No water or no hot water

Thames Water says pressure can take several hours to come back after an incident, longer at the top of a hill. The water may splutter at first and should clear if you run the tap for a couple of minutes. If the neighbours' water is back and yours is not, it may be an airlock, and Thames Water asks you to call it so a technician can attend.

Brown or orange water after a burst is usually disturbed deposits. If neighbours have it too, tell Thames Water. If only you do, it may be your own pipework.

If the heating works but the hot taps run cold, the cause depends on your system. With a combi boiler, low pressure or a fault on the hot water side is common, and limescale from London's hard water can clog the part that heats the water. With a hot water cylinder, a failed immersion heater, thermostat or valve is more likely.

Plumbers can deal with the water side: valves, cylinders, immersion heaters and pressure. Any work on a gas boiler itself must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Ask to see their ID card and check it on the Gas Safe Register. In mansion blocks with communal hot water, the plant room is the building's, so the managing agent is your first call.

Under the Guaranteed Standards Scheme, Citizens Advice says water companies in England should usually supply at a minimum pressure of seven metres static head, with a payment if it falls below that for an hour or more on two occasions in 28 days. Low pressure can also be caused by your own pipework, such as an old lead or narrow supply pipe, which is your cost to fix.

If you rent, your landlord must keep the installations for water and heating water in repair under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, so report it to them in writing. If you are a leaseholder in a block with a communal system, the freeholder is usually responsible for plant that serves more than one flat. Either way, a short note from a plumber saying where the fault is helps get it fixed by the right person.