Guide
No Heating or Hot Water: Your Rights as a Tenant
A plain-English guide to your rights when heating or hot water fails in a council or housing association home: what the law says, how fast your landlord must act, and how to escalate.
Landlord Record is independent and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Housing Ombudsman Service. We organise and analyse decisions published under the Open Government Licence.
A total loss of heating or hot water in your home is normally an emergency repair. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, your landlord must keep installations for space heating and hot water in working order and repair them within a reasonable time. In practice, that means most social landlords should start work within 24 hours and must not leave you without an essential service for long without a good reason and a clear plan. Our analysis of 16,224 published Housing Ombudsman decisions shows heating and hot water failures appear in 3,745 determinations — making it one of the most common disrepair complaints residents raise. — Landlord Record analysis of Housing Ombudsman decisions (OGL v3.0)
If your landlord delays, fails to communicate, or refuses to treat the failure as an emergency, you have a right to escalate. This guide explains the legal duty, typical repair timescales, the steps to take, and how compensation works when things go wrong.
The legal duty: heating and hot water
Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 places a repairing covenant on most social landlords. It requires the landlord to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling, and to keep in working order the installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity, sanitation and space heating. The courts have interpreted this to include the boiler, radiators, hot-water cylinder, pipework, thermostats and other controls that deliver heating and hot water to the home.
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 reinforced this duty. It requires that a rented home is fit for human habitation at the start of the tenancy and remains so. The Act lists specific matters including repair, damp, ventilation, water supply, drainage, sanitary conveniences and facilities for the preparation and cooking of food. While the Act does not list heating as a separate statutory item, excess cold caused by a broken heating system can render a home unfit. A property without hot water for washing and bathing can also fall below the fitness standard.
Neither statute sets a fixed number of hours or days for every repair. Both use the standard of reasonableness. What is reasonable depends on the nature of the defect, the risk it poses, the weather, and how quickly the landlord can obtain parts or engineers. A boiler failure in January is plainly more urgent than the same fault in July. A landlord that leaves a vulnerable resident without heating for weeks, or that fails to offer temporary heaters, is likely to be found at fault.
What counts as an emergency and typical timescales
Most social landlords classify repairs into three tiers. The table below shows the categories and the common targets. These are internal policies, not statutory deadlines, but if a landlord repeatedly misses its own targets without explanation, the Housing Ombudsman may find maladministration.
| Category | Common examples | Typical landlord target |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency | Total loss of heating in cold weather, total loss of hot water, gas leak, unsafe electrics, major uncontained water leak, broken toilet (only one in home) | Within 24 hours (often same day) |
| Urgent | Partial heating loss, single radiator failure, minor plumbing leak that can be contained, broken window | Up to 7 days |
| Routine | Minor plastering, door adjustments, external decoration, replacement of non-essential fittings | Up to 28 days (sometimes longer) |
If your landlord's policy says 24 hours for a total heating loss and you are left for several days without action or updates, that is a strong ground for complaint. The Ombudsman looks at the whole picture: Did the landlord respond promptly? Did it inspect within a reasonable time? Did it offer temporary heating or alternative accommodation if the repair would take longer? Did it keep you informed? A failure on any of these points can contribute to a finding of maladministration.
What to do if your landlord won't restore heating or hot water
Step 1: Report the fault in writing
Report the problem formally and in writing. Email is usually sufficient, but if you send a letter, keep a copy and use recorded delivery. In your report, state: the exact nature of the fault (no heating, no hot water, or both), the date and time it started, the effect on your health or daily life, and any vulnerable people in the household. Ask for a reference number, an estimated repair date, and temporary heating or hot-water provision if the fix will take more than 24 hours.
Take dated photographs of the boiler display, radiator temperature, or any error codes. Keep a record of room temperatures if the property is cold. This evidence becomes important if you later escalate.
Step 2: Follow the formal complaints procedure
If the repair is not started or completed within a reasonable time, escalate to a formal complaint. Social landlords in England must have a complaints policy that complies with the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code. The code requires the landlord to acknowledge a Stage 1 complaint promptly and respond within ten working days in most cases. If you are dissatisfied with the Stage 1 response, you can request a Stage 2 review, which should receive a final response within twenty working days.
Your complaint should reference your original repair report, the dates you contacted the landlord, and the lack of response or action. For more detail on repair timeframes, see our guide on how long a landlord has to fix repairs . For a step-by-step walkthrough of the complaints process, see our guide on what to do if your landlord won't fix repairs .
Step 3: Escalate to the Housing Ombudsman
Once the landlord's internal complaints procedure is complete — or if eight weeks have passed since you completed it — you can take your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is a free, independent service that investigates complaints about social landlords in England. It will examine whether the landlord handled your repair reasonably, kept you informed, and acted in line with its obligations.
