Possbile Landlord Issue!?

[chrisuk013]

myself & partner have lived in our currently privately rented house now for around 13 months. When we moved into the house the landlord told us she would have the loft checked to see if there is sufficient loft insulation now this didnt happen until about 1 month ago and nothing has happened or been said. I believe the house i am living is not insulated enough to comply with current building regs & health+safety.. The house was built in 1996...

In the cold periods myself & partner have basically have had to spend extra to keep ourselfs warm due to the lack of insulation and i wont put up with it this winter... So my question is who would i speak to in a professional capcity about checking to see if more insulation needs to be put in?

[redcrx]

have you considered putting some extra insulation up there yourselves, presumably youve been happy to let it go for 13 months like this?

[chrisuk013]

no we have not and we wont be putting any extra insulation up there! I do believe thats for the owner of the house to carry out...

[redcrx]

but im not sure that they have to. Therefore you may just have to weigh up the costs, pay more for heating, buy more clothes or lag the loft a bit more.

Current building regs cannot dictate what an older house requires, just recommend. I dont think the landlord can be made to insulate it further

[redcrx]

http://www.thinkinsul...ulation-do-i-need.htm Building requirments in 1995/6 specified 200mm insulation. The figure now is 270mm but thats for new builds only

[Twenty20]

Building regulations and 'heath & safety' don't come into it I'm afraid.

If you feel the house is not very well insulated you can talk to the LL (as you have done by the sounds of it) but you can't demand anything is done (unless you involved Environmental Health Dept but that would mean that the property would have to be uninhabitable, which it obviously isn't).

I have to say I think your attitude is questionable ('no we have not and we wont be putting any extra insulation up there!') - well, maybe the LL feels the same! As it's you who is presumably paying the heating bills, I'd consider it in your own interest to pay out some money for insulation (if it needs it) to save yourself some money on bills. Why not offer to split the cost with the LL?

Of course, putting in additional loft insulation may make very little difference to your heating costs.

If you're really not happy then why not move to a house with a level of insulation that suits you?

[buildersmate]

The way to fix this, of course, is to (seriously) make it clear that you are moving out unless the work is done by the landlord. It's an old landlord trick and you were conned - saying that this or that will be be done, then doing nothing, happens all the time.
As others have clarified, there is no retrospective Building Regs requirement, but you need at least 250mm of fibreglass up there (and preferably more). The main cost is in the labour and aggro of doing the job.

[bednobs]

why don't you ask the landlady what the outcome of the inspection was

[bryan09050]

Hi, your landlord should have provided you with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which indicates how energy efficient the property is just like a new fridge etc. If he hasnt issued with one the he is breaking the law and should be reported to Trading Standards where he can be fined for not doing so.
Regards

Bryan.