Central heating in rental property

[OldBun58]

We just moved from a recently built apartment into a freshly refurbished rental house built in the 70-s. It has non-insulated cavity walls and minimal loft insulation, typical for that period. Ustairs gets terribly hot on warm days and very cold on cooler days, to the point that today, in June, we need to put central heating on (it is 13 degrees outside).

There is a large hallway with a stair leading on to another 2 floors. So the heat from downstairs quickly escapes to the top of the stairs, leaving downstairs very cold, even in the summer.
There used to be a radiator in the hallway, which was removed after re-configuring the property. The identical houses on the street still have large radiators in the hallways. The hallway has many doors, each one is almost flush against the wall, so there is no room for a plug-in oil radiator. A downstairs toilet in the hallway also has no radiator and gets very cold.

We have been asking the landlord to install at least a slim electric wall heater in the hallway. He keeps refusing saying that he used to live in the property himself (this was many years ago), and it was fine without a radiator in the hallway. Also, that previous tenants never complained.
The neighbours told us that before the renovation the property was in a bad state and used to be rented to poor quality tenants who trashed it further. They paid a lot less rent and no wonder did not expect it to be up-to-date.
I am sure rental regulations have changed these days and a hallway/star heating is a requirement rather than a luxury, together with a minimum temperature of 18 degrees on a day when it is 1 degree outside. Surely, this hallway would not comply.

What is the best way to get the landlord to agree to install a new wall heater? It is not as if we ask to insulate cavities and loft. We dread to think what it will be like in winter! We are in our 60-s and due to illnesses don't tolerate cold well at all. Also, comfortable temperature perception is very individual depending on whether you are fat or skinny and what you are used to, not to mention that some health conditions make you feel much colder.

Can you not just buy one in yourself they're only £40 for very small slim ones. Surely thats easier than arguing with the landlord who has already stated their position in any case. And you can take it with you when you leave, obviously.

I'm new to this rental malarky, having just taken on my first rental in February this year. But I assumed - perhaps wrongly, that you take the house on as you see it. So if you looked around, put in an application, got accepted ... then you basically accept it as it looks now?

My current property was terrible when I moved in. The limescale in the toilets was so intense that we couldn't actually flush the toilets. I spent hours chiselling the limescale off so they were useable. And as for the shower plug holes 😱 I think a yeti must have lived there before me.

There are no regs for a hall radiator or temperature. If it bothers you maybe get a convector heater.

Where on earth have you seen these non existent regs?!

I found this: https://www.google.com/search?q=no+radiator+in+the+hallway+of+rented+property+uk&client=tablet-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=76076938c4eddbf2&ei=t74-aI6oEIewhbIP_v-b2Qk&oq=no+radiator+in+the+hallway+of+rented+property+uk&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIjBubyByYWRpYXRvciBpbiB0aGUgaGFsbHdheSBvZiByZW50ZWQgcHJvcGVydHkgdWsyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIIEAAYgAQYogQyBRAAGO8FMgUQABjvBTIIEAAYgAQYogRIkzVQnQxYwTBwAHgCkAEAmAHRAaAB7AyqAQUzLjkuMbgBA8gBAPgBAZgCDaACmw3CAgQQABhHwgIIEAAYogQYiQXCAgcQIRigARgKwgIFECEYnwWYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwQxLjEyoAfxSrIHBDAuMTK4B-YMwgcFMy04LjXIB94B&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp

No, there are no regulations for hallways. The Homes Fit For Human Habitation Act says you must be able to get living rooms to 21 degrees and bedrooms to 18 degrees and when you dig further back into rental law before HFFHA it indicates you must be able to do so at a reasonable cost. Having just looked at a Public Health document, the implication is that it must be able to reach these temperatures in winter.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c5986f8ed915d045f3778a9/Min_temp_threshold_for_homes_in_winter.pdf

The law doesn't care about any other rooms in the house.

Councils take concerns of those over 65 and with health conditions more seriously than younger renters in good health, if you wanted to go down that route.

