Renters’ heating woes on the rise across the region
By
Brian Lee
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Jan 5, 2018 at 9:20 PM
Updated at 5:19 AM
Amid frigid conditions, municipal health officials have been busy
responding to complaints from renters about no heat or hot water in
their apartments.
Such conditions – if confirmed - lead to a violation of the state code for minimum standards of fitness for human habitation and the landlord is subject to fines.
Worcester received 92 calls from Dec. 3 to Jan. 3, and 152 calls since Sept. 15, which is the official start of the state’s heating season, according to Amanda M. Wilson, the city’s director of housing and health inspections.
There was far less call volume last winter, which had milder weather. Worcester received 47 calls from Dec. 3, 2016 to Jan. 3, 2017, Ms. Wilson said. There were 264 calls during the entire 2016-17 heating season, Ms. Wilson said.
“We’re certainly well on our way to surpass our numbers from last year,” she said, adding that this year’s status has been to some extent “alarming.”
As of Wednesday, city inspectors were handling about 40 active complaints, and on Tuesday, when the temperature was near 0, inspectors were particularly busy with complaints in all areas of the city, Ms. Wilson said.
“I get automatic e-mails when we have what we call an emergency complaint” for no-heat or hot water or no electricity, Ms. Wilson said.
“The volume of those e-mails coming in was something I have not necessarily seen,” she said.
Inspectors are equipped with thermometers, but in some cases they can see ice forming on exterior walls or windows, Ms. Wilson said.
When that occurs, there’s no need to use a thermometer to determine
if there’s partial heat or insufficient heat, and inspectors immediately
issue an order for the owner to correct the violation, she said.
The city calls property owners to expedite a repair and get the heat or hot water back on as soon as possible. In some cases, the city ordered landlords to temporarily house tenants in hotels while awaiting the repair, Ms. Wilson said.
“Certainly with having Christmas and the new year just after holiday weekends, we found it difficult for repairmen to access parts and to get parts delivered,” Ms. Wilson noted.
Also, Thursday’s storm of 16-plus inches of snow likely resulted in further delays for delivery of repair parts, and presented a concern for the availability of hotel rooms, she added.
“There are outside factors that play into how quickly the heating system can get repaired, and sometimes it can’t get repaired,” Ms. Wilson said. “Sometimes it has to be completely replaced, and it takes time.”
A big contributor to the issue is what she called Worcester’s older housing stock and in some cases, older heating systems.
Worcester has many buildings that are run on “gas-on-gas” kitchen stoves, with a combination of a parlor stove, she said.
In combination, a parlor stove can be a capable heating system, but
if one is not working properly, “you cannot repair the kitchen
gas-on-gas stove any longer,” she said. “You have to replace it now with
a gas stove and a parlor stove in the kitchen.”
The city has found instances in which the system was replaced with only a kitchen stove and no heating source, which is insufficient and requires a secondary source of heat, the official said.
“You don’t realize that until you get into these deep-freeze-type weather situations,” she said.
In Southbridge, director of inspectional services Andrew R. Pelletier said he’s also been busy with nine complaints about lack of heat since Christmas.
Mr. Pelletier had just returned from a complaint on Friday, but it was somewhat unusual in nature because the owner of a single-family home, according to the official, had voluntarily shut off the heat and hot water, in an apparent attempt to save money.
Mr. Pelletier said he had been alerted by the Fire Department, which was concerned about a potential frostbite case.
After confirming that the temperature in the house was only 36 degrees, Mr. Pelletier ordered the owner to restore “some sort of heat” to more than 60 degrees.
“He’s probably going to spark up his wood stove,” Mr. Pelletier said,
adding that “people are doing extreme things to save money when it
comes to heating, (and) when it comes to living.”
The Southbridge official said health officials’ objective is to get the problem immediately resolved.
“A lot of times the system can keep up with the heat in the building - until you get down to 20 or 15 degrees,” Mr. Pelletier said. But because of the age of many buildings in Southbridge, or their lack of insulation, “once you get colder than that, the cold beats the heat,” he said.
“It really becomes an issue of inadequate insulation, or insulation in the house that has settled and now there are gaps in the insulation - and even old drafty windows and doors,” he said. “The system just can’t keep up anymore.”
Mr. Pelletier noted that some of the situations were caused by a tenant failing to put oil in their tank.
By the time the tenant gets oil delivered, the system needs to be “bled” because air entered the system.
But the landlord is ultimately responsible for corrective action, the official said.
Two Worcester renters spoke about the inconvenience of going without heat.
Richard Bowen, who is renting a duplex in the city with his disabled girlfriend and her 17-year-old daughter, was without heat for three weeks until the city ordered their absentee landlord and property manager to house them in a hotel.
Mr. Bowen said the gas boiler is broken. The property manager had a contractor replace four or five parts, but it still doesn’t work adequately and needs to be replaced.
The three weeks in the apartment were like “hell,” he said, because they had to find other places to shower, and they had to put space heaters in every room, which put a strain on his electricity bill.
Though he said he is dissatisfied with his landlord because he feels he should be reimbursed for December’s rent of $1,350, Mr. Bowen said he’s happy with the city for stepping in and ordering the relocation to a hotel.
Dorothy Marreo, who lives in a 102-year-old triple-decker whose owner died and the property is now in the pre-foreclosure process, filed a no heat/hot water complaint to the city Dec. 14. The gas furnace was inoperable.
