Carbon monoxide in my house - help

[Baileybobz]

We’re in the UK. The National Gas Emergency Board has turned off the gas to my house due to the carbon monoxide alarm going off and is claiming no one is available until Tuesday because of the bank holiday.
What are my rights, what should I say to him to get him moving on this?
I have no hot water all weekend and can’t use my gas hob.
Additionally I’ve just found out I’m pregnant.

I think it's for you to sort out. If it's your boiler it has fire. Have they traced the source of the leak? All the gas board have to do is make it safe. But I sure someone will be along to correct me if I'm wrong.

Sorry I should have said - my landlord is claiming he can’t get anyone in. We rent.

Just Google heating engineers in your area and go through the list until you find one who is working the weekend…..and be prepared to pay through the nose for it.
our booker broke at 3pm on Christmas Eve…..I went through the list until I got someone who answered rather than the ‘we are off until 5th January’ message on almost every voicemail. Good luck.
if that fails go and stay with friends or family.

Crikey two days without gas won't actually kill you. If you think you can get a gas engineer out quicker why don't you start phoning round and if you find someone pass their details to your LL.

Your landlord can. He just doesn’t want to pay for it. I’d find someone yourself and then give him the details or tell him you’ll claim the cost via the small claims court.

I’ve no experience of this issue but can you start ringing around some gas engineers who might offer emergency services? Have you tried that? Mr Google might offer some names.
You might have to pay an emergency call out fee but you might think that worthwhile.

What is the father of your baby doing to help sort things out?

If push comes to crunch it’s boiling kettles to wash yourselves, and ready meals in the microwave.
I hope it gets sorted out soon.

Who is he, your landlord/ call centre worker to book an engineer?

In the meantime, you hopefully have a kettle that you can boil for hot water. A microwave or other appliances (air fryer/ toaster etc) to cook with. Be thankful that your alarm worked, you are safe, alive, and it is August, not deep winter.

Sorry it is difficult, but it could be a lot worse. (And yes, I've been without a working boiler for days, in winter, with young children.)

Cross-post, it is your landlord. Well, homeowners wouldn't have much better luck getting a Gas Safe engineer out any sooner. If he can get one for Tuesday, you are luckier than most.

You should have some hot water in your tank, albeit steadily becoming warm not hot. Have super quick showers and boil the kettle if needed. If you have dishwashers and washing machines that have a cold water feed I think they will work. Have you properly aired your home to get rid off any gas? At least it’s warm and you can eat salads. Mine went off in the dead of winter!

I’m a landlord. We don’t have magic wands but I’d move heaven & earth for my tenants over a Bank holiday to get this sorted out Indeed our tenant needed a new boiler over Easter one year & with her goodwill & our support she was sorted out very quickly with a replacement boiler.
If you have an electric shower that’s helpful.
If you have a toaster and microwave I hope you can manage.
If you have a helpful neighbour or family nearby I hope you can get help down that route?
The weekend will soon be over. Chin up.

What is the father of your baby doing to sort this?

Ding ding ding we have a winner folks

OP is asking for advance on what rights she has as a tenant to push her landlord to sort her gas issues. The LL is obviously not wanting to pay the BH weekend call out fee and is fobbing her off. She's not asking for advice on her baby daddy or to be told that you personally survived the great winter of '98 with no heating, food or shelter with eleventy million kids and she should count herself lucky.

OP my advice would be to call a couple of engineers in your area and see what availability they have and then get back to your LL with the info. Are you renting direct or through an agent?

@LadyLapsang oh no what a nightmare! Yes and eating a few salads won’t do me any harm to be honest 😂 cheers for the advice folks. I’m aware it could be worse, I didn’t say it was an absolute disaster but it’s just not ideal in my current situation that’s all. We will start ringing round some engineers!

@Anguauberwaldironfoundersson hahaha this made me laugh 😂 thank you! We’re renting direct thankfully and the house we live in is owned by a company so you’re probably right that they don’t wanna pay!

@Baileybobz The main thing is your health - get all the windows wide open and if you have any symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning get checked out. Hope it is sorted out soon.

Your rights, according to Shelter, are that your landlord must carry out repairs within a reasonable period of time.

Getting an engineer the next working day seems reasonable, although this doesn't guarantee when it will be repaired as parts may need to be ordered, etc.

Reasonable time means the next working day. It isn't the landlord's fault it's bank holiday. Tuesday would be the best anyone could do, surely.

Congrats on your pregnancy. You must be super excited, but really, it's irrelevant in this situation other than thank god the CO was spotted - I don't know if it could have harmed the baby.

You can surely manage for a couple of days on takeaways, microwave meals, sandwiches and salads - or get yourselves invited to friends for a meal.
You don't need heating at the moment, it's still warm.
And as for washing - you can do what everyone did before daily showers and constant hot water became a thing, and wash at the sink - you may need to splash out on a flannel or two.

Or use the excuse to book yourselves into a hotel for the weekend.

Exactly the same happened to us a few years ago. It was about 5 days before we had gas again. We had three dc at the time. Just consider yourself lucky it's summer!

Have you got an electric kettle? Microwave? Toaster? If so, you'll be fine. If not, buy or borrow. We used a camping stove as well, for quick things such as scrambled eggs. We washed with bowls and jugs, mixing boiled water with cold in a large bucket in the bathtub.

It's soda law that things happen on back holiday weekends! When I rented, the dodgy boiler finally gave up
Over the Christmas weekend. Hi grey and no hot water. Could cope with that but the lack of a hot shower was awful!

I don't suppose you have a hot water tank with an electric immersion? Combi boilers are more common, but if yours is vented you may have a tank.