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Original poster

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

174 replies

Wildrosa · 11/09/2022 17:44

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?

OP posts:
Genevieva · 14/09/2022 08:37

You ned to say that the system is not working. The hours are too restrictive and the water is not even hot during those hours. You need to have the ability to heat the water when you need a shower at other times of day. There needs to be an element of trust such that, if the landlord is worried about electricity bills, that they also understand that you are not profligate with hot water and you need to have access to it when you need it. It is not like you are running hot baths all day every day.

BringOnSummerHolidays · 14/09/2022 08:41

Echoing what others say about there is something wrong with the hot water set up. Immersion heater is in a water tank. You only need a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon. We are a family of four and set our central heating for hot water for 5-7am and 6-8pm. There should be a full tank of hot water and replacement during those hours. It should not be cold so quickly. Is the cylinder filled with lime scale so it’s not a full cylinder of hot water?

MakingNBaking · 14/09/2022 08:41

Answer the key questions.
Is there a hot water tank?
Is it shared between your home and the landlord's?
How many people in the landlord's household?
The times given are standard times for all the water in the tank to be heated up. It stays hot for quite a few hours. In an ordinary household one tank is enough for a few showers, a kitchen tap etc. if one tank is servicing 8 people's hot water needs then there wont be enough for everyone. The tank isn't big enough. It's nothing to do with the times.
Also occurs to me that if your shower, kitchen tap are far away from the tank, then the pipes in between are full of 'cooled down' hot water. So it'll take ages for the hot water to reach your outlets and by then it'll be cooled down anyway.
Your barn conversion needs its own little immersion (timed) or an electric shower which heats its own water, with small instant water heaters under the hot taps.

BringOnSummerHolidays · 14/09/2022 08:42

I mean the immersion heater should be heating the cylinder.

Lovemusic33 · 14/09/2022 08:50

Mines set to come on at 7am and got off at 9pm but water stays hot in the tank and I often get up before 7am and it’s still hot from the evening before. Sounds like there’s something else going in as the water isn’t staying hot (or hasn’t heated up at all)?

diddl · 14/09/2022 08:53

It does sound as of you are sharing water.

I would expect the tank to be fully heated in those 2hrs in the morning & stay warm for an hour!

Namedifferentorquestion · 14/09/2022 09:03

Since water is included in rent then withdraw part of the rent until the landlord fixes the water problem.

DameHelena · 14/09/2022 09:08

Go see him face to face. Say calmly that you'll be paying x per cent of the rent until it's fixed as obviously you're not getting the hot water included in the rent.
And ask him where he's at with an electrician – has he scheduled one but the visit isn't for a while? When is it? Or has he yet to find one?

StaplesCorner · 14/09/2022 09:21

Why is this a debate about hot water systems and the poor landlord? Either a tenant is entitled to basic facilities or they’re not. OP go on the Shelter website and use their chat or helpline facility to get proper advice on your rights.

MontyDonsBlueScarf · 14/09/2022 09:23

Stravaig · 14/09/2022 08:30

I'm still not clear if you have a separate water tank just for your rental/barn conversion or if you're sharing with the landlord/the main home.

With those timings, and only one person, there should be hot water.

So
The heating element/electrics are faulty, so the water is not heating at all.
or
The water is heating, but the tank is so poorly insulated that it cools rapidly. (Though to cool quite so fast would still require other people to be using it?)
or
The water is heating; the tank is insulated; but multiple other people are drawing water from the same tank. Do you share supply with your landlord's home?

Inclusive of bills does mean less control, and it's perhaps understandable that the landlord is acting to protect himself from energy prices. I hate not being able to control the timings and supply of heat and hot water though. You have to work out if the benefits of inclusive bills are worth that loss of control for you.

I agree with this and would add

Or the pipe run to the immersion tank is so long that you need to run the tap for longer than you think before the water runs hot.

Without more information about what exactly is installed where, none of us can suggest a solution. It could be a number of things. It might need an electrician if something electrical has gone, it might need a plumber if it needs a redesign.

I'm lucky in that my DH is competent at basic plumbing and electrical work so I've never had to wait for small jobs to be done or for the likely problem to be diagnosed. But over the years I've found that for bigger jobs you likely need one visit for diagnosis. You may well have to wait up to a week for someone to be able to fit this in. If you're lucky they'll have the parts needed in the van but if not you need to wait for them to be ordered and delivered and then you need another visit to fit them. All of this creates unavoidable delays which are worsened right now by a general shortage of builder's supplies and industrial action in the delivery chain.

There is no guaranteed quick fix to this kind of problem and it sounds as if your landlord is doing as much as he can.

deviatedseptum · 14/09/2022 09:23

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

silverbubbles · 14/09/2022 09:25

It sounds like the water is not heating up as it should. I have recently had very extensive problems trying to solve a problem where the immersion is not heating the full tank properly . If only you are using the tank then there is clearly a problem that it is not heating the water properly (perhaps the immersion elements in the tank have tripped or are not working).

