I've been trying to find out what rights I have as a tenant to get my private landlord to carry out repairs.
I've been a tenant here for 11 years. We've kept the house in good order, decorated etc at our own expense. The landlord (a large residential letting organisation) had done pretty much nothing.
Currently we are on day 5 of no heating/hot water - hopefully this will be resolved on Saturday. But it's the final straw. In addition to the boiler being crap my kitchen sink unit has fallen apart and is propped up on 2 planks of wood. And we have a leak in the bathroom under the bath - this caused our hall ceiling to collapse in the summer. The landlord sent a contractor to replaster the ceiling, however they haven't sorted the leak. Whenever I've tried to redecorate the hall it's been ruined by the bath emptying through the ceiling again.
I've had property managers out to inspect the various issues, I've been told they'll be in touch etc but nothing has been done.
It's taken me all day Monday, and all day today to get the heating situation sorted - the landlords offices are shut until the 2nd and the emergency repair contact is based about 200 miles away! I've had to spend £50 on fan heaters/coal to try and keep the house warm. I've got 1 kid recovering from pneumonia and I've had a stinking cold.
Am I being unreasonable/unrealistic to want to have the property maintained? Would I be within my rights to ask for compensation regarding the expense + inconvenience the heating clusterfuck has caused?
Oh, by the way - the boiler was supposed to be serviced/safety checked on December 7th... but the contractor didn't turn up!!