House heating question

bonjurkes

So I moved into a new house, which is on floor one (it's Irish kind flat) and there is an empty shop under my flat.

LL said that he bought this place from someone and renting the upstairs and he will have some shop at downstairs (nothing yet though).

The place has 2 electric heater (not storage type, no timer) one in bedroom and one in living room/kitchen. He claimed he did some isolation to this place (I don't think it's effective or for real actually)

There is prepaid electric at this place and turns out I can see the previous month eletric usage (in paid money amount) and for last 1 year every month is more or less same amount (which is 36 euro in total) so it makes me think like this amount is default paid amount for tax, standing charges etc. So long story short, this place is not occupied 1 year (he didn't mentioned me anything at house seeing, and I didn't asked, my mistake).

Right now, living room is 8 degrees (10 after I turned on the heater for 3 hours), bedroom is warmish and bed is freezing cold.

I am not sure if this place will ever get heated up, or how much money it will cost me (as heat disappears after 2 hours when electric heater is turned off).

So I can't be sure if isolation sucks big time, or if building is cold because no one lived in it for god knows 1 year or if electric heaters on wall is terrible or it's all.

My question is, for this case, can I request or demand anything from my LL to help make this place livable? I am asking in legal way, tenant rights whatever.

Buying extra heater is of course possible from my own budget or if LL brings one but again I will have to pay for heating.

So do I have any rights, or should I either live in bedroom and freeze to death when leaving bedroom or just find another place and move out?

I can buy new heater (better ones) but again I am not sure if that will keep this place warm or this is just waste of money?

Moonbeam

I used to have 2 small attic heaters plugged in in the 2 coldest bedrooms permanently ,they don't really heat them but they keep them from getting too cold .
Talk to your landlord,the place needs to be habitable and long term electric heaters cost a fortune .

4ensic15

The landlord is obliged to provide adequate heating. there must be fixed heating appliances which you can control. Have the flat inspected by the local council. they will advise the landlord and what needs to be done.

bleary

4ensic15 wrote: »

The landlord is obliged to provide adequate heating. there must be fixed heating appliances which you can control. Have the flat inspected by the local council. they will advise the landlord and what needs to be done.

I would talk to the landlord before involving the council. They have fairly limited resources and would need to receive a complaint before conducting an inspection.

Storage heaters require two meters, consequently have higher standing charges so probably not an option.

It is very cold at the moment and if a place is unlived in ,it will take some time to warm up but 8 degrees sounds very poor.

bonjurkes

He said he will be bringing some gas room heater (no idea what it is, will see it tonight) but I don't have a gas. I will buy oil radiator and portable fan heater on my own expense, I don't care about the money of it but it's like really annoying, I had to move into my bedroom as it's smallest room and at least has decent heating, using other room only for cooking and bathroom.

Ms Doubtfire1

you're going to pa through your nose for electricity on that. get the council involved

Michael D Not Higgins

A gas heater works off a gas bottle. They can be just as expensive as the electric heaters. That one says the 11.34kg tank will last 110 hours at 1.4kW setting. That's equivalent to 154kWhrs which is around €30 at 20c per unit which is the same cost as the tank.

They are not fixed heating appliances and do not meet the minimum standards for rental accommodation.

bonjurkes

I will try to get a thermometer to see accurate numbers and see how things go, there are 2 heaters on walls but I feel like they are useless. I will give it few more days and check about going to city council if it's still the same. I don't know how to do that but I will bump this thread and ask for help for sure.

Claw Hammer

bleary wrote: »

I would talk to the landlord before involving the council. They have fairly limited resources and would need to receive a complaint before conducting an inspection.

Storage heaters require two meters, consequently have higher standing charges so probably not an option.

It is very cold at the moment and if a place is unlived in ,it will take some time to warm up but 8 degrees sounds very poor.

The council are under a duty to inspect and do so with great thoroughness. The landlord is obviously a complete chancer and is going to do little or nothing until he is forced to.

ted1

4ensic15 wrote: »

The landlord is obliged to provide adequate heating. there must be fixed heating appliances which you can control. Have the flat inspected by the local council. they will advise the landlord and what needs to be done.

Electric heaters have controls that's not an issue here.

ted1

bleary wrote: »

I would talk to the landlord before involving the council. They have fairly limited resources and would need to receive a complaint before conducting an inspection.

Storage heaters require two meters, consequently have higher standing charges so probably not an option.

It is very cold at the moment and if a place is unlived in ,it will take some time to warm up but 8 degrees sounds very poor.

Storage heaters don't require 2 meters, although they should have 2 meters.

Stheno

If the place hasn't been occupied for a year and the downstairs unit is empty it's going to take time to get the core temperature up surely?

ted1

OP prepay electricity is the dearest electricity in Ireland best moving to a postpay plan. Use bonkers.ie to see the cheapest

ted1

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

you're going to pa through your nose for electricity on that. get the council involved

What would council involvement do? What can do they here ?

ted1

Stheno wrote: »

If the place hasn't been occupied for a year and the downstairs unit is empty it's going to take time to get the core temperature up surely?

There may also be a outstanding balance on the prepay meter which the OP is inadvertently paying for

bonjurkes

Stheno wrote: »

If the place hasn't been occupied for a year and the downstairs unit is empty it's going to take time to get the core temperature up surely?

