compensation from landlord.

[Samw91]

Heyy, this is a long one but really need some advice. So i have 3 children, one 9 year old with severe asthma and a 3 year old that has just has a kidney operation and a 5 year old.. and i have had no heating or hot water for 9 days now! my boiler is saying f.28 and its leaking water, which is going down to my kitchen and now the ceiling in the kitchen looks like its gonna come threw and theres mould. I reported it 9 days ago to the housing and just no one is coming out, everyday they been sayibg somone is going to come out within 24hours, but nope, nothing. They droped off temerary heaters when i told them i already had some, and i explained to them i cant keeo them on as it makes my sons asthma really bad, also i would never leav.ve them on over night. My house is freezing and my kids need a bath and i have no way of drying clothes, i dont have a tumble dryer. Iv had to take 4 days off work now because them saying they going to come out but havnt.. i rang environmental health, all they gonna do is send a letter out to them. They money iv spent on electicity is ridiculous! I been crying down the phone to them, yestersay they told me there gas contractors have lost there insurance and thats why they havng been coming out to do the work. Why should i be affected by this? Surely they could use another gas company. What more can i do to get them to fix my boiler? And Could i claim compensation for all this?

I’m not sure how far you’d get as in my own experience my LL hasn’t even offered any repairs. I had no heating for a year and a half, mould damp causing severe asthama and I almost died of pneumonia. Injuries and miscarriage suspected to be caused by slipping down stairs with broken bannister and extensive damage to my personal items/furniture from the damp. Not even an apology or acknowledgement of what he’s down and I had to pay to fix the heating myself. I’m waiting for the new bill to come in on March 30th which gives us more rights to sue landlords and hopefully they’ll be more legal aid. I’d wait until then OP and try and get some free advice from a solicitor or CAB if you can. It’s awful I hope it gets better for you I was on the brink of suicide from it as my DD had to live with my DM over an hour away as the house was below freezing for months. Some LL’s don’t care as long as your money is in their pockets, it’s vile. You wouldn’t cut corners as a surgeon saving lives so why is acceptable with people’s homes!

Private Landlord? Housing Assoc? council?

Does your council run a landlord registration team?
If so you could contact them.

Its both private landlord and housing assoc. They spent the first 24hours trying to contact the landlord, but didnt have a number for her, so tgey said they. Gonna carry out the work but take the money out the rent.

I did this and there just going to send a letter out to them telling them the work needs to be done within 7 days.

Take pictures, do everything in writing so you have records, get 3 quotes for repair then send them to landlord and say unless he sorts it within a week you'll go with the middle quote and deduct the amount from your rent.
Be very clear in explaining the impact on your children's health and get doctor support in writing if need be. Potentially it's a compensation claim for negligence but might get you booted out if you try it! If you were going to move anyway then you could try that route.