Does a private landlord have to provide heating??? [Archive] - Consumer Credit Support
this may help seems landlord only has to maintain the property in the condition it was originally in ive also found that you should have been given a SAP which would have shown
you the energy rating of the property before you signed the contract
This is all nonsense. Black and white legislation exists governing commercial responsibilities, but that aside, there is a clear duty of care to supply habitable accommodation that should be fit for purpose. It is an implied term of the contract that accommodation is habitable and the contract is in breach.
It is irrelevant what tyoe of heating is there, what is legally relevant is the common law duty of the landlord, along with relevant legislation.
To OP, it is not your responsibility to find another tenant, indeed it would be remiss to do so, given your knowledge of the issues. Although there is a duty to mitigate, you should only do what is appropriate. The accommodation is unsuitable and this is the landlord's responsibility to rectify.
Unless it was explicitly mandated at contract inception what the position would be with heating, there exists in law, what is known as a rebuttable presumption that the accommodation would be fit for human habitation and this includes heating.
OP would be well advised to ignore stevethe plumber, whom has taken to quoting pseudo-legal nonsense from the internet, which has no basis in law. Indeed the typical layperson presumption that law is only governed by "black letter" statute, demonstrates categorically, the sheer level of ignorance. To then offer comment, unqualified, further backs up that sheer ignorance.
OP, you will be aware from your Law studies that law is comprised from many sources other than those laid down in primary legislation, e.g. Secondary instruments, common law, tort, principles governing contractual law, judicial precedent etc.
There is NO requirement to show any black and white law stating Landlord's should provide or resolve heating matters, whatsoever. It would be impractical for the law to be so prescriptive. That is why we have legal tests and specific areas of law such as Tort and legal principles governing reasonable expectations.
Charli, forget CAB and internet commentators and consult with a decent Housing specialist Solicitor. You can of course claim any and all costs back from the Defendant landlord.
Please do not waste your time trying to educate ill-informed internet fools - one can find sites on the internet to seemingly support any position. As you are aware, only properly qualified legal advice matters. Everything else, in this context, is completely worthless. This is the reason that have a go heros, whom think they know better than years of study and professional training, regularly get annihilated in Court. Law takes years of study and training for a reason and internet warriors are best avoided and ignored.
We both know you have a strong case and that your landlord is a cowboy. Anyone whom can't understand this, or would rather blame you, is obviously blinkered or basically a bit simple, (likely the latter given inferences that you would knowingly move a one year old child into an uninhabitable property).
Your options are either to leave the contract for breach and move out and defend any claim, which it is doubtful would proceed, or, issue proceedings against the landlord to make good the property, or, mitigate matters by paying for portable heating and claim this from the landlord, amongst others. A Solicitor's letter may focus errant landlord's mind to do the right thing. Feel free to PM me for a chat, I may know someone in your area that can assist.
