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?

When I had an immersion heater I'd never have left it on all day. As you say a tank of hot water should last hours, we are two adaults and a teenager and having the boiler on for an hour in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening gives us hot water all day, if we have visitors we might need a booster.

Sounds like the tank needs lagging?

Those hours are bloody ridiculous anyway. What if you want a lie-in till 9 followed by a leisurely breakfast, then your shower? A shower to freshen up before going out for the evening? Or a shower last thing before bed at 11?

If I'm doing housework or gardening, I often don't have a shower until lunchtime or later. It's mad to be restricted in this way, and very unreasonable imo.

Do you have hot water for washing up etc outside of those hours?

It's an IMMERSION HEATER. The water is heated up over those hours, but it should remain hot all day. When it's working properly OP can have a shower at any time of day.

If you read the thread, numerous people with immersion heaters/hot water tanks have explained that after even an hour being switched on in the morning, they have enough hot water for a family, all day.

Water should be hot after 2 hours, I have mine for only an hour and there’s enough hot water for three of us to shower.

Does the landlord have hot water? Do you have hot water when using other taps eg kitchen sink

I can’t believe there are discussions on here about what time you’ll need water, and what time the LL should put the settings to.

You are a paying tenant. You should have access to hot water whenever you want it. Without needing a discussion with the LL. I would try and find out your legal position, and maybe start looking for a new place to live

This.

Full access to hot water or the rent is renegotiated, or you leave.

And she will, when this technical issue is fixed.

There's nothing here to imply that the landlord isn't going to get it sorted. The timing isn't an issue. It's entirely normal for those with hot water tanks. The issue is that something isn't working properly, and the landlord seems to have every intention of getting it fixed.

There's really no need for the nuclear option. OP just needs to continue to confirm that the heater isn't working and that she needs it fixed asap.

Oops, there was supposed to be a quote before that first line. So ignore that bit.

that's ridiculous. you should have hot water whenever you want. ask ll to fix asap , consider paying reduced rent until then, and start looking for a new place.

I would inform the landlord that you will be boiling kettles of water every 5 mins every time you need hot water when the immersion isnt producing hot water.

Let him work out how much 50 kettles of boiling water is going to cost him in electricity every day.

This is completely normal. If you heat water all day, your energy bill is going to be astronomical. Just set the water to come on for the times of day when you generally need it. The water should stay hot for a while anyway, but there will probably also be a manual override for when you need extra hot water for any reason. Obviously if there is any technical issue then the landlord needs to get it fixed ASAP, but most households are not heating water 24/7!

Landlords are legally obliged to provide heating and hot water at all times.

Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, you have the right to expect your landlord to carry out repairs in a 'reasonable time'. If it's an emergency repair as you've got no heating or hot water, your landlord should fix this in 24 hours.

Have he limited your heating as well?

It IS completely normal to have hot water whenever you decide you want hot water. Very few of us are told when we can have hot water by someone else. I don't have my hot water set to timer. I have solar panels to heat the water and if that is insufficient on a grey day, I use the boost for 15 mins.

Most households are choosing when and how they get hot water, and OP is fully entitled to the same.

No, the OP is within her rights to expect a fix within 24 hours.

No, the OP is within her rights to expect a fix within 24 hours.

In theory, yes; in practice, you can’t always get a repair completed that quickly, esp. if a part needs ordering, I’d be frustrated with the LL as well, but I’ve had to go without hot water in my own house before when the boiler broke. I couldn’t get a new one installed in 24 hours.

He needs to call around for other electricians though if his usual one isn’t turning up.

And if it can't get fixed within this time, she can say the rent needs renegotiating to reflect the new hot-water terms.

She can certainly ask for a rent reduction for the period that she didn’t have hot water. When it’s fixed though, why would she need to renegotiate the rent? No one has an immersion heater on all day!

Yes, it's laughable to think that a problem like that can always be fixed in 24 hours. The landlord should absolutely address the problem in that time period, but he can't drag an electrician away from his fully.booked calendar of stuff.

I imagine that since it's the work that the known guy did that led to this problem, he can't really go trying to find someone else and have to pay them too.

Hopefully the original guy will prioritise this job, but again, nowhere in OP's posts can I see the landlord simply ignoring this.

OP seems to have disappeared though, so we may not get a resolution.

I agree, and I think the LL should throw money at the problem to make sure this is fixed promptly, and change the timing so that the OP has hot water whenever she wants or needs it.

I realise things might have changed since the 1960's, but when we moved into a flat that had an immersion heater, my DF conducted an experiment to compare the cost of leaving the immersion heater on 24/7, so that we had hot water whenever we wanted it, and just putting it on morning and evening. It actually used less electricity when left on, presumably because it was just heating the water a little bit.

If the LL wants to restrict heating the water to certain hours, he should install an electric shower in the OP's accommodation, so that she can get herself clean when she wants, rather than when he dictates.

@saraclara Sorry, what? Emergency appointments are a thing in the 21st century.

24 hours? It's been a week and a half for OP! Do keep up.

@LakieLady i agree that it would be much better for the OP to have an electric shower and that the LL should throw money at this to fix it.

I also think the LL would need to install a separate electricity meter, which would mean the OP won’t pay rent with bills included anymore.
That’s part of the issue with trying to renegotiate the rent-yes, the OP should definitely get a discount this month for the inconvenience, but it’s not a good time to renegotiate “bills included” rent as energy costs have increased so much. The OP will likely end up paying more.

@LongLivedQueen The OP needs a big rent discount for this month then!