No heating or hot water: what to do tonight, and how fast a landlord must act

The boiler has stopped. It is dark, it is cold, and every “24-hour emergency plumber” advert looks identical.

Before you ring any of them, there are four free things worth trying, and — if you rent — a legal standard that is much stronger than most tenants realise.

The four free checks, in order

Do these before paying anyone. They resolve a surprising share of night-time boiler failures.

1. Is it actually the boiler, or the supply? Check whether you have electricity and gas at all. If the lights are off too, call 105 — free, 24 hours, connects you to your local electricity network operator. A power cut is their problem and their cost.

2. Pressure. Most combi boilers have a small pressure gauge. If the needle sits below roughly one bar, many boilers refuse to fire. Topping it up is a documented procedure in the boiler manual — and the manual is almost always downloadable by model number. If you rent, tell the landlord you are doing it.

3. The reset button and the fault code. Modern boilers display a code. Write it down before you press anything, then look it up. Whatever happens next, that code makes the phone call ten times more useful.

4. Prepaid meter or smart meter in debt? A boiler that will not fire because credit ran out is not a repair job. Check the meter before you call an engineer who will charge to tell you the same thing.

If you rent: the standard is stronger than you think

Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, keeping the heating and hot water in working order is the landlord’s responsibility. That is not negotiable and it cannot be contracted away in a tenancy agreement.

No heating and no hot water is generally treated as an emergency, and the widely applied benchmark for a reasonable response is 24 hours.

What counts as “reasonable” genuinely shifts with circumstances. A broken boiler in July is an inconvenience. The same failure in January, in a home with children, elderly residents or anyone with a health condition, is a health risk — and councils and courts treat winter failures far more urgently.

Council and housing association tenants — Awaab’s Law

If you are a social housing tenant, Awaab’s Law applies from 27 October 2025. For an emergency hazard — including no heating in winter — the landlord must make the property safe within 24 hours.

Shelter’s legal guidance on heating, hot water and power problems sets out the detail, and it is the page to quote from.

What to ask for while you wait

This is the request tenants almost never make: if the repair will take time, you can ask the landlord to provide temporary heating — electric heaters, an immersion heater, or electric blankets. It is a normal and reasonable request during a delay, and asking in writing strengthens your position considerably.

Put it in writing, always

Text or email, never only a phone call. State the date, the fault, the fault code, that there is no heating or hot water, and who in the household is affected. Keep every reply.

If nothing happens, contact your council’s environmental health team — they can inspect and serve notice on a landlord — and take advice from Shelter or Citizens Advice. Do not withhold rent without advice; it can put you in arrears and at risk.

If you own the property, and it is the middle of the night

Two questions decide whether to call anyone now.

Is it dangerous, or just cold? A gas smell, a leak, water pouring out, or a carbon monoxide alarm is an emergency — act immediately. A boiler that simply will not fire, in a house that is not freezing, is a morning job at a fraction of the price.

Do you have a claimable cover? Many home insurance policies and boiler service plans include emergency callout. Ring the number on the policy before ringing anyone else — calling your own engineer first can invalidate the claim.

Choosing an engineer, at any hour

Gas work is the one trade where the check is the law. Every gas engineer in the UK must be on the Gas Safe Register. Search the business name or registration number before you let anyone near the boiler. There is no legitimate exception — not for a friend of a friend, not for a small job, not at 2am.

Then the same four questions that apply to every trade:

1. What is the total, including callout, labour, parts and VAT?
2. Can you text me that figure before you set off?
3. Are you attending, or subcontracting to someone else?
4. Can I pay by card?

The full method, across every trade, is in how to check any UK tradesperson in two minutes.

The free thing almost nobody claims

Every energy supplier and network operator keeps a Priority Services Register. It is free, it is not means-tested, and it is badly under-used.

You can usually join if you are of pensionable age, have a disability or a long-term health condition, are pregnant or have young children, or need extra help for any other reason. Registered households get priority in a power cut, advance warning of planned work, and in some cases alternative heating.

Ask your energy supplier and your network operator to add you. It takes one phone call, on a normal afternoon, and it changes what happens on the worst night of the year.

Tonight, if the heat is off and nobody is coming

• Shut the doors to one room and heat only that room.
• Layers, hat, and a duvet beat one thin blanket.
• Hot drinks and a hot meal do more than they sound like they should.
• Check on elderly neighbours. Cold kills far more quietly than fire does.
• If anyone is genuinely unwell from the cold, call 111 — or 999 if they are confused, unresponsive or very cold to the touch.

Sources

• Shelter Legal — heating, hot water and power problems
• Gas Safe Register — check a business
• Citizens Advice

General information for England, not legal advice. Checked 27 August 2026.