Should landlord sort out loft radiator?

Mink · 12-04-2010 9:32am #1

Moved into a 3 bed 2 weeks ago. One of the bedrooms is a converted loft & has a rad that is installed on different system to other rads in the house. We decided we wanted to sleep in the loft as it's a nice room but we discovered the rad doesn't turn on.

Plumber came out today to sort this & other issues (organised with landlady) & he said that the previous tenants didn't use the loft as a bedroom nor has any other tenant & that the rad never worked as it is piped wrong. He can come back & pipe it up correctly but has to talk to the landlady first (she's paying).

Just in case she comes back saying that she's not going to be able to get it done, are we able to demand that it get fixed as we are sleeping up there? The loft was already set up as a bedroom with a double bed, wardrobes etc.

the drifter · 12-04-2010 9:35am

Yes the landlord should...if the landlord is any way decent. To be honest it should have been fixed before the house was let..i cant understand people who let property that is not up to scratch.

D3PO · 12-04-2010 9:48am

i guess it depends.

is it a 2 bed and loft conversion advertised as a 3 bed or is it a 3 bed with a loft conversion ?

If its the latter and its not been advertised as a bedroom then it would be considered a "storage room" thats from the perspective of bulidng regulations. If its storage then nobody should be living in that room so it makes it questionable as to weather you should be in there and of course quiestionable as to weather it needs to be fixed.

Victor · 12-04-2010 9:50am

It should be fixed anyway.

Is the room legally a bedroom? Is it suitably fire protected (its a lot riskier than jumping out a ground or first floor window).

That said, as heat rises, it should be the warmest room in the house.

Mink · 12-04-2010 10:42am

the drifter wrote: »

Yes the landlord should...if the landlord is any way decent. To be honest it should have been fixed before the house was let..i cant understand people who let property that is not up to scratch.

In fairness to her she wouldn't have known as previous tenants weren't using it. She's actually been great in terms of sorting things for us. I don't know that she would have thought to check all the rads when previous tenants didn't say anything to her about it.

D3PO wrote: »

is it a 2 bed and loft conversion advertised as a 3 bed or is it a 3 bed with a loft conversion ?

Advertised as a 3 bed. Then in detailed part of ad the picture of the loft shows it set up as a bedroom & states it's a converted attic

Victor wrote: »

It should be fixed anyway.

Is the room legally a bedroom? Is it suitably fire protected (its a lot riskier than jumping out a ground or first floor window).

There is a working smoke alarm right over our bed (as well as first floor & ground floor)! The only window in the room is a velux but there is no door to the room itself & just a few steps down first floor bedrooms that have fire reg size window openings. So I reckon it's ok.

D3PO · 12-04-2010 11:52am

Mink wrote: »

Advertised as a 3 bed. Then in detailed part of ad the picture of the loft shows it set up as a bedroom & states it's a converted attic

.

Doesnt really answer my question. Let me put it another way forget the loft and how many bedrooms are there ?

Mink · 12-04-2010 12:09pm

D3PO wrote: »

Doesnt really answer my question. Let me put it another way forget the loft and how many bedrooms are there ?

2 bedrooms

(& then the converted loft)

D3PO · 12-04-2010 12:14pm

well firstLy it shouldnt have been advertised as a 3 bed but thats a whole diff dicusssion.

But it doesnt indicate that the landlord did assume somebody would be using this room to sleep in, so they 100% would need to fix this.

Victor · 12-04-2010 12:27pm

Mink wrote: »

There is a working smoke alarm right over our bed (as well as first floor & ground floor)! The only window in the room is a velux but there is no door to the room itself & just a few steps down first floor bedrooms that have fire reg size window openings. So I reckon it's ok.

So, with no door, you can be asphyxiated in your sleep?

Mink · 12-04-2010 12:30pm

Victor wrote: »

So, with no door, you can be asphyxiated in your sleep?

I'm not quite sure what you mean

... but it doesn't sound good!!!

D3PO · 12-04-2010 1:09pm

Mink wrote: »

I'm not quite sure what you mean ... but it doesn't sound good!!!

He means you could be suffocated in your sleep.

Mink · 12-04-2010 1:15pm

Yes I know the definition of asphyxiation, but how would that happen?

Do you mean something to do with carbon monoxide fumes or the possibility of a nutter getting into the house & smothering me in my sleep?

I'm hoping you mean the latter as it's less likely

Cathmandooo · 12-04-2010 1:41pm

If you have no door to your bedroom and your house is on fire more smoke will get to you quicker.

Having said that I dont close my bedroom door at night as it gets too warm, so it would be the same for me.

Mink · 12-04-2010 2:14pm

Cathooo wrote: »

If you have no door to your bedroom and your house is on fire more smoke will get to you quicker.

Having said that I dont close my bedroom door at night as it gets too warm, so it would be the same for me.

That makes more sense. Well we're probably going to get one of those foldable doors because if we have guests over, ain't got no privacy.

I'll see what the lay of the land is but hopefully piping up the rad isn't going to be a massive job. But it was advertised as a 3 bed & that "bedroom" is set up as a bedroom, so I'll go off of that if any troubles

shoegirl · 12-04-2010 3:07pm

Victor wrote: »

So, with no door, you can be asphyxiated in your sleep?

The lack of a door wouldn't be the only cause of asphixiation. Apparently the most common cause for a "substandard" judgement on rented accomodation in Ireland is a lack of proper ventilation. There may be a ventilation filter on the velux window if the house is fairly new.

Most places I've lived in had big problems with council inspections and ventilation as its almost impossible to properly vent a conversion without spending the kind of money that people who want to infinitely subdivide property in the first place want to avoid spending.

Mink · 12-04-2010 3:16pm

Luckily there is a decent air vent on the velux window.

I don't think I would sleep up there if there wasn't. It got really warm up there after the bit of sun we had over the weekend so if we have the roasting hot summer we're being told we might have then we might end up moving downstairs. That would be a pity as it's such a nice room.

I noticed in the other bedrooms that the previous tenants had taped over the air vents, which I'm guessing they did due to the bad winter, but I'm going to remove all that as you have to have air flow.

Should landlord sort out loft radiator?

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