No heating or hot water? You can claim
Heating and hot water are basic necessities, not luxuries — and the law treats them that way. If your boiler is broken or your heating doesn’t work and your landlord has failed to fix it, we can claim compensation and force the repair — on a no win, no fee basis.
Yes. Your landlord is legally required to keep the installations for space heating and heating water in repair and proper working order — that includes the boiler, radiators, immersion heaters and hot water cylinders. If you reported the failure and your landlord did not fix it within a reasonable time, you can claim compensation for the period you went without and a court order requiring the repair. Loss of heating in cold weather is treated as urgent, and the reasonable time to fix it is measured in days, not weeks.
What the law says about heating and hot water
Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, your landlord must keep in repair and proper working order the installations for space heating and heating water. That covers:
- Boilers — including repeated breakdowns where the “fix” never holds
- Radiators and heating systems — radiators that don’t heat, failed pumps, broken thermostats and controls
- Hot water supply — immersion heaters, cylinders and any system failure leaving you without hot water
- Gas and electrical supply to those installations — where a supply defect is what’s stopping the heating from working
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 adds a second layer: a home that cannot be kept warm, or that has no hot water, may be unfit for human habitation — particularly where children, older people or anyone with a health condition lives there.
“Proper working order” matters. A boiler that limps along, cuts out daily, or only heats half the house is not in proper working order just because it sometimes works.
What counts as an unreasonable delay
Your landlord must fix the problem within a reasonable time of being told about it — and for heating and hot water, that window is short. What is “reasonable” depends on the circumstances, but the factors that compress it include:
Factors that make a heating failure urgent
Months without working heating — or winters survived on plug-in electric heaters you paid to run — is well past any reasonable time. Many of our clients have lived exactly that, and it is precisely what these claims are for.
“Landlords often assume tenants won’t push back. Our job is to make sure they do — and that the repairs actually get done, not just promised.”
Stephen Lund · Director
Where Awaab’s Law fits in
If you rent from a council or housing association, Awaab’s Law adds strict legal timescales on top of your existing rights. Significant lack of heating or hot water can amount to a hazard your landlord must investigate and fix within fixed deadlines — and an emergency hazard, such as a total heating failure in cold weather affecting vulnerable residents, requires action within 24 hours.
This matters for your claim in two ways: it sets a hard benchmark against which your landlord’s delay is measured, and breaching it strengthens your case considerably. Our full guide to Awaab’s Law explains the timescales and who they apply to.
What you can recover
A successful heating and hot water claim can secure:
An order requiring your landlord to repair or replace the failed boiler or heating system within a set timescale.
Damages for every period you went without heating or hot water — reflecting how long it lasted and how badly it affected you.
The extra cost of running electric heaters, boiling kettles for hot water, or other workarounds you paid for.
Where cold conditions worsened your or your family’s health — from chest infections to aggravated existing conditions.
For how compensation is calculated, see our compensation guide. Heating failures rarely come alone — if the cold has also brought condensation, damp or mould, see our damp and mould page, as it is usually all part of the same claim.
How the claim works
Heating claims follow the Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims: free assessment, formal letter of claim, independent expert evidence, then settlement or court. Where the failure is ongoing and serious, an urgent injunction can force the repair quickly. For the wider picture of your rights, see our main housing disrepair guide.
Heating and hot water FAQs
How quickly should my landlord fix a broken boiler?
Within a reasonable time of being told and for a total loss of heating or hot water, that is short. In cold weather, or where children, older people or anyone in poor health lives in the home, a reasonable response is generally measured in days. For social housing tenants, Awaab’s Law adds fixed legal deadlines, including 24-hour action for emergency hazards.
I've had no heating for months. Is that a claim?
Almost certainly, provided you reported it and your landlord failed to act. Months without working heating is far beyond any reasonable repair time, and the compensation reflects the full period you went without. Keep a note of when you first reported it and every chaser since, the timeline is the backbone of the claim.
My landlord gave me plug-in heaters instead of fixing the boiler. Is that enough?
Temporary heaters are a stopgap, not a repair. They do not discharge your landlord’s duty to restore the heating system to proper working order and they are expensive to run. The cost of the extra electricity is itself recoverable as part of your claim, so keep your energy bills.
The boiler gets "fixed" but keeps breaking down again. Can I claim?
Yes. Section 11 requires installations to be kept in proper working order. A boiler that repeatedly fails is not in proper working order just because it works between breakdowns. A pattern of failed repairs often points to a system that needs replacing, and the repeated failures strengthen your claim rather than weaken it.
How much does it cost to claim?
We act on a no win, no fee basis under a Conditional Fee Agreement. If your claim is unsuccessful, you do not pay our fees. The full details of how no win, no fee works, including the insurance arrangements that protect you, are set out on our costs and funding page.
Stop living in the cold — find out if you can claim
Tell us how long you’ve been without heating or hot water and what your landlord has (or hasn’t) done. We’ll review it free of charge and tell you honestly whether you have a claim.
Free case assessment
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