If you are a tenant in the UK, it is important to be aware of your rights when it comes to heating and hot water. If your boiler is not working, your landlord has 24 hours to fix the problem – if this does not happen, then you have grounds for complaint.
You can also contact your local council’s environmental health department to discuss compensation if there is no heating or hot water in your home for an extended period of time. For more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team of experienced No Win, No Fee lawyers today.
Are you a Council or Housing association Tenant with housing disrepair issues?
If so we can help you claim compensation on a NO Win, NO Fee basis.
No. Tenants do not have a legal right in law to “refuse” to pay their landlord if they don’t carry out repairs, as inconvenient as that may be. This would only hurt your chances of staying in the property on a practical level, which is ultimately more important.
Therefore, the best way to avoid a situation is by simply following a procedure whereby you notify your landlord of the problem in writing and keep a record of any, or all, attempts of chasing the landlord you have made.
You can also speak to the environmental health team at your local council – they can force your landlord to fix your boiler. You can only do this once you’ve tried to go through your landlord though. And if your landlord says the boiler’s broken because you’ve not looked after it properly, you might find it difficult to get anywhere with this.
If your rented council home or housing association property has issues that have not been repaired find out if you are eligible to make a housing disrepair claim for property repair and compensation.
If you currently rent privately and not from the council, housing association or social housing and you are on certain means tested benefits you could be entitled to certain grants to improve the energy efficiency of the property. In some cases these grants are 100% funded and will reduce your energy bills. All you need is permission from your landlord. Speak to Warma UK today who can give you more information.
Your landlord has 24 hours to repair a non-functioning boiler. If there is no heating or hot water for longer than this period and the issue cannot be resolved within these time limits, it should be considered an emergency. If the issue remains after complaining you may be able to start a housing disrepair claim
The landlord has a legal responsibility to ensure that the property is heated and supplied with hot water at all times unless you have caused damage through maltreatment. If they do not fulfill this obligation, they are in violation of the tenancy agreement on two fronts – maintaining the property in repair AND eliminating hazards.
You shouldn’t have to face loss of heating for more than 24 hours. Anything more than two full days can be interpreted as a hazard to the tenant’s health and therefore a serious breach in the tenancy agreement. Lack of hot water is an emergency regardless of the season.
info@housing-disrepair.org
0333 050 8887