How long is your lease? Sounds like you've got yourself a scumlord here :(

May I ask how did you clean shower plugholes? We have this problem as well.

This is private rent, my hubby is 65 and has cancer, it makes him shiver with cold.

I have two showers in the house. One of them had a screwable plug hole which I actually removed and replaced with a £6.99 one from Amazon which looks identical. I just couldn't bear the amount of hair down there and scum.

The other one I had to use a long brush thing, again from amazon, that you put down the plug, wiggle it around a bit and pull up bringing hair up. I also used a plunger to bring up the soap scum that had built up.

I'm due my first 'inspection' in a fortnights time, and I'm slightly nervous as I don't actually know what they want to inspect. Are they making sure I haven't turned it into a drugs den?

How long is your lease, when did you move in, and if it's 12 months, does it have a 6 month break clause in it?

This is important because people are often (40% of the time) evicted for complaining about repairs (such as lack of being able to heat affordably); I would suggest you talk to your council who may force your LL to take action, but only once I know more details about your lease.

I'm very sorry to hear about your hubby's cancer.

"that you take the house on as you see it"

No.

The heavy limescale you mention isn't a hazard so the law doesn't care about that.

Let's say when you viewed the property that there were wires hanging down from the ceiling but it turns out that those wires mean the electrics are dangerous. Just because you saw them at the viewing doesn't mean you can't ask for a safe environment to live in (of course, you would need to know they're a hazard - I haven't chosen a very good example here).

There are 29 hazards:

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/housing_conditions/local_authority_duties_to_deal_with_poor_conditions/hhsrs_definition_of_hazards

Let me try a better example. Let's say you viewed the house and it had a literal gaping hole in a wall. It then turns out you can't get any of your house warm because of that hole. The LL is duty bound to keep the external structure of the building in good order, so that's the first failing - and it doesn't matter a jot if you saw that at the viewing, and they're also obliged to ensure you're able to heat bedrooms to 18 degrees and living rooms to 21 degrees in the winter at a reasonable cost, so that's the second failing.

It's not like buying a house where it's 'buyer beware.'

Landlords hide a LOT of stuff and protections have been put in place as a result.

The cleanliness doesn't matter a jot, I'm afraid, unless it was so bad that it causes a rodent infestation.

We moved in at the end of March and took one year lease with a 6 months break clause. We would rather not move into another rental property as moving at this stage of life and state of health would kill us.
We have sold our apartment and we are just waiting to see how hubby's cancer going before we commit to buying another property because we still need a big mortgage at this age, otherwise we will have to move a lot further to the contry and buy outright and retire.
The landlord has just spent a lot on renovating the property, and we would rather not fall out with him as we do not want to get evicted in our situation where we can't even tell how long we need to rent for. All depends on hubby's cancer treatmen.

Then I'm really sorry, I can only advise that you do what you possibly can in order to make him comfortable affordably yourself.*

There's about to be a new law brought in that will protect tenants from being evicted after making complaints, but at the moment it is mooted to become law in October - that's only a guideline date though. If you make a fuss about repairs, he's entitled to give you notice in September to leave in November, and Section 21 notices (no fault evictions 'nobody's fault, I just need the house back') WILL still apply to tenancies where notice was given before the Renters Rights bill becomes law, so any notice he gives you will be allowed by the courts.

It's just cutting it too fine for me to advise you do anything about it, I'm afraid. It's taken 5 years to get to this point, and although Labour have rapidly got it through both the Commons and Lords this year, I wouldn't trust a politician as far as I can throw them if they tell me something's going to happen in X month.

Perhaps you can find help/support/ideas/free warm things in a cancer support group?

I lived in a freezing cold house in 2022 (when it was 0 degrees outside it was 5 degrees inside with the heating on) - it only occurred to me far too long after the event that we should have just bought ourselves a couple of ski suits/boiler suits. It would have been vastly cheaper than the absolutely extortionate house move we ended up doing instead.