According to a notation in the case file on Dec. 29, a city contractor made emergency repairs to the boiler and restored heat and hot water to the building.
Reached Friday, Ms. Marreo said: “They brought heaters until they could get parts that were needed and they fixed the heat.”
Ms. Marreo said she lives in the apartment with seven grandchildren who are all 10 years old or younger. She said the family went to friends’ homes to shower and bathe during their time without heat.
Ms. Marreo expressed gratitude to city officials.
“I love Worcester,” she said. “The city was there and was very helpful. Very good people.”
Such conditions – if confirmed - lead to a violation of the state code for minimum standards of fitness for human habitation and the landlord is subject to fines.
Worcester received 92 calls from Dec. 3 to Jan. 3, and 152 calls since Sept. 15, which is the official start of the state’s heating season, according to Amanda M. Wilson, the city’s director of housing and health inspections.
There was far less call volume last winter, which had milder weather. Worcester received 47 calls from Dec. 3, 2016 to Jan. 3, 2017, Ms. Wilson said. There were 264 calls during the entire 2016-17 heating season, Ms. Wilson said.
“We’re certainly well on our way to surpass our numbers from last year,” she said, adding that this year’s status has been to some extent “alarming.”
As of Wednesday, city inspectors were handling about 40 active complaints, and on Tuesday, when the temperature was near 0, inspectors were particularly busy with complaints in all areas of the city, Ms. Wilson said.
“I get automatic e-mails when we have what we call an emergency complaint” for no-heat or hot water or no electricity, Ms. Wilson said.
“The volume of those e-mails coming in was something I have not necessarily seen,” she said.
Inspectors are equipped with thermometers, but in some cases they can see ice forming on exterior walls or windows, Ms. Wilson said.
The city calls property owners to expedite a repair and get the heat or hot water back on as soon as possible. In some cases, the city ordered landlords to temporarily house tenants in hotels while awaiting the repair, Ms. Wilson said.
“Certainly with having Christmas and the new year just after holiday weekends, we found it difficult for repairmen to access parts and to get parts delivered,” Ms. Wilson noted.
Also, Thursday’s storm of 16-plus inches of snow likely resulted in further delays for delivery of repair parts, and presented a concern for the availability of hotel rooms, she added.
“There are outside factors that play into how quickly the heating system can get repaired, and sometimes it can’t get repaired,” Ms. Wilson said. “Sometimes it has to be completely replaced, and it takes time.”
A big contributor to the issue is what she called Worcester’s older housing stock and in some cases, older heating systems.
Worcester has many buildings that are run on “gas-on-gas” kitchen stoves, with a combination of a parlor stove, she said.
The city has found instances in which the system was replaced with only a kitchen stove and no heating source, which is insufficient and requires a secondary source of heat, the official said.
“You don’t realize that until you get into these deep-freeze-type weather situations,” she said.
In Southbridge, director of inspectional services Andrew R. Pelletier said he’s also been busy with nine complaints about lack of heat since Christmas.
Mr. Pelletier had just returned from a complaint on Friday, but it was somewhat unusual in nature because the owner of a single-family home, according to the official, had voluntarily shut off the heat and hot water, in an apparent attempt to save money.
Mr. Pelletier said he had been alerted by the Fire Department, which was concerned about a potential frostbite case.
After confirming that the temperature in the house was only 36 degrees, Mr. Pelletier ordered the owner to restore “some sort of heat” to more than 60 degrees.
The Southbridge official said health officials’ objective is to get the problem immediately resolved.
“A lot of times the system can keep up with the heat in the building - until you get down to 20 or 15 degrees,” Mr. Pelletier said. But because of the age of many buildings in Southbridge, or their lack of insulation, “once you get colder than that, the cold beats the heat,” he said.
“It really becomes an issue of inadequate insulation, or insulation in the house that has settled and now there are gaps in the insulation - and even old drafty windows and doors,” he said. “The system just can’t keep up anymore.”
Mr. Pelletier noted that some of the situations were caused by a tenant failing to put oil in their tank.
By the time the tenant gets oil delivered, the system needs to be “bled” because air entered the system.
But the landlord is ultimately responsible for corrective action, the official said.
Richard Bowen, who is renting a duplex in the city with his disabled girlfriend and her 17-year-old daughter, was without heat for three weeks until the city ordered their absentee landlord and property manager to house them in a hotel.
Mr. Bowen said the gas boiler is broken. The property manager had a contractor replace four or five parts, but it still doesn’t work adequately and needs to be replaced.
The three weeks in the apartment were like “hell,” he said, because they had to find other places to shower, and they had to put space heaters in every room, which put a strain on his electricity bill.
Though he said he is dissatisfied with his landlord because he feels he should be reimbursed for December’s rent of $1,350, Mr. Bowen said he’s happy with the city for stepping in and ordering the relocation to a hotel.
Dorothy Marreo, who lives in a 102-year-old triple-decker whose owner died and the property is now in the pre-foreclosure process, filed a no heat/hot water complaint to the city Dec. 14. The gas furnace was inoperable.
According to a notation in the case file on Dec. 29, a city contractor made emergency repairs to the boiler and restored heat and hot water to the building.
Ms. Marreo said she lives in the apartment with seven grandchildren who are all 10 years old or younger. She said the family went to friends’ homes to shower and bathe during their time without heat.
Ms. Marreo expressed gratitude to city officials.
“I love Worcester,” she said. “The city was there and was very helpful. Very good people.”
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