Bad Landlord advice needed asap

[AvonRachel]

My boiler is very out of date and from when i moved in 3 years ago British Gas were being called out regularly to fix it (under the home care agreement which he has since cancelled - god knows why!) and everytime under the recommendations section they put "Recommend replacing boiler" so he had warning this was coming...

Boiler is now broken, I called British Gas out (he is rubbish at organising workmen, and those he sends I have no faith in, so we agreed verbally that I would source them when needed and take the money out of the rent as long as he had warning, but he has never told me where to post receipts to etc) and they were unable to fix it as the part needed is discontinued on this old boiler.

Got them to come out to give me a quote on a new one, this was about a week and a half before Christmas, forwarded it on to him, but he has been dragging his feet about giving them the go ahead, said he wanted someone else to give a quote - told him if it was the bloke he sent out before I wouldn't be lettting him in as he makes me incredibly uncomfortable - he knows this - I told him before!

So still waiting, and emailed him 2 days ago saying - as I haven't heard from you I will be giving British Gas the go ahead... did that this morning - gave them more than 24 hours on a working day to respond...

However I have hit a snag - the guy at British Gas said as I am not the homeowner I need written permission from my landlord to proceed... but how do i go about this - especially bearing in mind i have had no heating (and have a child) since more than 2 weeks before Christmas.

What can I do legally?

environmental health of you local council.
also contact shelter, they are brilliant at clarifying your rights .
good luck!

I'm not sure about the legalities, but I am sure you're dealing with an amateur BTL landlord who hasn't figured in repairs, replacements or voids into his business model.

Stop emailing/texting, pick up the phone and tell him you need him to come over today. Tell him that the boiler needs replacing and if he doesn't you will need to move out to a hotel and bill him, and then move into other property.

In addition to this, I'd be looking around for another place because it sounds like he can't afford his bills.

at the very least your landlord should provide you with alternative heating (plug in radiators or fan heaters for example) and also reimburse you for the extra cost (electricity for running the extra devices) until the repairs have been done within a reasonable time frame, a coule of weeks at most I would recon.

Withhold rent!

no, don't withhold rent unless you have had solid advice (from shelter).

British Gas left me with 2 small electric heaters, but these are pricey to run - we went through £10 of electricity in 3 days, normally that would last about 8 days.

I have had problems in the past with him, so have been emailing with everything so that I have a written record.

I can't afford another place atm, I have no spare money for a new deposit and van etc.

Definitely get environmental health involved. They can talk to the landlord on your behalf and push him into replacing it.

The reason I say stop emailing is that it's so easy to ignore an email. PHONE him and then follow up with an email "as per our call this afternoon blah blah".

I think you have a strong hand here, his options are at present:-

1. Get you a new boiler

or

1. i) You leave - he gets no rent

ii) He has no tenant = void iii) he still needs to buy that new damned boiler

If he can't afford option 2) he certainly can't afford to sue you!

Buying you a new boiler is the lesser of two evils for him right now

If you can afford it, get a new boiler fitted and withhold rent to cover the costs. Keep all the evidence. Presuming you are in the UK (or somewhere else where it is the middle of winter) and you have evidence of repeatedly contacting your LL to no avail and what you have been told about the boiler etc. by a Corgi registered installer (once again presuming you are in the UK) that it's beyond repair.
I think the LL would have a hard time proving you were unreasonable. The 'repair and preplace' contract will be up on the old boiler cos it's past it's tenth birthday. I am a LL and if I treated my tenants the way you are being treated I would expect a new boiler to have been put in and would be grateful the tenant did all the running about etc. I would do all that for them though.

m.england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/repairs_in_private_lets/reporting_repairs_to_a_landlord

Not very good with links but hopefully this has worked

British gas are refusing to do the work til I have written permission from the homeowner - a legal requirement apparently... I was going to get the work done and take it out of the rent.

Take a look at this site:
www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk
We had just the same thing happen to us about 8 years ago, no heating for three weeks in December whilst landlord dallied over quotes for a new boiler whilst we froze! It was slightly different as we rented through a letting agency, but they couldn't do anything because the private LL who employed them had to pay up for the boiler.
We dug out our contract, (which said we should not be without heating for more than 48hrs, and temporary heating was only allowed for up to 7 days) and wrote a very formal letter to the agency (as our contract was with them not her) citing the areas of the contract that they were in violation of. We also claimed that the electric fan heaters were costing us more in bills. We asked for one months rent rebate each and £100 toward our electric bill. We said we would be seeking independent legal advice if our letter was not taken seriously and prompt action taken.
And it worked! It was another week before the boiler was fixed, but we got the rebate and electric money as a cheque in the post.
Obviously you're dealing with a private landlord direct, but you should still have a contract in place that I expect he is in violation of. Check it and get in touch ASAP - send a letter not an email, tell him what you want (rebate? Contribution to bills? Be specific), and be clear about what your next steps will be if he doesn't respond within a given timescale.
Good luck OP.

Shelter have draft copies of letters and give you advice step by step. Don't withhold your rent speak to your local council and ask them for help, they will do an inspection to see if your home is hazardous or unfit for habitation and they can force your landlord to complete repairs. However Shelter have a draft letter that tells your landlord if you do not hear from them within X days you will go to the council and escalate your problem

British Gas, and any other installers, will have had experience in tenanted homes where neither the tenant nor the landlord is willing to pay once the job is done, so they don't want to take on such a risk. It happens a lot.

the landlord should place the order and pay the bill.

If you pay for it you will be at risk that the landlord denies having agreed to reimburse you or that you can deduct from rent. Have you got his offer in writing, signed, on paper?

Nothing. I've been there before. You can get the council and what not to 'force' the landlord to fix the boiler. But I waited for 2-3 weeks and in the end gave the scum a months notice and moved to the flat downstairs.

do NOT with-hold rent, two wrongs do not make a right.

give notice and go. Why give money to a landlord who doesn't provide a decent property?

you only need to give a month's notice as the tenant, to expire on the day you pay your rent. Send it so there is proof of posting, and get house hunting.

Hi Op
Firstly BG are very expensive for boilers. We got one from a local company for £2k versus the £4.5k BG quoted. Ours includes a seven year warranty. So it may be if you could get a much lower quote locally your landlord may be more receptive and agree to the work being done.

Secondly I once watched an appalling programme about rogue landlords and then mentioned it to a friend who was a local councillor. They told me landlords are under no obligation to provide heat or hot water!!!

Not sure if this is true. It may be better for you to find a new property.

Do you have a current landlords safety certificate for the boiler?This is a legal requirement on your landlord and if you don't have one you should demand one straight away. This will identify any safety issues the landlord must comply with even if this means a new boiler.

It may be that the boiler is old but not unsafe and is then repairable. British gas will always 'recommend new boiler' as they are keen to sell them where they can but it is not always required . The key point is safety and then repairs if possible or new boiler. Either way you should not be left without heating.

Bad landlords like this really annoy me . . . anyway, you can not legally withhold rent, tenants always banging on about their rights, then think they can do this!

You need to get environmental health out to declare the house unliveable, and also look for anything about this in the contract. Then you need to call the landlord and explain as the house is unliveable you are moving to x... at his cost. Also then also give your notice to leave. Unfortunately you can not change landlords like this.