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?

We waited 10 months.

Toughen up OP .
When I was a kid there was no central heating in the house or my street for that matter . Only heat source was an open coal fire in the sitting room which took ages to light and heat up the one room . Literally ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in the mornings. Ask you old relatives.

None of us died . I’m sure you will survive the night .

I've just gone 5 days with no heat and hot water. Private landlord. He came out at 9.30pm on a friday night when i called to say boiler had gone off. Brought a gas reg. plumber with him. Boiler was condemned. Plumber ordered one but couldnt get it till Monday. Couldn't fit till tues but dp was On night shifts and wouldnt have been able to sleep through the noise, He couldnt fit us in Again until thurs.... 🤷‍♀️ Plumber was shocked by LLs response "why cant you get and fit one tomorrow (sat)" he had been to a HA that day to do gas safety checks. Out of 5 houses he went to, only 3 of them had a working boiler, one of them had had no central heating for 18 months. Just an electric shower and a gas fire in the living room. She did her washing up in the bathroom!

I thought 5 days was nothing, and cound myself lucky it was less than a wee - outside temps here have been between - 3 and 3 degrees 🤷‍♀️but then again i had LL leave me 6 months with electricity in only 2 rooms of the house andno floor boards in 2 out of 3 bedrooms!

In fairness to you they should have provided heaters or offered you a rent reduction for the cost of you buying a heater or 2 in exchange for the receipt. I would have a look at your contract once you've warmed up and had sone sleep.

I've lived in council properties and private rent. In one of the PR houses it took around 2 months to fix! Not that it's right, but at the time I thought it was the norm

Can you add voting buttons?

@MummytoCSJH

FWIW I agree with you. Re hot water - great for actually having a wash but what else is OP meant to do with that? Sleep in the shower? She doesn't mention children but are they also meant to just stand there or what? And why are people still suggesting buying a heater when the OP has said she can't afford to buy a heater? Not everyone has spare cash at the drop of a hat.

She should be damn grateful she doesn’t own the property then, if she can’t afford a heater she’d be completely fucked to shell out for a new boiler, she has to wait, like most people in that position.

@MummytoCSJH

FWIW I agree with you. Re hot water - great for actually having a wash but what else is OP meant to do with that? Sleep in the shower? She doesn't mention children but are they also meant to just stand there or what? And why are people still suggesting buying a heater when the OP has said she can't afford to buy a heater? Not everyone has spare cash at the drop of a hat.

Nobody's saying it's not a shit situation but that wasn't her aibu, she was asking if it was reasonable for the HA to take 24hrs to fix her heating, which is why everyone has said that's normal/good, and she is therefore being U. If her AIBU was 'AIBU to be cold with my heating broken' I'm sure everyone would have said of course she's not U, it's the blaming the HA for what is actually very good/prompt service that's annoyed people.

Why would anyone be "just standing" anywhere, they're allowed to sit/lie down (ideally under blankets to keep warm)

Also nobody's suggesting she goes off and buys five expensive heaters, but as pp's have pointed out, you can get ones for £15 or cheaper in argos/supermarkets/amazon - the vast majority of people could spare that/ask a friend/put it on a credit card - she could (even not morally ideal but desperate circs) return it before 30days i.e. before her credit would even come out of her account.

The landlord doesn't have a trump card over other home owners, they probably made the first appointment that was available

Landlords have greater legal responsibility than home owners. A person who owns their own home can choose to leave a broken boiler indefinitely if they wish. Landlords legally cannot. Which means things like boiler repairs may be more expensive (to get the next available person rather than waiting for a cheaper one). And it's rare that you couldn't find someone within a day or two, provided you are willing to pay enough.

She should be damn grateful she doesn’t own the property then, if she can’t afford a heater she’d be completely fucked to shell out for a new boiler, she has to wait, like most people in that position.

Getting hearing fixed within a reasonable time frame is part of what rent is for. So actually, she's already paying for it.

If you’ve worked a night shift go to bed, sleep and keep warm. By the time you wake up it will practically be tomorrow and they’ll be fixing it. You sound tired and easily wound up - just like I used to after a night shift! 24 hours really isn’t a big deal, it’s pretty good.

@lostandforgotten

Erm, I have helped myself out. I worked a night shift last night and have spent today trying to sort this out and locate heaters and I am now about to go on two buses across town to pick up two heaters from a friend so please kindly do one,

You’re an adult so your body can temperature regulate. You don’t need central heating - you won’t come to any harm. So I would say it’s reasonable if it’s fixed within 2-3 weeks.

There must be a clause in your contact? Obviously I don't think it's acceptable to be anytime without heating but what is the legal expectation? If you had a homecare agreement with British Gas you would be in as bad or worse state as their engineers are on strike as the company want to fire and rehire the engineers so they can remove maximum working weeks, no limits to weekends, pay them less and in some cases work for free. So engineers are on strike every week since beginning of the year.

We had to go without heating for four days waiting for oil (our fault). I don't think a few days is unacceptable. You just need to put on some extra layers

My best friend is an owner occupier. Her boiler failed recently, after 6 days she managed to get a plumber in who today condemned it.

It sucks op, particularly if you can’t afford to buy some heaters to tide you over.

Even if everyone agreed it was unreasonable to wait that long, it’s not going to change anything, it’ll take as long as it takes. 1000 MNers saying it’s unreasonable will magic up a boiler any faster.

Citezens advice told me my housing association had to provide heaters for each room and pay for the cost of running them.

@lostandforgotten housing associations are not for profit. You are being ridiculous, I own my own home and waited two weeks last December when our boiler packed in.

Also not having a bath isn’t really a big deal if you have a shower. Also it’s very rare to have separate showers in a HA property so it’s highly likely you can have a bath.

My daughter and her flatmate were without hot water and heating for 3 months last year. The delays were all due to the useless agents and tight landlord who refused to accept he needed the whole boiler replacing. She is taking him to the small claims court as the compensation he offered them was pathetic.I’m very glad she’s moved to a place with a decent landlord now.

I think you feel far more helpless as a tenant in this situation because getting stuff like this fixed is out of your control. I hope yours is sorted quickly OP.

Our private landlord left us 5 months without a flushing toilet in the first lockdown. Then the shower broke just before Xmas (no bath) and we had to wait almost 3 weeks for it to be fixed (would have been longer but I lost my shit over that). Hope they sort this for you OP. It's too fucking cold to be without heat.

Our HA gave us a couple of temporary heaters. They said they can’t use them again so let us keep them.

She who collects the heaters from across town warms herself twice.

I great you have hot water in shower. Mad now heaters too !
Experience has taught me a doable bath takes 20 kettle (and around half an hour).
If you have electric cooker and no dangers (child/pet etc) turn that on and leave door open (not of you have a gas oven danger of blowing out obviously!).
I once kept my kitchen quite toasty this way during a ‘great boiler landlord fail shitshow’.
Good luck tomorrow op.

I think three days is long enough to be without heating. I think expecting it to be fixed in under 24 hours is a little unrealistic.

@SpeckledyHen

Toughen up OP . When I was a kid there was no central heating in the house or my street for that matter . Only heat source was an open coal fire in the sitting room which took ages to light and heat up the one room . Literally ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in the mornings. Ask you old relatives.

None of us died . I’m sure you will survive the night .

Same. The fire heated the radiators. But until someone got up and lit the fire, no heat. Icicles on the inside of the window was common. Great fun chucking them down your siblings necks to wake them up.......