Advice needed regarding Housing Association repairs

[just_jue]

Hi, don't know if I have put this in the right section.

 

We moved in to a new house (via a mutual exchange) at the end of May and found that there is a problem with the boiler, it will not heat the water. Luckily we have solar panels but we can't rely on these all the time.

The HA sent out an engineer who diagnosed the fault with the pump which he was unable to fix as he wasn't an electrician. They sent out an electrician who couldn't do the repair as it was part of the boiler which he couldn't touch.

He rang the office to arrange another appointment with both engineers present, nothing has happened. I have rung the office twice and both times have been told they will look into it and never do.

Tomorrow we have a 'pre tenancy' meeting to make sure we are happy and would need some advice on this matter.

 

After reading our tenancy agreement it states: 'You are entitled to compensation if we fail to carry out a repair within set times without good reason and if we fail to meet certain conditions'. Do you think we would be able to claim on this matter?

 

Thanks for your time

 

JJ

[MrShed]

Generally speaking, your HA will publish (or at least have available) certain timescales within which they consider a certain type of repair would be completed within.

 

I would have said that a boiler fault should have most certainly been fixed within this timescale, despite the summer months.

 

Would be inclined to raise it as a formal complaint with your local housing officer (presuming there is one).

[padja]

First thing if you have children under 10 then (according to my HA rules) then boiler faults that result in no hot water have to be repaired fully within 24hrs unless there is a need for a new boiler which must be completed within 3 days. Having said that you did have hot water thanks to solar panels. I would say that you may be able to claim the compo, dont get excited normally £25, just tell the person doing the inspection about it get them to ring office/maintenance there and then and get it sorted, thats what I would do and did do when we first moved into flat

[just_jue]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me, I have a daughter of 15, and an elder daughter with a baby of 1 (who stays most weekends). I am not worried about the compensation I just want the boiler fixed as you cannot rely on the British weather.

On their web site is states: Emergency Repairs (24 Hours), Urgent Repairs (7 days) and Non Urgent repairs (28 days). As I have some hot water (clouds permitting) would this be classed as a Urgent repair?

 

Would it be worth writing a complaint letter and handing it to the officer tomorrow during the meeting or would they have forms to fill in?

 

Thanks again

 

JJ

[MrShed]

Most HAs have a specified complaints procedure (my employer certainly does).

 

I would be inclined to speak to the officer tomorrow, ask her to raise a formal complaint. If this does not produce the required result, I would then formalise with a letter of complaint to someone higher up, there is generally someone responsible for these.

[just_jue]

Thank you, I will post up tomorrow what response I get.

 

JJ

[stu007]

Hi just

 

Well as has already been said your Housing Association should have a repairs timescale this should be published on their website and also in the Tenants Handbook and also in your Tenancy Agreement under Repairs Obligations or similar so check it.

 

Also as a housing association tenant have a legal 'Right to Repair' whether you are in scotalnd or england in scotland its called 'Right to Repair Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 which lays down your landlords legal responsibilities to repairs.

 

IN this when you reported the repair your housing association has a legal responsibility to inform you if the repair is there responsibility and whether the repair is a qualifying repair under the Right to Repair scheme. Your landlord may need to inspect your home to find out whether the repair is qualifying or not.

 

If the repair does qualify under the scheme, your landlord will:

 

* Tell you the maximum time allowed to carry out thr repair;

* Tell you the last day of that period;

* Explain your rights under the Right to Repair scheme.

* Give you the name, address and phone number of their usual contractor and at least one other from a list and

* Make arrangements with you to get into your home to carry out the repair.

 

How long does your landlord have to carry out the repair?

Repair times depend on the type of repair. If your toilet is not flushing your landlord usually has one working day to come and repair it. But they have three working days to mend a loose bannister rail and seven working days to mend a broken extraxtor fan in your bathroom or kitchen. These times are set by law, not by your landlord. Sometimes there may be circumstances which your landlord or the contractor has no control over which makes it impossible to do the repair within the maximum time (for example severe weather). In these circumstances your landlord may need to make temporary arrangements and to extend the maximum time. If they are going to do this, they must let you know.

So i would now put in a Formal Complaint to your Housing Association explaining your complaint as you have stated with dates and times and request to be provided with copies of the following: Repairs procedure, Right to Repair Act, Complaints Procedure. Also ask for the name of the senior person in that department to complain to.

