A council tenant claims he and his disabled mother were left "to freeze" without heating for more than a week. He said the boiler at their Stockwood home stopped working on Sunday, December 11 when temperatures in Bristol were plummeting well below zero, which continued for the rest of the week.
Jamie, who only wanted to be referred to by his first name, said he contacted Bristol City Council multiple times every day for clarification on when the heating will be fixed. He said the boiler, which is located outside the property, had been damaged by the freezing temperatures Bristol faced.
Speaking to BristolLive, the 26-year-old claimed: "Our guttering was leaking, we told the council three months ago and they did nothing about it until about three weeks ago. Because all of the water had leaked onto it and it being so cold out, [the boiler] froze." Jamie had wanted to sort the gutter himself but was unable to do so without a ladder.
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The council confirmed that the outdoor unit has been affected by the cold weather, but said this had been because of the cool air circulating inside and freezing up. It claimed the fault was due to plant pots obstructing the unit rather than a leak in the guttering.
It added that further two further visits took place last week due to the same issue at which point the system was turned off to allow the unit to recover. According to the council, the issue was fully resolved on Monday (December 19) but Jamie has disputed this.
He said when he initially called the council's emergency hotline, the council sent someone to come look at the boiler and they confirmed it was broken due to the weather, but no immediate solution was offered to fix it, he said. He claims he called the council every day to enquire about the timeframe to get their heating working again, but did not receive any concrete answers.
Landlords and local authorities have to carry out repairs within a 'reasonable time' if they are made aware of the problem, with Shelter advising that 24 hours is reasonable for an emergency repair such as a broken boiler. An alternative heating or hot water source should be supplied if the issue cannot be fixed within 24 hours.
The council provided Jamie and his mother with a low electric heater, which he said is heating up the property "just about" but it is creating dry air. Jamie says he and his mother have been forced to wear multiple layers and blankets to keep warm, relying on just the one heater to heat the entire home.
"With my mum being asthmatic and steroid dependant it's actually making her health worse," Jamie added. Jamie said the situation was taking a toll on him both physically and emotionally. "I feel down as anything because of it. It affects me even more because I know that it's affecting my mum."
On Friday (December 16), Jamie claims he recorded his body temperature as 34.4C, which he believes is due to the temperature in his home, and decided to go to the hospital. He says he spent 10 hours in A&E on Saturday (December 17) and is awaiting tests to determine what is wrong.
Jamie said he wanted to share his experience to "show how Bristol City Council treats its disabled tenants".
Council's response
In a statement to BristolLive, a spokesperson from Bristol City Council said: “We regret that despite our best efforts our tenants experienced difficulties due to issues with their heating and hot water and sympathise with the impact this has had. When the fault was first reported on Sunday, December 11, we carried out an initial inspection of the boiler, and found an intermittent issue that was causing some loss of heating and hot water.
"After providing a heater, and further visits to the property, issues were identified with the outdoor heat pump unit that had led to the unit not operating effectively and eventually freezing. Following another visit by our engineer to the property on Monday, December 19, the fault with the boiler and issues with the heat pump are now fully resolved.”
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