Withholding Rent

kellxor.1337

Hey people,
I'm just wondering if I'm in the right to do this if I notify the landlord of my intention,

Moved into a house in September, problems with the gas heating/water since we got here, boiler guy has been out to it twice already, then Thursday 19th of December boiler proper packed in, no heating or hot water, rang the landlords as I have to contact them 1st, they said to ring boiler guy so I did, earliest he could come was Monday 23rd, he looked at the boiler on Monday 23rd and said it needed a part which he could try and get on Friday 27th, now he's not able to get the part till Thursday the 2nd of January, the landlord is trying to say it's my fault as they assumed when the boiler guy came out on the Monday to look at it, the issue was resolved, I've spent 10 days without heat or hot water, I have to walk 25 minutes to my mothers house to shower,
Rent is due on the 1st of the month,
I'm about to send another email to the landlord giving out about numerous things including mould issues that were already there before this heating fiasco,

So am I within my rights to tell the landlord I'm not paying the rent until the heating is working again?

Never been late with rent, bills always paid on time,

Cheers for any advice

Also,
The landlords said that I have to work with the boiler guy during regular business hours which means I have taken days off work to accommodate this,

Cedrus

No.
Withholding rent is a breach of contract that could get you evicted. I can see your point about the heating but you rented a property not a heating system, you still have use of the property so you still owe the rent.

The landlord still has to maintain it in the serviceable condition that you rented it in, but don't dig a hole for yourself.

UDP

You don't have a right to withhold rent from the landlord and tbh I don't think the landlord has messed up here at all. When the issue was raised with the landlord he/she told you to contact the boiler guy. If you had an issue with the length of time it would take for a repair you should have contacted the landlord back to tell them you want to check if someone else can do it quicker but since it was around christmas time you might not have had anyone else that could do it quicker as the delay was in relation to sourcing a part. Most trades people work regular business hours so it doesn't appear to be an unreasonable request from the landlord that you accommodate the repair person.

Mould issues are not always straight forward as they can be caused by tenants. Had you previously told the landlord about the mould issue and what was his/her response?

murphaph

Sounds like your landlord responded promptly to each call about the heating and apparently the boiler is still serviceable. It's Christmas so many suppliers are closed. An owner occupier wouldn't get it fixed any quicker.

quietsailor

If you withhold rent and later take a case to the prtb then they'll immediately mark you down as wrong and it will effect any judgement in your favour