No heating or hot water until next week!

[Lilly20]

I rent my property from a housing association. My boiler is over 20 years old and can be quite temperamental, therefore i have called the repairs line for my housing association quite a few times. However, my boilers pilot light went out on Thursday meaning no heating or hot water. It has done this before so i wasnt overly worried. I called the repairs line who said i would be seeing an engineer between 1 and 6 that afternoon. After many phone calls asking where he was he eventually turned up at 8.45. He informed me that although he had managed to get the pilot light back on he would have to shut it down because the boiler isnt sealed and showed me where it had been botched up with masking tape!! I asked him how long it would take to repair the boiler and he said usually it is a maximum of 3 days, however it has fallen right on the bank holiday so the repair wouldnt even be looked at until Tuesday when everyone goes back into the office.

 

I have been left with my gas fire which only heats the front room and the engineer did leave me 2 electric fan heaters which he told me will "eat my electric."

 

The housing association have been aware for a while that my boiler probably needs replacing due to the number of callouts over the past 12 months. I have a 5 year old daughter living with me and although i am managing to keep us both warm and bathing/showering at a friends house, i am annoyed that just because its easter i have to wait an extra 4 days than normal! Also, next week i will have to take a day off work to let them repair which means i will either lose a days holiday or days pay. Am i entitled to any compensation because of this?

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated as i would like all the facts before i telephone them on Tuesday. Thanks again x

[royalscot]

As part of the Citizen's Charter scheme, a Right to Repair scheme was introduced for council tenants from 1 April 1994.

The Right to Repair is a scheme for council tenants. It will make sure that certain small urgent repairs which might affect your health, safety or security, are done quickly and easily. Councils will be told by law to carry out these repairs within a certain time.

If the council doesn't do your repair in time, you can tell it to get another contractor instead. If the second contractor doesn't do the repair in time, the council will pay you compensation. The council will tell you what repairs come under the new scheme and how long it has to carry them out. Repair times vary depending on the type of repair. For example, if your toilet isn't flushing, the council usually has one working day to come and repair it. It has three working days to mend a loose bannister rail and seven working days to mend a broken extractor fan in your bathroom or kitchen

[MrShed]

This is not a council tenant.

 

Can you PM me the name of the HA please OP?

[royalscot]

Matters not a jot if its council or housing association .

 

In England, Wales and Scotland, tenants of local authorities and registered social landlords (including housing associations) can use the ‘Right to Repair’ scheme to claim compensation

[MrShed]

Then you probably should have made that clear to be fair.

 

In any event, right to repair only covers repairs under £250 - I doubt such major boiler repair/replacement work will fall under this level, although its clearly worth checking.

[royalscot]

The right to repair in Scotland is £350 and the right to repair in England and Wales is £250 , sorry mr shed i should have included Housing Associations in my initial post .

 

The expense of repairing a heating breakdown included the call-out and labour costs of the trained plumber in addition to the costs of the parts to make the repair. The typical costs of the most common breakdown problems are not small as illustrated below

Heat Exchanger – £325

The heat exchanger transfers the heat from the hot gases to the circulating water and allows the central heating system to heat up. The heat exchanger allows the boiler to transfer a high percentage of the energy used to heating the water and helps to reduce running costs.

Boiler Printed Circuit Board – £220

Modern boilers are controlled by electronics and the printed circuit board( P.C.B. ) is the brain of the boiler controlling all its activities. When the p.c.b. fails the boiler stops. This can be a major cause of problems as pipework leaks often put water on the p.c.b. leading to a failure.

Water pump – £200

The central heating water pump circulates the water throught the central heating system. Whilst the boiler may still produce hot water the failure of the pump means that this water will not circulate and heat up the radiators.

Flue Fan – £156

The flue fan expells exhaust gases through the flue. This is essential for your safety and ensures that waste gasses do not build up within the boiler area. If this fails the boilers control mechanisms will prevent it from operating.

Gas Burner – £150

Your central heating boiler mixes gas and air at a regulated mixture to burn and heat the water in the most efficient manner.

Expansion Vessel – £140

The expansion vessel controls the pressure within the heating system. Heated water expands and would significantly increase the boiler internal pressure. The expansion vessel provides an outlet for this pressure and is an important part of modern systems.

Boiler Thermostat – £95

The boilers internal thermostat is a secondary protection device monitoring the boiler internal temperature. If the external control thermostat fails this internal thermostat ensures the safe and effective operation of the boiler.

Internal Air Vent – £85

The internal air vent allows any air that develops within the boiler to escape to the outside

 

rs

[Lilly20]

Thanks for the right to repair information, it's really helpful. I dont suppose you know if i'm eligible for any compensation as it's looking like i'm going to be without hot water or heat for a week due to the Easter holidays.

 

Also, do you know the legal timeframe for leaving myself and my daughter without the boiler?

 

Thanks

[royalscot]

Hi lily , i would phone your local social services first thing monday morning and explain to them your predicament especially as you have a child living with you ....Then phone the housing association and tell them you have contacted the social services , see what they say .

Surely in this day and age a Housing Association must have emergency cover during a holiday period , at the end of the day its their property and its in their interest to keep it running properly .

 

rs

[coco2010]

hi,,how do i put my own post on here?as im also having problems with housing and their contractors for the last 6 weeks,and need some advice on what i can do.thanks

[NewSAHD]

Go to main page at http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?65-Residential-and-Commercial-Lettings and half way down on left hand side is a 'post new thread' button.

 

There is a poster here that takes an interest in Housing Associations too - although don't mention names in an open forum at this stage!

[Surfer01]

Looking at the cost of replacing the PCB, surely it is more economical to repair the old PCB? How difficult can that be?