Broken boiler and hot water tank - how soon does landlord need to repair this?

[Veryworried12]

Both the boiler and hot water tank have been working on intermittently over the last week. Someone came out to take a look at the boiler today and switched it off as there was a lot of smoke and smell of gas coming out of the flue, hes thinks it is not repairable.
Worried about being home with small children over New Year without heating and hot water - freezing here.

The landlord is very slow at dealing with issues - can I ask him to buy us some fan heaters in the meantime?

Absolutely you can.

hamiltonfraser.co.uk/knowledge/landlords-legal-boiler-heating-responsibilities/

"Total loss of hot water in a property over the winter months is considered an emergency and should be dealt with immediately after it’s been reported."

www.thinkmoney.co.uk/blog/broken-boiler-in-rented-house-your-rights/

Thank you

and if there is a delay due to avaiability of parts/workpeople then the ll should consider providing you with alternative heating (electric oil filled radiators) and hot water source or ltetnative accomodation (hotel)

Yes be absolutely should provide you with heaters etc, it’s bludy freezing! Especially with young children.

I hope he’s on the phone to them as we speak!

Unfortunately he lives in Australia however ill call the estate agent first thing tomorrow

getting it fixed will be long winded but they do need to provide alternative source of heating & some way of heating water until its fixed

that thinkmoney website is partly horseshit, there's no 24 hour limit. You cannot legislate for response times for tradesmen. That's why the real law says 'reasonable time'.

the reasonable time is not defined. A common sense explanation is 'what a homeowner would get'. i.e get contacting people as soon as possible and make every effort to get someone in.

decent landlords who follow all the rules do the following. Sometimes delegated to an agent, but the responsibility is with the landlord. What decent landlords do:

• provide contact details that work almost all of the time
• respond quickly to advise what they will be doing and keep the tenant updated
• have an insurance policy that provides home emergency cover for things such as this, and also provides for emergency accommodation for tenants if a property is uninhabitable.

my rental has all these, and also has an independent source of heat AND an independent source of hot water if the boiler fails. Same as I have in my own home. I would expect to provide electric heaters if all this failed - although every householder should keep one or two handy anyway.

landlords ARE legally obliged to do lots of other things which (if you are in England) are all detailed in the 'how to rent' guide which you must have been supplied with on check-in. It is also on gov.uk, and quite a lot of it links on to Shelter. No need to call them, all the info is online.

In your position I would buy a couple of heaters today, while continuing to pressure the agent. Hope it works out.

The landlord will have to provide electric heaters but of course you will be the one who has to pay the increased electricity bill.

Thanks everyone.

Well i called the estate agent however they are closed today and the our of hours number is a third party contractor who cant say how long it will take to fit a new boiler given that my landlord needs to sign it off.

Im not feeling hopeful given it took 5 months to fix my washing machine and he didnt compensate me for any laundry costs. The house is freezing and there is wind blowing through the windows and causing the curtains to move (previous problem, already reported but too expensive for the landlord to take action apparantly)

Ive bought a couple of heaters today but downstairs is very open plan and they dont really touch the sides! Ive got the DC in thermals and ill need to call the agent when they open on Monday

Happy new year everyone !

not good. Does this place have a legal EPC? (assuming you are in England)