Landlord has made it so I only have hot water at certain times of the day

[Wildrosa]

I’d be so grateful for some advice.

I currently rent, been in the same property almost two years. Last Friday I came home from work and noticed my hot water wasn’t working. I messaged my landlord, he said he’d put on the hot water manually until he could get an electrician out. Yesterday, my landlord messaged, “electrician here setting clock for emersion. What times do you require hot water each day?”. Confused I replied mornings and evenings and then asked if this was temporary. He messaged to say “time clock and power switch were replaced yesterday. Tubes are set daily from 4 - 6am and 6 - 8 pm.”

Am I being unreasonable to think this is ridiculous? I got up early this morning at 7am and had 8 minutes of a lukewarm shower, I’ve come home from a sporting event and the water’s freezing, I’m watching the clock so I can have a hot shower?

Don’t do this. Terrible advice

Who in God's name needs hot water at 4am?

Our hot water is on for 1 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. We only really use hot water for 2 showers a day plus a small amount of dish washing (non dishwasher items). We always have plenty of hot water. The other day I accidentally turned the hot water off in the afternoon, so it didn't come on for the 2 hours in the evening. We still both had a hot shower the following morning and it was only at lunchtime that I realised the water wasn't quite as hot as usual and I realised my mistake.

How is your hot water heated? Do you have a hot water tank and is it tank well lagged? Do you share the tank with your landlord?

I'd be careful going low like that, the advice is to keep it at a minimum of 60C to prevent Legionella bacteria growing and causing Legionnaires' disease.

You should keep it at 60C or above to avoid Legionnaires'. You really do want to avoid it, it's very nasty.

Loads of people.

In this case the OP never seems to have adequate hot water so there really is no point arguing minutiae.

you need to tell the landlord you will pay extra to have hot water all the time, or get the clock thing changed.

I am a bit confused how it works if it's not staying hot.

Is this the same house as the landlord or a independent house ? If the second then I’m sorry but that’s completely unacceptable. You should have access to hot water at any time .

40+ years ago I lived in a bedsit. “Hot water all day” said the Landlord when I moved in.

A few weeks later I noticed the water was cold, every morning, when I got up.

I spoke to some new tenants - oh we were told it was hot just in the evenings.

Solution - I could get into the cellar where the time switches were. I set them to continuous every Monday night and back to timed every Sunday night. ( He came to pick up the rent, in cash, every Monday - we had to leave the correct amount in an envelope on our beds for him to pick up.

If I've read the thread correctly it's only been TWO DAYS over the weekend that the OP has been having problems with her hot water, so all this "the OP never has hot water etc" is rubbish.

As others have said it all sounds like some fine-tuning of some new controls and thermostats.

Talk to your landlord OP and I'm sure he'll get it sorted.

But, of course, I appreciate that on MN the 'all landlords are evil bastards' is much more fun to assume and rant over...

I have been both a private and a social landlord. And yes, many landlords are bastards, unfortunately.

'Never' in this context meant 'at no time of the day' rather than 'never in history'.

Hey everyone,

Worst fears have been confirmed by landlord… Water is only hot during particular hours and outside of these ‘slots’ it is freezing cold. Slots are 4-8am and 6-10pm EXCEPT 4/5 times I’ve tried to bathe during these hours it’s been freezing cold. Landlord keeps saying they’re confused and apologising but ‘electrician’ doesn’t appear. I’m absolutely fed-up.

Worst fears have been confirmed by landlord… Water is only hot during particular hours and outside of these ‘slots’ it is freezing cold. Slots are 4-8am and 6-10pm

but as multiple people have said... that's not how it works.

if the water is heated as it is used/on demand from cold (I.e an electric shower) then it wouldn't need a timer to switch the hot water on and off.

if the water is heated via an immersion heater (like a large kettle) and stored in a hot water tank then four hours of hot water at each end of the day should be more than enough for one person. If it's 'freezing cold' immediately outside those hours then something isn't heating the water properly during those hours.

From your description it sounds like the heating element might not be working.

The landlord is confused, apologising and trying to get an electrician out (or a plumber) and if it's anything like it is round my way it will be impossible to get someone quickly for a 'small' job like that.

This is seriously overkill. That’s what you send if all reasonable efforts have failed not the first response.

It’s normal to have hot water on morning and evening. If it’s not hot enough at 7am just get him to change the timings (and discuss insulating the tank. Costs about £20). Given the price of energy it’s not crazy for a LL who is paying the energy bills to do this. He isn’t doing anything awful.
If he then refused to change the times when asked he would be unreasonable.

10 hours when it is not actively heating should not be enough for water to run cold unless you drain the tank after say 7;30 and it not have time to reheat. Do you have a long morning shower/bath or run a washing machine off the hot fill during the day?

Sounds like landlord has no intentions of fixing it. If he lives at the back of you can you pop into his for a shower every morning at 7am? Causing him some problems might make him more invested in sorting it.

Given the price of energy it’s not crazy for a LL who is paying the energy bills to do this. He isn’t doing anything awful

Christ, is this what it's come to? Pay someone rent but it's fine to be denied hot water? Fuck That for a lark.

Tell him you want a reduction in rent or you'll be coming over to his house for showers.

I don't get how it can only be hot in those time slots. We have a similar system where the hot water is heated and stored - ours only comes on for about half an hour each morning to bring it up to temp, as the water tank keeps it hot.

Not sure what sort of tenancy agreement you have but generally even if bills are included with rent eg in an HMO, landlords ARE NOT allowed to interfere with heating or hot water controls.

Everyone going on about why you need to shower at certain times are missing the point.

That is sort of true my heat pump doesn't get to 60 so it heats the hot water to 50. Once a week a legionnaires cycle occured where the immersion heater raises the temperature to 60. The peak reproduction point for legionnaires is in the late 30s after 50 it starts to die slowly over many minutes.

Is your heating going to work?

It sounds a bit like it’s instant hot water and only on these hours? Ie there’s no actual tank, is it just a small box? I can’t think of any other reason it wouldn’t be hot past the ‘heating hours’.

That makes no sense. If the system heats water on demand it makes no sense to restrict it, as it only heats what you use. If it heats a tank, then that should be enough for it to stay hot.
Do you share a tank with his house? If so, and his hot water is working, I'd suggest you ask if you can shower at his until it is sorted. Not great for you I know but inconvenient enough for him to kick his arse into sorting it

Keep on at him. Text every time you need it and there is none. Be polite but consistent - a pain till it’s resolved.

That’s not quite true. It won’t cost the landlord power to heat water on the off hours if it’s on demand and the rent is all inclusive so the landlord pays.