Communal boiler breakdown: who is responsible and who pays
When a communal boiler breaks down, the repair is arranged by whoever the leases make responsible for the building’s heating plant. That is usually the freeholder or a residents’ management company, often through a managing agent. Leaseholders pay their share through the service charge, and residents who rent their flat report the breakdown to their own landlord or letting agent.
Who arranges the repair
The leases of a block set out who maintains the communal plant and how the cost is shared. It is usually the freeholder or a residents’ management company, and a managing agent often arranges the contractor and the work for them. Leaseholders report a breakdown to the managing agent, or to the freeholder where there is no agent.
If the communal heating counts as a heat network, Ofgem’s rules apply as well. The organisation with control over and responsibility for the transfer of heat on the network is its operator, and each network’s operator and supplier must register it with Ofgem by 26 January 2027. See heat network regulation for blocks of flats.
Residents who rent their flat
A tenant reports the breakdown to their landlord or letting agent, who passes it on to whoever manages the plant.
On a tenancy of less than 7 years, section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 makes the landlord keep the installations for heating and hot water in repair and proper working order. For a flat, that duty extends to an installation elsewhere in the building that serves the flat, where the landlord has an interest in that part of the building or owns or controls the installation. Where the landlord is a leaseholder with no control over the communal boiler, the repair itself is arranged by the freeholder or the managing agent.
Who pays, and when section 20 applies
Repairs to communal plant are usually paid for through the service charge, in the shares the leases set. In England, section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 adds two thresholds:
- Qualifying works, such as a major repair or replacing a boiler, need a consultation with leaseholders first if any leaseholder’s contribution would be more than £250.
- A qualifying long term agreement, such as a maintenance contract for more than 12 months, needs a consultation if any leaseholder’s contribution in an accounting period would be more than £100.
Both limits are set by the Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003. Without a consultation, or a dispensation, the landlord can usually recover no more than those amounts from each leaseholder.
Where a repair cannot wait for a full consultation, the landlord can apply to the property tribunal under section 20ZA, which can dispense with the requirements if it is satisfied that doing so is reasonable. The text of section 20 is on legislation.gov.uk, and the section 20 FAQ covers communal boilers in short.
Gas safety while it is down
A boiler that has failed may also be unsafe. Under regulation 34 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, the person responsible for the premises must not use a gas appliance, or let it be used, if they know or have reason to suspect it cannot be used without danger.
If anyone smells gas, call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 straight away.
The yearly landlord gas safety check still applies to a communal boiler that serves rented flats, and a breakdown repair is not a substitute for it. See whether a communal boiler needs a landlord gas safety check.
Making the next breakdown easier to handle
Three things help:
- plant room access details, keys and codes held by the managing agent, so an engineer can get in at any hour
- the plant details and service history in one place: each boiler’s make, model and age, and past faults
- planned servicing, so faults are more likely to be found before a breakdown; see how often a communal boiler should be serviced
Neos Engineering takes call outs on plant rooms and communal heating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and a block without heating is treated as an emergency. The office gives an arrival window when you call. Planned servicing and other plant room work are priced after a site survey, with a written quote before anything is booked. See plant room maintenance, work for block managers, or contact the office.
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