I appreciate that may not be possible for a cancer patient who may have skin sensitivity, but it's all my tired brain can come up with today.

Wishing you both all the best. It doesn't help in your situation but I hope it's of some comfort that in the future, people in your position won't have to chose between living in an impossibly uncomfortable home OR being evicted.

I've just remembered that LL's aren't allowed to evict tenants for 6 months after the council have ordered them to fix a problem they've refused to deal with; whether they'd enforce it in your case is really down to how good your Local Authority are - but my concern is the implication is about heating in winter*, so they may not take up your case.

For the hallway, I'd just buy an oil-filled radiator on wheels - that way you can easily move it around - as you mention there are lots of doors in the hallway.

Unfortunately, 70s build houses are often cold to live in - I've lived in a couple and even with heating on I've rarely got temperature as high as 18. Oil filled radiators, hot water bottles, warm jumpers and throws are the way to go. I'm very sorry about your husband's health, especially as he'll be feeling the cold more than usual.

After how many months are they doing their first property inspection? Our agent wanted to do ours in just 2 months after the moved in, and we asked to postpone it as we still have lots of boxes unpacked everywhere. The agent said they do it every 3 months (!?) when I remember it used to be every 6 months. Am I getting something wrong?

What's the EPC rating of the property? You should be able to look this up by inputting your address into this site https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate
There are initiatives for landlords to improve the rating by putting in loft insulation, so I don't think you would be unreasonable to ask about that.

I was told two months, but I got the keys in Feb and they are coming mid June

You should have received the EPC and there is a minimum requirement for a rental property, so that might help. From a practical point of view one of those heated ponchos might help with comfort.

No, you're not getting anything wrong. Landlords have become more risk adverse since covid so it's now pretty common to see 3 monthly inspections written into a lease instead of 6 monthly.

It's horrible but increasingly normal.

EPCs are not scientifically calculated and a lot of things are worked out on presumptions by humans, not robots. This one claims to be a C, but it is not anywhere above a D. Still, it complies. I compared it with our previous property which was built to modern standards after 2000. It was A LOT warmer, and we only needed to put the heating on for a couple of hours a day.
We are using an oil radiator already, but it is not programmable, which will be a problem in winter.

Presumably it plugs in so you could add a timer switch.

This, we used to have one in the kids’ room on a timer plug.

Why don't you move to somewhere more suitable. You must have loved ked around this property before committing to it. Most LL rent accommodation to tenants as seen.

What a good idea! Thank you

We only had a couple of weeks to find a rental place due to the sale contract exchange dates not known until late, and very few had a bedroom downstairs for my sick husband. The property looked freshly renovated so you assume everything has been fixed and working. You only have half an hour to see a big house as the agents are always rushed.
It is only after you start living in it that you discover things that are not working or missing, such as: missing radiators, no phone line, TV aerial old and not working, washing machine not balanced properly and rattling like crazy, freezer door not closing fully and building up frost, shed is leaking, hood extractor pipe is not fitted and there is a big hole in the kitchen wall (not visible from below), showers are not working, shower cubicle leaking, plugholes blocked or broken, a door fitted too tight resulting in the handle lock getting jammed in the door frame (hubby got trapped in the kitchen), blocked gutters, etc etc.
The problem is the landlord lives overseas and delegates property management to his friend's son, who is a bodgy builder, never does things properly or finishes them. The agent also failed to prepare the house for moving in and took weeks to eventually get a window cleaner, a gardener, a locksmith etc.
We did not expect this to happen as our previous rental properties were well organised. They had minor problems but nowhere as many as this one. At the high rental price we are paying (well above average for the area) you would expect everything working like a clock. Also, my husband is practical and usually would deal with many of these problems himself but now he is so ill he can't do anything.
As for moving again, at our age it takes incredible toll on our health and undue stress, again, due to my hubby being ill and no family to help, everything is on me, and I am also very unwell. Besides, it would cost us another 3K on removals. The next move will have to be into our own house.