That's for sure, but the question is, that's not my fault (or maybe it's my fault), if the place will get warm at all or not. Because walls are cold, floor is cold. The place will not heat up by itself, I will have to pay for electricity to heat it up (if it will ever get warm)

So it doesn't make sense if I pay 200 electric bill each month just to heat up someone else's house because it's not heated for 1 year.

What I do right now is, turn on heater for 10 hours (from night till morning) turn it off, and next day repeat again. So there is no progress about it. Call it, empty downstairs, bad isolation or cold weather but I feel like I am wasting my money. I am fine with heating up my tiny room by my own expense but I don't want to waste money on living room (it's bigger and needs more time to heat up)

ted1 wrote: »

OP prepay electricity is the dearest electricity in Ireland best moving to a postpay plan. Use bonkers.ie to see the cheapest

ted1 wrote: »

There may also be a outstanding balance on the prepay meter which the OP is inadvertently paying for

I was at prepay electric, switched to postpay which is cheaper (6 cents per night and 14 cents per day).


He offered gas room heating saying that "I will give you first bottle for free and you can pay the next one" (which I wont refill) and it should be enough for 7/8 weeks. I don't know if it's true or not, or if it will work. But I will be buying electric heater today anyways, so it will be useless to ask him to bring electric heating (as I will have to pay money for it also)

Michael D Not Higgins

bonjurkes wrote: »

I will try to get a thermometer to see accurate numbers and see how things go, there are 2 heaters on walls but I feel like they are useless. I will give it few more days and check about going to city council if it's still the same. I don't know how to do that but I will bump this thread and ask for help for sure.

I had electric heating before coupled with a storage heater in the living room. The place never warmed up but this was during the winter of 2010/11 when the snow was really bad and it was generally quite cold, also the back door didn't close properly and there was a draft.

Since there are fixed heaters on the wall, your only complaint is they're not effective enough which the landlord is trying to help by providing additional heaters. It may be that the problem will be better once the house reaches an equilibrium but if it continues then it might not be effective and there could be issues of compliance with the regulations, have a read here.

bonjurkes

I am just trying to find a solution (and at least meet minimum requirement) to get myself warm, I am not sure how effective electric heaters on the wall are or isolation is good or bad.

My current plan is staying in my bedroom (which is tiny one and fine) using my new oil radiator in it like for 4-5 hours a day and let rest of the house freeze.

There is 1 electric heater on the wall for 20 square meter (I will check for exact room size) and that doesn't heat up the room. My bedroom is like 8 square meter (random guess) and 1 electrical heater keeps it warmish (makes me happy at least).

Michael D Not Higgins

The standards require effective heating. Due to the particularly cold last few days in Ireland (particularly overnight) and the fact that the place hasn't been lived in for a while, it's difficult to say the heating isn't effective. It's likely with the weather improving slightly over the next few days you'll see a change in the effectiveness.

If not then there might be a legitimate complaint, however the landlord has attempted a resolution with a gas heater (be sure to have carbon monoxide detector when using that) and you've mentioned the heat in the bedroom is ok so it might be solved with the extra heater.

bonjurkes

Yesterday he bring me the gas heater with gas tank in it, I told him about heater being not efficient in the room, he said he has a bigger one and can change to it.

Regardless, I already bought new oil radiator and fan heater which keeps me super warm in my small bedroom, so for now I can assume problems are partially solved on my side.

Thanks for the ideas and help fellow boards.ie people

muggles

Were you supplied with or did you request a BER cert before moving in?

bonjurkes

muggles no, there was no info about it, and I didn't request BER cert. I assume it will be F or G (which is worst)

Claw Hammer

IS it a listed building? No need for a BER if it is.

bonjurkes

I don't know what is "listed" building but I found it via Daft website

Claw Hammer

bonjurkes wrote: »

I don't know what is "listed" building but I found it via Daft website

Is it a protected structure? There is a list of protected structures maintained by the local authority and available for inspection of its website.

bonjurkes

It's just a classic Irish 1 floor apartment, it has street door as protection, no gates, wires etc.

cml387

Please please please be careful with the gas heater. You will need to ensure there is proper ventilation, otherwise you could kill yourself.
As said before get a CO monitor, it could save your life.

bonjurkes

Thanks cml387, I told my LL about CO monitor, even though he said that it will be enough to leave window a bit open while using it, but he promised to bring CO monitor in few days (I hope it will be a working one)

Claw Hammer

bonjurkes wrote: »

It's just a classic Irish 1 floor apartment, it has street door as protection, no gates, wires etc.

A protected structure is a structure considered to have architectural merit. Most of the Victorian buildings in Dublin are such. Is the building your flat is in such a structure?

bonjurkes

Oh no it's not that old, so it must have BER rating, it's not exempt from it, sorry I didn't get the question at first time, thanks for explanation also.

bonjurkes

I have day and night meter and I was using Pre Pay Power and now switched to some other company. Today in the morning I disabled my PPP so now the balance doesn't go down.

Normally I could see the day/night mode via the keypad but because it's deactivated I realized I had to check the meter. And it turns out that meter doesn't switch to night rate at 23 o'clock (winter time), it stays on day rate till 23.30 then it switches. Before it was all digital (on keypad) I could just see "1" switch to "2" at 23.01.

There is an analog timer (like a clock) next to meter and probably makes it switch to day night modes.

Is it really okay for electric meter to switch at 23.30 . Is it done on purpose or should I call ESB to ask/notify them about this? Probably my landlord won't really care about it so I will have to deal with it.

I hope this is the correct place for the question.