No Heating for 3 weeks

[Adey123]

Hi

 

We have just moved out of a house we were renting after 3 weeks due to us having no heating. The house is a large 3 bedroom semi detached house.

 

When we arrived on Friday 23rd November the landlord told us not to touch the radiator thermostatic radiator valves as his Dad had spent hours getting them all working. We thought nothing of it and set about moving in which took us 3 days to complete as we all work for a living.

 

We told the landlord on Wednesday 28th November that there was no enamel on the cast iron bath and that when my girlfriend tried to have a bath bits were floating in the water. The shower was rubbish with no pressure (the hand wash taps have more pressure) and we explained to the landlord that we didn't have decent wash facilities for 3 grown adults. The landlord got a quote and so did we and at short notice a friend of ours (Eddie) fitted the shower on Friday 30th November.

 

We noticed the cold around the same time we were complaining about the poor wash facilities but felt that if we told the landlord about both things at once he wouldn't fix anything plus the weather was okay at the time. When we had our friend round installing the shower he had to contact an electrician to come and sort out the electrics as they were in such a bad state.

 

Around the same time that he agreed to fix the shower we told him that the heating had completely failed and he said that he would get a plumber round to look at the system. My partner's step dad is Gas Safety registered and he had a look without touching anything and said the system needs a complete flushing as there is a blockage. WHen Eddie was round fitting the shower on Friday his colleague who is also Gas Safety registered advised a flush and also told the landlord to call him for a quote if he wanted, instead the landlord got his own plumber round Friday night who again advised him that it needed a flush.On Saturday 29th November the landlords Dad and a plumber came round to flush the system, the plumber and his Dad the spent around 4 hours flushing the system, even though I have had it confirmed from 3 plumbers including British Gas that it would take a minimum of 8 hours to carry out.

 

The landlords Dad and plumbers left saturday evening shrugging their shoulders to say there was no more they could do, we then went back to the landlord and said this was a joke as the only radiators that were warm since we moved in were in rooms we didn't use, the bathroom, living room and the 2 used bedrooms had luke warm (at best) heating at any given time.

 

The boiler kept faulting hourly during this period as well.

 

British Gas turned up on Monday 3rd December to inspect the system and informed the landlord that the system needed flushing with the landlord explaining that it was done 2 days ago. We explained the situation to British Gas and he agreed with us that it's not possible to flush a system that quickly. We had also taken a day off of work to be at home when British Gas arrived.

 

The earliest British Gas could come back to carry out the works was Monday 10th December due to the weather turning really cold they were busy, The outside temperature was below zero every night for a week whilst we had no heating. At this same time I was taking reading in various rooms with my thermometer gun and I have readings as low as 5 degree's in the bathroom and 7 degrees in the kitchen. We were having to get up at 5.40am to turn on the Emersion heater so that we could have a quick 2 minute shower at 7am.

 

The landlord expected us to have another day off on Monday 10th December even though we said we had no holiday left, the landlord also made it clear that if the system flushing didn't work then he wasn't prepared to spend any more money on the property which would have left us stranded, unforturnately he told us that on the telephone.

 

We fortunately have managed to make other arrangements and pushed through the completion of our own home and we moved out yesterday Sunday 16th December but we are now in dispute with the landlord over rent money.

 

We were only there for 3 weeks and had no working heating the whole time, he never offered to provide us with any heaters and we had to spend nearly £200 on our own 3 oil heaters as well as the expense of these running all night and the costs of turning on the emersion heater for 90 minutes just to have a shower.

 

We also spoke to his old tenant the day we moved out as she had moved 4 doors along and after a long chat she explained that the place has been unliveable for a long time which is why she had to move as she has young children.

 

The landlord knew there were serious issues with the property and so did the letting agent and we don't really consider it was in a liveable state when we agreed to take on the property, do we have any course for claiming back any of the £1200 rent we paid?

 

It has also cost us nearly £400 in van hire charges to move our equipment into the house and then back out as well.

 

Any advice would be great as the landlord has basically said 'tough' and the letting agent is good friends with him so he of know help to us.

 

Thanks

 

Adrian

Edited December 17, 2012 by Adey123
no paragraphs

[HAWC]

Hi,

Could you please format your post in to Paragraphs to make it easy to read.

[Adey123]

Hi HAWCWhen I typed it, it was in paragraphs but for some reason it's come out as one massive paragraph, I will try and edit it.CheersAde