No heat or hot water in rented flat with children

[Throwaway1999]

Hi, heat and hot water have been off since Thursday. Landlord came yesterday and couldn't fix it, then plumber came today and said he needs to order boiler parts but everything's shut and we will have to wait until Monday or Tuesday.

Is this true, do we definitely need to wait until then? This will be 5-6 days of no heat or water. It is literally freezing and we can't have baths, kids are wearing their winter coats and just lying in bed.

Ha and then Joey just turns it off at the wall

I know what you mean though, it's ridiculous. Landlords don't have access to some magic repair system that means they can get stuff fixed instantly - they have to wait the same amount of time as anyone else!

@madaboutpurpleyou really think the BBC would give two hoots to this non story?
OP friend or emergency plumber - a part is a part and they cannot perform miracles.
When this happened to a tenant on a Saturday evening I went out immediately and got heaters for their bedrooms and living room. Fortunately they had an electric shower so could use that. The plumber got there Monday. When my boiler failed last year I just lived four days without hot water - it’s not going to kill you. My heat didn’t turn on last week during the cold snap - three days with extra layers, I didn’t bother getting heaters as I knew it was temporary.
If the issue isn’t resolved by Tuesday then I’d start pushing. By law, the landlord has to resolve the issue ‘within a reasonable time’ which is 48 hours, though if unable to should provide alternative measures (like heaters). A delay of a few days if actively trying to resolve the issue (as your landlord is) is acceptable.

And those commenting on why the landlord went round first. I would say about 60 per cent of boiler issues reported to me I've been able to fix myself. It's often the water pressure has got too low, or the battery has gone in the thermostat, or simply the thermostat is set on zero, or they forgot to switch the radiator switch on the boiler on, or the gas hadn't been properly topped up on a PAYG meter or something similar. And if it's something more fundamental then I can usually determine more or less what the issue is and whether it's the boiler or the actual gas meter that's the problem, which helps when calling out engineers.

It isn't that cold to be fair, and it doesn't sound like he is hanging around. Emergency plumbers etc still need parts.

Electric blankets

OP if you find it so difficult to believe what you're being told about the availability of parts, why don't you call one of the 24 hour plumbers' merchants you mentioned and ask them if they keep a full stock of spares for whatever boiler you have?

My own boiler has been playing up for the last couple of weeks and although it's a fairly common model, all the parts needed have had to be ordered online. Apparently these days actual shops don't hold huge stocks of parts because there's such a big range. One of the things I needed was new electrodes, there were 4 different sets for what looked like the same boiler and only one was right. It used to be that any delay was caused by waiting for a tradesman, but these days it's just as likely to be caused by waiting for parts. It's normal now for tradesmen to come round and have a look, identify the problem and go away to order parts. The days of getting it fixed in a single visit are long gone, at least round here.

No, you’d get some heaters and expect it to take around a week or so.

You are talking nonsense. The only thing the OP should have had done differently was the LL should have immediately offered electric heaters to tide her over the weekend

I agree but the LL didn't, so the OP has to be proactive and ask.
Your comment about alternative accommodation remains bonkers.😂

Sounds about standard for this sort of thing whether renting on owned. Have to make do unfortunately … electric heater in one room and keep door shut, boil the kettle and pans for hot water and hot water bottles in bed, you’ll manage for a few days. We’ve all been there.

You’ll have to pay for it and for that level of service it will be extortionate if it’s even true.

It depends on the parts needed … you think plumbers are driving about with all parts for every type of boiler in their van?!?

I really wonder what planet some people are on that comment on here 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Personally if I watched that on itv or bbc news
I’d just think the person was to thick to understand boilers sometimes do take time for repairs and parts there not usually an instant fix and not that there a shit landlord

I hope this was a piss take reply

Exactly. We don't rent and just been without heating for over a week because we had to order a thermostat part then they sent the wrong thing and we struggled to find a heating engineer to wire it in. It was during the real cold spell a week or so ago. We managed with heated throws and a small oil heater just heating the one room. Hot water bottles to heat the bed. It must be very hard when you have young kids though. Op I hope you get sorted soon.

I lived for years without a boiler because we couldn't afford one. We didn't have the luxury ofsome magic phone call to make to get a repair/new installation immediately.

If the parts aren't available, they aren't available.

Not the real world, clearly!

Agree with this. When I let a property I included boiler/heating insurance and used a letting agent. One early evening, the tenant still managed to get my mobile number and tell me I had to book an emergency call-out as the cover is given him wasn’t 24 hour. I did, the thermostat was turned right down. Heating engineer told me the tenant said he renembered brushing past and must’ve knocked it with his shoulder!

I agree with PP’s your landlord has done everything he can for now. After months of being on the blink, my boiler finally packed up over Christmas. The landlady did everything she could but I still had to wait to get a new one fitted. It was no fun but I managed.

Why can’t you buy an electric heater? They are well worth having as a standby anyway. No one is ‘paying through the nose’ and this demonising of landlords is why there will be less and less of them and rents will increase.

I say this as someone who didn’t have heating for 4 weeks and had to use the immersion.

Boil kettle for sink washes and use hot water bottles. I've never used heating for years. There are ways around it.

Ring The Council, they can make him sort ot or do the works in default

He's doing the works, the plumber is waiting for a part.

The mild autumn followed by a cold snap has unearthed a lot of late boiler issues, probably impacting parts and labour availability. Our boiler started leaking last weekend and unless I paid a very hefty emergency call out fee the earliest I could get a plumber was tomorrow (luckily our heating still works, I just need to be ready eith a tray and tea towels so I am limiting its use quite severely).

Read the thread! Or at least the OP. The landlord is sorting it out!

I rent out a flat. This is one of the reasons it has an electric shower. It blows my mind that people think it's ok for a family to pay a load of rent, likely more than the mortgage on the place and not get a decent standard of repair. Yes I've changed a light bulb in the flat but what's the big deal? I'd have thought a couple of cheap electric heaters would be the least they could do.

Happened to me a month ago at the weekend, boiler leaked through from upstairs and flooded downstairs, so had to be turned off by the plumber and we waited for parts until Tuesday. Own home similar time frame. I boiled the kettle to bath the DC. Can you do the same?
I also used an electric heater to keep us warm. I think the landlord should supply you with one but you could always purchase one as I’m sure it’ll be useful for the future