To ask for some form of compensation

[FleurDeLips]

I live in a housing association property which is actually quite expensive to rent a month and pay service charges (meant to be affordable housing, but a mortgage would still cost me less). I’m a good tenant look after the property, always pay rent, claim no benefits and yes I appreciate I am luckier than some.

A month ago something went wrong in the HA managed heating system and I was left without any running water (hot or cold) apart from the cold mains supply in the kitchen. We could not flush the toilet without using a bucket filled from the kitchen tap and haven’t had access to any hot water apart from if I boil the kettle up. We did try to fill the bath with kettle water but it took so long it wasn’t worth it for 2 inches of water. We did also kind of slosh ourselves in the bath with kettle/cold water using jugs and bowls. Washing their hair in freezing cold water in the kitchen sink gave my kids headaches and made them cry.

They told me I could not get my own plumber in as this would invalidate all the electrical and heating systems in the house and then they would never do any maintenance to the system again and no one had authority to touch it.

I have had to take 9 days off work to let in various workmen over the past month. I have also had to drive around to other peoples houses or the local gym nearly every few days to access warm water/showers for myself and my DC. I don’t live near my family or friends or the gym so can’t walk to these places.

The main part of the repair has now taken place so I have access to hot water again. I still have to take more time off for the last part of the repair.

I’ve raised a complaint about the way this was handled with misinformation and delays. I was told by one workman that some people are without water for 2 years, as if that makes it any better or acceptable?

Is it worth pursuing anything from this? It’s fixed now but I can see that I may be entitled to under the right to repair scheme. They did in fact attend my property promptly when I reported it but they wouldn’t authorise the repair as it was a big job and instead kept trying to send workmen to investigate and replace parts.

£150 does not cut it. If this was a gas shut off you'd be entitled to £30 for every 24 hours you did not have the gas. Though this looks like a centralised electric system instead?

OP, you need to add up your costs - including the days leave you had to use for this (as now you cannot get that back - or if you can it will be unpaid). You need to present the HA with all of your costs caused by the issue and counter their pathetic offer. Realistically, they should have offered you facilities or coordinated repairs/ had someone from the HA come in with notice rather than forcing you to take time off work.

This is a general guide, but there is some useful advice here on Which? that could help with claiming.

www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-claim-against-your-landlord-for-disrepair-aUqoB6h4YabA

Yes I think you should claim, you pay for a service, you were not allowed to pay for a repair so you should be compensated for their actions meaning you were without that service for an extended length of time. If you had got someone in it may have been fixed straight away but cost more... not your issue. As they have chosen to go the cheap route they need to compensate you for the time it took. You did not have the full services you pay for. And running water in more than just kitchen is definitely rubbish. Lack of hot water is miserable and not reasonable for longer than a week.

We've been a month without hot water here in our owned house because something owned by the freeholder needs fixing first.

OP I totally get your frustration. It sucks not being able to have a hot shower!

Earlier this year I was without a bath / shower for weeks, but because DH was doing DIY around full time work and caring. It was really unpleasant. However, we could have employed someone to get it done sooner.

I don’t think you are unreasonable wanting compensation but I think the rhetoric around washing your children’s hair in freezing water is very odd. Children don’t need their hair washed very frequently and you were taking them for showers, so why would you be washing their hair in cold water?

What was your communication with the HA at the time? Did you tell them you needed it dealt with straight away for health and safety reasons, e.g. not safe to boil a kettle to provide hot water for young children. Impact on your working life?

Finally, one thing we can all consider is that lots of local authorities providing elderly care deem it acceptable to refuse to offer regular baths and instead carers give people, who could be helped into a shower or bath were they to have more time with a carer, a wash with a flannel. I don’t think that is an acceptable level of care but it may indicate the difference between how most adults live their lives and what a local authority or HA may deem acceptable.

Perhaps you have some reading issues where I said I might as well take this as it covers my extra fuel?

Also honestly I am just done with people being so purposefully irritating, I clearly explained washing hair in a bowl was just one annoying part of this shit show which included me having to take 9 days off work.