The Ombudsman can order a range of remedies: an apology, the completion of the repair, compensation, a review of the repairs policy, staff training, and specific action to prevent the problem recurring. You can browse responsive repairs decisions to see how the Ombudsman has ruled in similar cases.
Step 4: Contact environmental health
In parallel, you can contact your local council's environmental health department. They have enforcement powers under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and can inspect your home for hazards such as excess cold or lack of hot water. If they find a serious hazard, they can issue an improvement notice or emergency remedial action, compelling the landlord to carry out works. This route is separate from the Ombudsman and can be used alongside it.
Compensation for no heating or hot water
The Housing Ombudsman can order compensation where it finds that the landlord unreasonably delayed repairing heating or hot water, failed to keep you informed, or did not offer temporary measures while the repair was pending. Compensation reflects distress, inconvenience, time and trouble — not the cost of the repair itself.
In the current Landlord Record dataset, heating-and-hot-water decisions that include compensation have a median award of £550, with a middle range of £250 to £1,133 across 2,358 compensation decisions. The average award is £967. Use these figures as a benchmark, not a promise — the Ombudsman decides each case on its own facts.
A short delay with prompt communication and temporary heaters will usually attract a lower award than a prolonged failure during winter, especially where there is evidence of impact on health, the inability to bathe, or the need to stay elsewhere. High outliers usually reflect unusual facts, multiple linked failings, or serious adverse impact. For a broader view of how the Ombudsman calculates awards, see our housing disrepair compensation guide .
Council tenants may also have rights under the Right to Repair scheme. This applies to a set list of qualifying repairs, including broken heating systems, with fixed timescales and statutory compensation if the deadline is missed. The scheme does not apply to housing association tenants. See our Right to Repair explained guide for the full list.
Sources
- Legislation.gov.uk — Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11 (repairing obligations)
- Legislation.gov.uk — Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018
- Housing Ombudsman Service — Scheme, Complaint Handling Code and remedies guidance
- GOV.UK — Council and housing association home repairs
This page is an information resource and does not constitute legal advice. Free advice is available from Citizens Advice and Shelter.
Our index currently holds 16,224 published determinations across 603 landlords. — Landlord Record analysis of Housing Ombudsman decisions (OGL v3.0). Search the decisions or browse the responsive repairs category.
Frequently asked questions
How long can a landlord leave you without heating?
There is no single statutory deadline, but a total loss of heating or hot water is usually treated as an emergency repair. Most social landlords aim to start emergency repairs within 24 hours. If the failure persists beyond that without good reason — for example because the landlord cannot source parts but has not offered temporary heating — the Housing Ombudsman may find maladministration. The Ombudsman looks at whether the landlord acted reasonably, kept you informed and had a plan to restore the service.
Is no heating an emergency repair?
Yes. A total loss of heating, especially during cold weather, is normally classified as an emergency repair because it poses a risk to health and safety. The same applies to a total loss of hot water where there is no alternative way to heat water for washing or bathing. Most landlords operate an out-of-hours emergency line for these situations. If your landlord refuses to treat the failure as an emergency, keep a written record and escalate through the complaints process.
Can I get compensation for no heating or hot water?
Yes, in appropriate cases. The Housing Ombudsman can order compensation where it finds maladministration. For heating-and-hot-water decisions in the Landlord Record dataset that include compensation, the median award is £550 across 2,358 compensation decisions. The middle range is £250 to £1,133. The actual amount depends on the severity, duration and impact on you.
What do I do if my boiler isn't fixed?
Start by reporting the fault to your landlord formally and in writing. Ask for a reference number, an estimated repair date, and temporary heating or hot water if the fix will take more than 24 hours. If the landlord does not act within a reasonable time, escalate through its formal complaints process — Stage 1, then Stage 2. Once the internal process is complete, or if the landlord fails to respond, you can take the complaint to the Housing Ombudsman. In parallel, you can contact your local council's environmental health team if the situation is a health hazard.
Can the council help if my landlord won't fix heating?
Yes. If your landlord is a council or housing association and will not restore heating or hot water, your local council's environmental health department can inspect the property under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Excess cold and lack of hot water are both potential hazards. If environmental health finds a serious hazard, it can issue an improvement notice or emergency remedial action requiring the landlord to carry out works. This route runs separately from the Housing Ombudsman and can be used alongside it.
Is my landlord responsible for the boiler?
In most social housing tenancies, yes. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the landlord must keep in working order the installations for the supply of space heating and hot water. That includes the boiler, radiators, pipework and controls. The duty applies to the installation itself and to keeping it in repair. If the boiler fails because of age, wear or a defect, the landlord is normally responsible for repairing or replacing it. The tenant is usually only responsible for damage caused deliberately or through negligence.