Do you share the tank with the main house?
Do you have access to the timers?
Is using the immersion a short term things whilst the problem is fixed?

Keep on at your landlord find out what has recently changed with the way the water is heated. Make sure he know that you are not getting hot water.

Beautiful3 · 14/09/2022 09:30

I'd message him nicely and explain that, "The showers are always cold and you can't get any hot water for washing up?!" See what he says. If he ignores you, report him to the council. You have the right to hot water.

LongLivedQueen · 14/09/2022 09:32

Surtsey · 11/09/2022 19:33

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

Those of us that start work at 5am, for a start.

And why can no-one spell immersion?

Alphabet1spaghetti2 · 14/09/2022 09:33

As everything is included in the rent. Start by at least using more electric via using the kettle to get hot water for washing up and if necessary filling a bath or bucket for a wash. ? Not ideal, but hot water is needed and if it costs the ll more - ..

MelodyPondsMum · 14/09/2022 09:34

I can see why it's annoying but it's not a massive drama yet. They tried to fix it and it hasn't worked. You just need to write a note or send an email saying 'since the electrician came out the issue hasn't resolved. There is still no hot water at any time.'

LongLivedQueen · 14/09/2022 09:34

SandyThumb · 14/09/2022 08:00

Gosh, you sound like hard work.

I presume you’ve never had the responsibility for home ownership or maintenance? You sound young, inexperienced and petulant.

Of course, absolutely, you should have access to hot water in the morning and evenings and everything you’ve we told us suggests that it what the LL is trying to achieve? But something is clearly not quite right yet and needs to be fixed. He’s embarrassed and trying to sort it out. No sensible landlord thinks they’d get away with providing no hot water!

”No electrician has appeared” Listen to yourself!
They’re not magic genies you know, they have to be scheduled and booked in advance and strangely many are very busy at the moment doing autumn boiler checks and fitting energy saving devices. We’ve booked an engineer to upgrade our radiator valves and it was a 5 week lead time …

seriously OP, calm down and work with (not against) your LL to help get it sorted.

Show quote history

Are you high?

She's not hard work or petulant because she expects to have hot water in the home she pays to rent, ffs. It's a completely normal expectation and she is legally entitled to it.

I really hope you're not a landlord, because you would clearly be a terrible one

thepurplewhisperer · 14/09/2022 09:34

Is the landlord also sharing the heated tank of water? It sounds as if he's using the hot water first so it's cooler when you use it, or he's turned the thermostat right down so the overall temperature is lower.

Ask him to increase the temperature of the water in the cylinder for a week to see if this sorts the problem out.

Failing this the water heater needs to be on for a longer duration.

Something isn't adding up....

SeasonFinale · 14/09/2022 09:39

There is no legal reason to withhold rent so don't get yourself into any form of arrears on the say so of a random on the Internet.

Just let him know whatever the problem was that the electrician was called out for hasn't seemed to work and can they get on to it ASAP.

Also suggest to him that an economic way to provide hot water may be for him to have a new electric shower fitted as they heat the water as it is needed. It may be something he is willing to do if he is on an economy drive rather than an actual issue with the current system.

Kitchenlight · 14/09/2022 09:45

deeperthanallroses · 14/09/2022 07:11

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’.

My shower like this. Seitch a button and it heats only while in use and then switches off afterwards.

OrangePumpkinLobelia · 14/09/2022 09:45

ApolloandDaphne · 11/09/2022 17:48

That's pretty much what we have our water on and we always have hot water. Your tank must be rubbish if it is cooling in between.

Same as us. It is on between 4.30 and 5.30 daily and certainly does not cool the water significantly until the next morning (4 of us all have showers at night.). I thought it was usual to have set times?

IrisVersicolor · 14/09/2022 09:50

Libertyqueen · 13/09/2022 23:51

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.

Show quote history

I don’t think it is overkill, it needs to be resolved urgently.

saraclara · 14/09/2022 09:52

I get that it's annoying @Wildrosa but getting an electrician out again isn't a quick thing. Getting trades people out is a pain in the neck.

But in the meantime, if you answered some of the questions that have been put to you many times in the thread, we might be able to help more.

OrangePumpkinLobelia · 14/09/2022 09:53

Yes it does need to be resolved. I think pps are right that something has not worked as it should.

IrisVersicolor · 14/09/2022 09:54

SeasonFinale · 14/09/2022 09:39

There is no legal reason to withhold rent so don't get yourself into any form of arrears on the say so of a random on the Internet.

Just let him know whatever the problem was that the electrician was called out for hasn't seemed to work and can they get on to it ASAP.

Also suggest to him that an economic way to provide hot water may be for him to have a new electric shower fitted as they heat the water as it is needed. It may be something he is willing to do if he is on an economy drive rather than an actual issue with the current system.

I haven’t seen any advice to withhold rent. But the rent needs to be renegotiated if OP a. Does not have access hot water at the times she needs it and b. Has to pay to take washing elsewhere (hand wash items that can’t go in the machine).