No I wasn’t ‘waiting for parts’ on order either, that would be obviously understandable, they kept sending out engineers who all immediately said ‘you need a new tank it’s fucked’ but the upper management of the contractor company wouldn’t approve a new tank so these blokes ended up fiddling with the tank, draining it, turning it on and off again to no avail. I only got a new tank fitted once I made a complaint and had 2 further site surveys done to get approval (more days off waiting indoors) and this took another 2 days to do the work. They changed the combi valve twice but this didn’t bring back the hot water. They are also a huge heating company who have their own stores department not a self employed plumber who has to order something from a merchants.

No I am not comfortable giving strangers a key to my house wtf? This is not some plumber I know and have a rapport with it’s random people from a big company I’ve never met, all of whom left my front door wide open while they were upstairs.

I’m sorry to hear that mortgage payers had to wait for parts, I also have had to wait for parts before but I was not waiting for a part on order that they couldn’t source. I couldn’t get approval for the works needed from the first day it went wrong. I have always read on here now people look down on HA tenants as if we should be grateful to even be alive and someone even told me to go buy a house if I can afford a plumber and give my house to someone else! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before, my £150 can be my deposit.

There are people all up and down this country living in awful rented conditions with LL not paying out to do repairs for basic services, and if this is how they treated me I dread to think how they might treat an elderly person who might not have the savvy to know they are being fobbed off. Not everyone can buy a house, many people rent and they are not lesser beings than someone who has a mortgage and more superior. HA’s are obliged to provide basic services like any other landlord and I pay rent and service charge for that privilege. I’m not prepared to just be grateful it didn’t take them longer to repair.

Why could you use a bucket and mug in the bath?

A large bowl of water heated on the cooker + more in the microwave + more in the kettle. This with 50% cold water in the bucket is enough for a comfortable lukewarm shower for an adult. Half of India showers with this method ! There was absolutely no need to do cold water showers!

Why did you have to take time off? Did the HA not have a key?

Why could you *NOT use a bucket 👆🏻

Basically it took so long to boil kettles and pans whenever they needed to wash their hair and so messy and fiddly rinsing so many times to get the soap out they sometimes just wanted it over and done with so we did a cold tap in the kitchen sink job. Kids are not very tall so it was uncomfortable getting them to the height they needed to be. Overall, it was just shit for them. This is not really what I am asking for compensation for, I just mentioned it was pretty shit. I wish I hadn’t.

I communicated with all of them but I am able to do so, I also talked to every engineer so I could learn what was happening. Eventually I did get the result I wanted but a more vulnerable person as you say is already disadvantaged. It’s not ok to just wash people with flannels really - my mum is in older people housing and they put in a shower for her as she can’t use a bath. This should just be basic care!

I am not comfortable giving strangers a key to my house. Never met these people. No HA’s don’t let themselves in. It’s the same as a private LL. they don’t wander round your house whilst you are out! It’s my house, I live in it? I’m just so confused by this concept. How would I have talked to any of the plumbers to know what was going on?

Anyway, no I didn’t leave my house unlocked all day or give keys to strangers let’s move on.

I don’t live in India I live in the U.K. in a house with a fully fitted hot water system that I pay rent to use.

Giving a tradie a key to my home would invalidate my contents insurance, if thats something you’re doing I would check your policy very carefully.

I am not comfortable giving strangers a key to my house. Never met these people. No HA’s don’t let themselves in. It’s the same as a private LL. they don’t wander round your house whilst you are out! It’s my house, I live in it? I’m just so confused by this concept. How would I have talked to any of the plumbers to know what was going on?

If you refused to give anyone a key then toy can't complain that you ended up taking nine days off work

Just give the HA a key next time like everyone else - there's absolutely no need to take so much time off or to communicate with the plumbers in person, that's entirely your choice!

This is ridiculous honestly. No one gives out keys to their house to strangers for a month. And yes, what about contents insurance? It is not like there is one HA person I know, it’s a HUGE organisation based miles away - WHO would I give a key TO?

Giving a tradie a key to my home would invalidate my contents insurance, if thats something you’re doing I would check your policy very carefully.

