Renting advice

[kateissotired]

I hope I have put this thread in the right place. I have rented privately for the last 3 years, my landlady is extremely hands off, which has suited me in the past. She lives in Australia, I rent her house in London. Last Thursday the boiler finally died, I emailed her and she asked me to get a quote, which I did, but she thought it was too expensive. I ended up getting 2 more quotes. I emailed yesterday with the lowest quote, and then this morning, and she has not responded. I have no no hot water and no heating. Could I withhold my rent until this is fixed?

I don't know the legalities, but witholding rent till it's sorted sounds fair to me.

I imagine this is classed as an emergency and your LL is failing in their duties.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon!

If you don't get much of a response in this section, perhaps try the legal section?

Please call 'shelter' for advice, sorry I can't link. They have a free phone number and will be able to help you.

Good luck.

with-holding rent is NOT fair or legal, and can get you evicted. Getting boiler quotes and getting fixes done takes a few days even if you own the place.

it is not an emergency, it is a major nuisance but the place is not falling down around you. Buy a couple of fan heaters, boil water for washing.

what might be easier is if you get her agreement to a quote, and that you pay the boiler engineer and deduct that sum from your rent. Hope she gets back to you soon.

BTW if it is a gas boiler I hope you have an up to date safety certificate. If not that IS an issue and you should not be living there.

Thank you for the advice. The boiler has not got a up to date gas safety cert, ran out a week ago. Hopefully she will get in touch and I can get things moving. Thanks again