 

Please remember you need to follow the housing associations complaints procedure first and if this doesnt resolve this issue then you can think of taking if further to the ombusman.

 

hope this is of some help

[MrShed]

Stu,

 

Some good advice.

 

But can you tell me what law backs this part up??

 

Repair times depend on the type of repair. If your toilet is not flushing your landlord usually has one working day to come and repair it. But they have three working days to mend a loose bannister rail and seven working days to mend a broken extraxtor fan in your bathroom or kitchen. These times are set by law, not by your landlord.

[stu007]

Hi Mr Shed

 

This is taken from as I did state the Right to Repair Housing (Scotland) Act 2001

 

www. scotland. gov. uk/ Resource/ Doc/ 46737/ 0028749. pdf

 

please remove spaces from above link mr shed soz for that wouldnt let me post actual link so done it this way

 

hope it helps

[stu007]

Hi

 

I do have these in pdf but just think as not enough posts yet cant upload for you to view thats why i done the link the way i did

[MrShed]

Hi Mr Shed

 

This is taken from as I did state the Right to Repair Housing (Scotland) Act 2001

 

www. scotland. gov. uk/ Resource/ Doc/ 46737/ 0028749. pdf

 

please remove spaces from above link mr shed soz for that wouldnt let me post actual link so done it this way

 

hope it helps

 

OK but:

 

- You said England and Scotland - that specific act does not apply to England.

- The Right to Repair acts apply only to council properties (to my knowledge) not HA.

- You omitted that repairs are not covered should they cost more than £250 which is certainly plausible with a boiler fault.

- Hot water going off between the start of May and end of October is not covered anyway.

[MrShed]

BTW - apologies, I'm not intending to rip your post to shreds. Just it isnt applicable here.

[stu007]

OK but:

 

- You said England and Scotland - that specific act does not apply to England.

I did not say that ACT i did say 'Right to Repair' and stated 'in scotland its called Right to Repair Housing (Scotland) Act 2001' but the Right to Repair does apply in England.

 

- The Right to Repair acts apply only to council properties (to my knowledge) not HA.

The Right to Repair Scheme

The right to repair applies to the following tenants:

Secure tenants of local housing authorities in England and Wales under the Housing Act 1985, as amended by the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 Secure tenants of local authorities, Scottish Homes and Scottish new towns under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended by the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. Introductory tenants of local housing authorities in England and Wales under the Housing Act 1985 (as amended by the Housing Act 1996).

Although the statutory scheme does not apply to assured tenants of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), The Housing Corporation requires RSL’s in England to implement the Corporations policy on right to repair.

 

- You omitted that repairs are not covered should they cost more than £250 which is certainly plausible with a boiler fault.

this was in no way deliberate and yes i should have pointed this out which and would have but as i pointed out couldnt post pdf which is why i posted add to pdf soz

 

- Hot water going off between the start of May and end of October is not covered anyway.

You may be correct but i did not mention in my response whether it was or wasnt.

[MrShed]

Stu ok fair points, but then your last statement has meant that your post is irrelevant to this thread?

 

And, it should be noted, that the requirement for RSLs (Housing Associations to the layman) to abide by R2R only applies with England. Not Wales or Scotland.

[stu007]

Hi

 

you may be right or wrong Mr Shed but remember this part

 

Although the statutory scheme does not apply to assured tenants of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), The Housing Corporation requires RSL’s in England to implement the Corporations policy on right to repair.

[stu007]

Stu ok fair points, but then your last statement has meant that your post is irrelevant to this thread?

 

And, it should be noted, that the requirement for RSLs (Housing Associations to the layman) to abide by R2R only applies with England. Not Wales or Scotland.

Mr Shed England does have a 'Right to Repair', Scotland does have 'Right to repair' Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, therefore Scotland has a Right to Repair although different but it does apply to all RSLs (Housing Associations to the layman) in Scotland. As for Wales i have never mentioned or quoted anything to do with Wales as i would be wrong as i dont know about the housing side of Wales.

[mariner51]

I don't know HA Regs but it is rare to see such short max repair times listed as too many variables eg availability of replacement part.

 

To answer OP question It may be regarded as urgent or a priority repair as you have alternative methods of heating water, solar panels or kettle or gas ring. HA may guarantee to send a repair person within x working days, unless an emergency. In this case their records will show 2 visits for same complaint. 1st electrician was correct not to touch the gas boiler if not Gas Safe registered, though the second visitor, if Gas Safe registered should have been competent to attend to gas boiler electrics if not qualified to re-wire the house.

