No Hot Water in apartment

[Connor129]

I am currently staying at an air bnb for 6 weeks whilst I am on placement at a nearby hospital with 4 girls who are also on my course. We had originally booked an air bnb for 5 people nearby which was cancelled 2 days before we were meant to move in due to a leak and the electrics being cut off. At very short notice we ended up finding our current accommodation.

At a glance this place is amazing. It has 3 floors, the middle having 4 bedrooms with 2 en-suites and a shared bathroom and the top floor is an entire apartment to itself (which is where I am staying). After spending some time here however things aren’t as they seem. There are light fittings hanging from the ceiling, light switches that aren’t fully fixed to the wall, a tap that shoots straight past the sink and into the wall, cutlery that still has coffee stains (for the price of £2000+ each for this stay I would have expected more).

However my real grievance is the fact that I am currently on my 4th week of staying here and I haven’t had hot water once in my apartment. We have been in touch with the host on many occasions to get it sorted yet the people he is ‘sending round’ clearly haven’t fixed the issue despite him saying that they have. I was just curious whether I’d be entitled to any form of partial refund for this situation. Like I said I would be more forgiving if we weren’t paying in total over £10000 to be staying here but it’s just not on anymore. 

[Lorna170]

@Connor129  Is there never any hot water out of any tap?  Are the others able to shower with hot water and it is just your apartment without?  If you are all showering at the same time, or the others are taking a very long time in the shower, perhaps you have no hot water because the boiler is too small and they have used it all.

Repair persons will simply determine if the boiler is operating and there may be hot water when they check it.  But if it is being used up before you shower, or it is not able to get to the third floor, then you will continue with a problem that you need to keep talking to your co-occupants and host about.  

[Connor129]

Yeah it is just my apartment! None of the taps in the apartment have received hot water, including the shower, bath, kitchen sink, bathroom sink and toilet sink at any times of the day. Apparently my boiler is different to those being used downstairs so shouldn’t have an issue regarding them using my water. (My boiler is literally outside my door).

They have had issues before regarding hot water but generally we have managed this using the advice you mentioned about not having showers at the same time. 

I honestly hate to complain but 4 weeks of nothing up here is not great.

Thank you for your response.

[Anonymous]

@Connor129  It's never a good plan to ask the host for a price reduction on a stay in progress, or a partial refund for a completed stay. The host has engaged your complaint and attempted to resolve the issue by sending (presumably paid) maintenance workers. If the problem still isn't fixed to your satisfaction, the next step would be to ask to advance your checkout date and refund the remainder of the stay, so you can relocate to a home with reliable hot water.

The thing is, even if you're being totally honest about the water situation, wouldn't it be too easy for a group to get cheap or free rent for 6 weeks if all they had to do was make a complaint to the listing platform about something it couldn't independently verify, like the way the water feels? 

[Jenny]

Hi @Connor129 

Sorry to hear you've been having this issue during your stay.

Just to add to the advice you've been given, and if you haven't already done so, it might be worth contacting Airbnb about this if the problem hasn't been resolved.

You can find more information on how to contact Airbnb here. 

Jenny