We're not talking about giving a random tradesperson a key though, we're talking about giving a key to the HA- her landlord.

When I lived in rented accommodation we never took time off for repairs. The landlord or agent let people in and supervised any repair work.

I think being without hot water for 4 weeks is unacceptable, and for that I would expect compensation.
However, your descriptions of washing hair / body etc had me in stitches! What a palava!
When we had no water at all for 3 weeks whilst having renovations we did various different things.

1. Nip down to Morrisons at the end of the road first thing to sneak in the disabled toilet where we could have an all over body wash. (I know, I know before you all tell me how awful I am using the disabled toilet in this way)
2. Arrange with different friends / family to use their bathroom for a shower on a rota basis
3. keep my hair tied up so it didn’t need washing as often as usual
4. accept that we would just be a bit dirtier than usual 😂

Having cold water as in your case would have been a luxury to us!!!

This is ridiculous honestly. No one gives out keys to their house to strangers for a month. And yes, what about contents insurance? It is not like there is one HA person I know, it’s a HUGE organisation based miles away - WHO would I give a key TO?

Get a cheap key safe or speak to the HA and arrange for a key to be left with someone. That's what I've always done and it's never been an issue.

If I'd taken nine days off work to let the plumber in I'd have lost my job!

I don’t have a landlord office I can pop to, I don’t have someone who comes to your house to get keys. My HA is based nowhere near my house, I assume I have some kind of housing officer assigned to my local area but I’ve not seen anyone for years and I wouldn’t know who they are. The logistics of this are actually nonsense. Yes I am sure you had one private LL and a lettings agent. I do not

Who would then be giving the key to random tradies, or do you think someone from the HA would sit in her home all day? And yes, that would have still invalidated our contents insurance.

So, install a key safe at my own property at my cost so I can allow all the workmen to come and go? Despite them not approving this and not wanting to enter my house without me being there? So that I can just go months without hot water and not get it fixed? Are you just trolling me

yep - my work are not happy. Hence me posting but I am glad you see you are not letting go about how this is still.. all my own doing. 🙈

Okay

I still don't see why you couldn't have installed a key safe or spoken to the person you originally complained to about organising a key but that's your choice I guess.

I just don't think you can say "I had to take nine days off work and my boss got annoyed" when that was mostly down to choice. There's no way I'd have even able to do that in any of my jobs so it would have been using a key safe or not getting the repair done at all.

You've been snippy and rude to pretty much everyone who hasn't agreed with you 🤷‍♀️

Anyway you made your choice so I guess you just have to live with the consequences don't you? There's nothing the HA can do about you choosing to take time off work.

Yeah I was grateful I still had one two of cold water tbh. I could use the washing machine. We did what we could. I did all those different things. It cost me money to do them that it wouldn’t have otherwise cost me which was my main point. Forget about the bloody cold hair wash, the DC did try their best to just have dirty hair but would get upset they are girls with long hair and didn’t really want hard crusty hair with shampoo stuck in it or dirty hair but needs must anyway

I had to use up my annual leave to do it or choose to take it unpaid. Just have a think about how you are scoffing at me to make even more sacrifice and cost for something that was out of my control caused by another company who ran rings round me. Why is any of this my fault is what I want to know?

Why did you have to be there waiting for a plumber? Whenever I've had a plumber, electrician, painter, carpet layer, etc. in my flat I just let them have a key and stay at work.

OP, Mumsnet is very funny about asking for compensation. If you didn't deal with a situation in the exact same way they would have then you're being dramatic and should therefore not ask for compensation. If you had dealt with it in the way suggested, you would have managed just fine and wouldn't need to ask for compensation. Oh, and everyone will latch onto some minor, irrelevant detail and twist it to make you seem ridiculous. In reality, it's not always easy to see the best course of action when you're in the middle of it. It's also very easy for outsiders to say they'd have done things differently or it's not a big deal. In reality, a month without hot water at all and only mains access to cold water is shite, absolutely shite. A dwelling without a functioning toilet is deemed uninhabitable. Just because you can manage doesn't mean you should have to. Ask for compensation, the worst that'll happen is that they say no.