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?

Perfectly reasonable. I'm an owner and last time my heating went it took 4 weeks to get the parts and repair the boiler.

@lostandforgotten

Surely the advantage of renting over owning your home is that you are not responsible for repairs and things get fixed quickly.

They can't magic parts and engineers out of thin air, though.

If there's no-one available and no parts, what do you expect them to do?

Surely the advantage of renting over owning your home is that you are not responsible for repairs and things get fixed quickly.

No. Landlords don't have access to a magic pool of tradesmen who are available at shorter notice. The advantage is you don't have to sort it or pay for it.

We own, have a 3 and a 7 year old and had to wait 3 days for our boiler to be fixed as that’s when they could come out. Like you we were lucky that we have an electric shower so had hot water there and borrowed 2 heaters from friends to get us through.

I don’t understand why you think your landlord is being unreasonable when they are fixing the problem as soon as they can.

The only thing they have been negligent with is not ordering the correct part when they said they had but human errors happen.

"If there's no-one available and no parts, what do you expect them to do?"

Maybe they could go round and cover her in a warm blankie.

Do you have any other heating source op? I've only read your updates so can see you've been able to get hold of some heaters but meanwhile you could turn on the oven, leave the door ajar so atleast you have one warm room. Only if you've no little ones mind, you don't want them getting burnt or something.
My in-laws live in a HA property, they say 24 hours minimum but do provide the tenants with fan heaters and they also have an electric switch thing that heats up the water in a tank in loft in case the boilers not working.
Temperature here has not come out of minus today and it's getting colder so can't imagine life for those with no heating.

one day is fine, I don't see the problem.

My boiler broke down before christmas

I claimed under emergency cover and they came on a Sunday initially and ordered the parts but then refused to attend except for a weekday and I could not get the time off.

All in I was off for a month with no heating or hot water. During this time I also had to self isolate after catching covid!

To try and keep warm I lived in one room using a reversible air conditioner.

For showers I bought some cheap kettles and a travel shower hooked up to a car battery.

You have water for a shower and a cooker/kettle for dishes etc. Have a relative drop off a heater if you can. You can tough it out for a day or two.

Housing Associations are terrible for this. Could be up to a week to get and fit correct parts. But they absolutely can and must provide you with temporary heaters. In your shoes once that had been refused I'd have emailed MP + been on to Environmental Health and Tenancy Relations Officer to phone them about this, too. They'd get their backside into gear then.

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.

My council told me heating and hot water was a luxury, and I did have a baby under 2 they still didn’t care

@lostandforgotten

Surely the advantage of renting over owning your home is that you are not responsible for repairs and things get fixed quickly.

We rent privately from a very decent landlord but when our boiler went it took 3 weeks in the winter to repair because the tradesmen were largely clueless. Not the landlord's fault that Gas Safe isn't a mark of excellence...just in basic competence. As it's a combi boiler we had no heating or hot water except what the kettle could provide.

Eventually he contacted the boiler company themselves who arranged a guaranteed repair...but I know that was expensive as an option. Whilst we appreciated that the landlord was determined to get it sorted he couldn't just magic a working boiler from thin air so 3 weeks without it was painful (have you ever tried bathing in tepid water when the temperature outside is below zero?)

As others have said, if you have a breakdown in colder weather then plug in heaters are like hens teeth unless you're lucky enough to know someone who has one.

Hopefully you'll only have to wait 24 hours for a repair.

When my boiler packed up completely in March 2019 (3 days before "the beast from the east" hit), the HA I rent from told me it would be 3 weeks until it could be replaced....no reason given at all. You got off lightly OP.

@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.

Nobody has said you can't be pissed off.

But it's not the HA's fault that there are no engineers available to come and help you sooner.

I appreciate being stuck without heating osnt something anyone would want.

I dont think anyone is saying that you should be grateful because you are in a housing association property. I think people are saying that wherever you live, there is often a short wait before a heating issue can be fixed, and it is normal to have to put up with this.

worked a 13 hour shift in a care home looking after covid patients

Our boiler died one october, I had a 3yo and 1yo. Our private landlord was really apologetic as it would take a week to sort, they felt awful but just couldnt get anyone sooner. Was just the way it was. You're being a drama queen in your subsequent comments

One day really isn't bad, if they aren't available that's it. I went 2 weeks without a kitchen in my private rented accommodation paying £1250 a month for it. When the electrics had to be turned off by the fire brigade I had nearly a week without electrics. So I really don't think a day is bad at all.

I do think you are being slightly unreasonable OP. You have hot water from the shower, so it’s not as bad as having no hot water at all.

As for heating, why don’t you buy one or two small plug-in oil filled radiators? DeLonghi ones are good, I’ve got two (one big one small) they are invaluable when the heating is off. Yes it costs money but would give you peace of mind.

BTW I would definitely expect better from a HA than a private LL in this situation but nobody can magically make tradesmen out of nothing, and that goes for owners as well ... it sounds like they are on the case at least. A colleague of mine who rents privately was without heat and hot water for several weeks last year. It’s shit but it happens.

I don’t think the HA is BU. They are sorting the heating quickly but it is unfortunate they don’t have any temporary heaters to lend you.
You are BU for not sorting yourself out with a temporary solution in the meantime. A decent infrared heater from Argos would cost around £30 and would quickly and cheaply heat a room.

No. The attitude isn't that you should be grateful for whatever you get, it is that you are expecting a service that doesn't exist.

As a home owner I have recently spent 2 very cold nights because that was as fast as the engineer I paid for could get a spare part and get back to me to fit it.

24-36 hours us a fast repair. Up to 72 hours is quick.

You pay for a service... assuming you mean rent... and you have received a fast response.

It's v frustrating that heating always chooses cold weather to breakdown. The timings you have been given don't sound bad. I would struggle to get someone out to look at mine within 24hrs and we own our own house.

I had to wait 9 days when I moved into my new home last month. The boiler failed on day one and it took those days for a heating engineer to try and fail to fix the existing boiler, and then to source and fit a new boiler. I have a 7 year old and 2 year old, and I was worried about them freezing in the night, but in reality we were all fine. Like you, we had some hot water for washing - the old imersion heater with the old heating system ran on electric. For everything else it was boiling a kettle/using electric heaters. Our electric bill is high this month! But we did cope. It wasn't the end of the world.

you said you have hot water though so its not as bad as nothing

Hi OP, I'm HA like you and I had to wait 72 hours with no heating or water. Two kids but none under 2. This was in November. They couldn't provide heaters as apparently they had all been distributed. I just had to sit it out.