD be offering you temporary heaters (I’ve attached a link).

If time starts ticking on and you’re not getting anywhere with the housing and are still without heating, then your next step should be the Housing Ombudsman. (They’re like the regulator for them. Believe me, the HO will give them a kick up the arse if they’re not fulfilling their legal obligations as a landlord).

I will say that we are in a pandemic at the moment and just remember they may be short staffed if they have engineers off with Covid or that are shielding/isolating. So give them a chance to sort it out first.

Hope you get it sorted soon x

www.thetenantsvoice.co.uk/advice_from_us/heating-and-hot-water/

@user1471447863

Regardless of whether you own, rent or whatever let this be a lesson that your heating will at some point break, most likely in winter and over a weekend when it's harder to get people/parts so why not plan ahead & take a bit of responsibility for yourself and have a fan heater or 2 (depending on your requirements) stashed away at the back of a cupboard just in case. You may expect the council or land lord to magic some up but clearly that doesn't always happen, and if you own your own home there is nobody but you to deal with it. As a home owner not only will you be cold but you will also be the one trying to find a heating engineer who can fit you in and you'll be the one paying for it too.

Exactly what I said. I was told I must hate owning a home and shouldn’t have bought a home I couldn’t afford to maintain 🤣

@user1471447863

Regardless of whether you own, rent or whatever let this be a lesson that your heating will at some point break, most likely in winter and over a weekend when it's harder to get people/parts so why not plan ahead & take a bit of responsibility for yourself and have a fan heater or 2 (depending on your requirements) stashed away at the back of a cupboard just in case. You may expect the council or land lord to magic some up but clearly that doesn't always happen, and if you own your own home there is nobody but you to deal with it. As a home owner not only will you be cold but you will also be the one trying to find a heating engineer who can fit you in and you'll be the one paying for it too.

As I’ve said, I’m HA, but I do have to agree with this.

When my heaters broke down in January, I already had fan heaters I was able to use as a back up. I’ve always ensured I have an alternative way of heating my home just in case (and also because the old heaters were rubbish anyway).

It’s a good job I did, because it took the HA nearly 4 weeks to replace my heaters and they didn’t offer any other temporary heaters for me to use whilst I was waiting for the repair.

I was going to say a week. I must be made of sterner stuff than the OP. I guess this didn't go the way they anticipated... You are being v. unreasonable.

As a home owner I have to live with it u til I can afford to fix.
In fact I couldn't afford central heating for ten years and I had to live with it

@marcella1 good for you, but that's of no relevance to OP.

"@Sheepies @marcella1 good for you, but that's of no relevance to OP."

@Sheepies it appears ,by virtue of living in Housing association accommodation, the OP feels the cold more acutely than those of us living in all other forms of housing. Us home owners are well known to be immune to freezing temps.