 

OP should inform their HA at tomorrows/todays meeting that the fault has not been fixed despite 2 engineer visits on and ask for formal complaint procedure forms. Allow 24-48 hrs for another eng visit (if conv to T) before filing a complaint. Thus HA sees T as reasonable but knows the system.

Most Ts cannt diagnose fault before reporting it, that is the job of the first repairman, a qualfied repairman may be able to fix minor problem on first visit if he has nec parts.

Some evidence of minor incomp on bealf of HA in this case IMO

[padja]

What stops it being an emergency repair (that being fixed in 24hrs) and an urgent repair (3-7days) is that you have an alternative for hot water also remember Solar power is powered by daylight not sunlight so it doesnt follow it has to be sunny (unless they are really old panels) for them to work. also if you have an electric shower you can also keep your self clean etc. and as said before for washing pots etc you can boil a kettle. So I would suggest that it falls into Urgent repair also it is dependent on parts/labour, I would raise the matter with Housing Officer say your not happy and see what happens,

[MrShed]

Stu ok fair points, but then your last statement has meant that your post is irrelevant to this thread?

 

And, it should be noted, that the requirement for RSLs (Housing Associations to the layman) to abide by R2R only applies with England. Not Wales or Scotland.

 

Mr Shed England does have a 'Right to Repair', Scotland does have 'Right to repair' Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, therefore Scotland has a Right to Repair although different but it does apply to all RSLs (Housing Associations to the layman) in Scotland. As for Wales i have never mentioned or quoted anything to do with Wales as i would be wrong as i dont know about the housing side of Wales.

 

To try and bring this particular conversation to a close. My point mainly stu is that your information, although useful generally, doesnt help the OP at all due to the circumstances, so we should avoid muddying the waters with it.

[just_jue]

Hi, had the meeting this afternoon and all went well. They are saying that they will get back to me tomorrow (latest Wednesday) and let me know what's going on. Will post up the outcome.

Thanks again for all your advice.

 

JJ

[stu007]

Hi

 

well mr shed my information was about 'RIGHT TO REPAIR' but that doesnt help the OP at all due to the circumstances.

 

as for muddying the waters with it. I have not i have only answered the questions you raised but thats me muddying the waters.

 

To that end i am more than happy for the 'Site Team' to check my posts to see if i was muddying the waters

[MrShed]

Hi

 

well mr shed my information was about 'RIGHT TO REPAIR' but that doesnt help the OP at all due to the circumstances.

 

as for muddying the waters with it. I have not i have only answered the questions you raised but thats me muddying the waters.

 

To that end i am more than happy for the 'Site Team' to check my posts to see if i was muddying the waters

 

Stu - you have muddied the waters by posting information that was not relevant to the thread. It muddys the waters insomuch that what you posted and the way you posted it implied that it was relevant, therefore giving the impression of certain rights that do not exist. This is why information not pertinent to the issue raised specifically within the thread should not be posted.

[stu007]

Well

 

Mr Shed since you have been so so helpful on this thread at having a go at me I would like to request that the SITE TEAM read the thread and respond to your last post

[MrShed]

Well

 

Mr Shed since you have been so so helpful on this thread at having a go at me I would like to request that the SITE TEAM read the thread and respond to your last post

 

Stu, I have not had a go at you. I have attempted to prevent the OP from performing any actions on your advice as it is not relevant on this thread. By all means, ask the site team to have a look.

[Ed999]

I don't think the Site Team would be interested, as both posters have simply made suggestions in good faith.

 

 

Perhaps I could ask just_jue to clarify some points, just to be certain we're all talking about the same type of tenancy -

 

a. Do you have a secure tenancy under the Housing Act 1985?

 

b. Do you live in England?

 

c. Is your landlord, the Housing Association, a Registered Social Landlord (RSL)?

 

 

 

After reading our tenancy agreement it states: 'You are entitled to compensation if we fail to carry out a repair within set times without good reason and if we fail to meet certain conditions'. Do you think we would be able to claim on this matter?

 

 

You need to find out what the 'set times' are. This will have been put in writing somewhere by the landlord.

 

Chances are, it's purely a matter of contract if the property is in England/Wales. The law is probably that the landlord must do urgent repairs within a 'reasonable time'.

 

The courts have decided in some cases that an urgent repair should be done in a reasonable time of one week.

Edited July 19, 2011 by Ed999