renting, blocked drains who pays?

Debt_Free_Chick

Repairing damage is not the same as rectifiying misuse, surely?

I say again - the general principle is to have the cause identified and then look to who is responsible.

Misuse points to the user i.e. the tenant.

Lack of maintenance leading to e.g. collapsed drains points to the LL

Damage could be either, depending on the cause. A tenant digging and damaging a pipe/drain is pretty obviously the tenant's fault. Tree roots ingressing would be the LL's job to sort out and might involve a neighbour and/or an insurance claim. Unless the tenant planted the tree

stolt

i've phoned anglian water who have said it could take upto 12hrs for a van to get out to us, and nobody else has reported a blockage in the road, which is strange. But they did say that they can usually clear it from the road without accessing the property but have id on them. i find it strange that nobody else has reported a blockage, bearing in mind that there are many retired people living on our street so its not like there out at work and dont realise.

ruggedtoast

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

To save confusion, we have had a clause put into all our AST agreements that states clearly that if a blockage within the property boudaries is caused by tenants' misuse of the facilities, then they are responsible for paying to have it put right. We as LL's will gladly arrange for emergency clearance in any of our properties, but the cost will be passed to the tenant.in up somewhere along the way.

.

You as landlords can put whatever you like into your ASTs but if it doesnt accord with what is legally permissible in an AST then its not binding. Rectifying your drainage problems is no more your tenants problem than fixing your roof.

zebulon

I would really just wait that you go home and find out what is going on!

Bungarm2001

There will always be the odd variable where drains are concerned, obviously. If something unseen like a tree root has damaged a drain then fair play, it's up to whoever planted the tree, or the owner of the property where the tree lives. Proper investigation by drain experts will always discover a cause. It's up to all interested parties to then work out who pays for what. The Shelter guide doesn't make this clear.

What I am talking about is blockage and the resultant back-up of drain contents caused by a tenant putting things in the loo or kitchen drains that shouldn't be there.

I am always amazed at how many tenants don't think of this, and happily keep on flushing baby nappies down the loo, or pouring cooking fat and rice/pasta/whatever down the kitchen sink then expect the LL to pay to have it removed. Thats why we have a clause relating to this in every AST we sign.

PS Going back to the OP; the more I think about this, the more I think it's a scam..but then again it could be my suspicious nature.

Does your wife know for certain that these people are actually neighbours?

Is there any evidence at all of a drain backing up?

Hopefully, when you get home you'll be able to sort this out by actually seeing where the problem is. Meanwhile, I wouldn't panic. Believe me, unless there is actually raw sewage backing up into the street or on someones property, they wont rush themselves to come out to fix it, be it council or water company.

PasturesNew

I paid £300 because of a blocked sewer a few years back. After reading above about councils etc, I double-checked if I could have got it done any other way/cheaper than automatically calling out Dyno Rod (took them 3 goes).

It seems not: http://www.restormel.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=4715

"
PRIVATE SEWER: A "private sewer" is any sewer which is not a "public sewer".Many houses in the Borough , especially those on estates built in the last 40 years, are served by private sewers. By definition private sewers must convey effluent from at least 2 separate premises. Responsibility to clean, maintain and repair such sewers lies jointly with the owners/occupiers of those properties, but only those upstream of the point in question. That responsibility does not simply cease at the ground-level boundary of the property; it continues until the drain discharges into another pipe for which someone else is responsible (e.g. South West Water in the case of a public sewer). "

But in rented it looks like it's the landlord's responsibility to sort it out, who pays for it will be either him or another householder, but not you unless you've put stuff down the drain that you shouldn't (e.g. nappies, cooking fat). If it's blocked because it's collapsed it'll be the landlord. If it's blocked because of baby nappies and you have none, it will go up the row of houses to find out who has a baby I guess.

olly300

stolt wrote: »

i've phoned anglian water who have said it could take upto 12hrs for a van to get out to us, and nobody else has reported a blockage in the road, which is strange. But they did say that they can usually clear it from the road without accessing the property but have id on them. i find it strange that nobody else has reported a blockage, bearing in mind that there are many retired people living on our street so its not like there out at work and dont realise.

It's not actually odd.

When the drain blocked in the 1930's house I was renting it was the immediate next door neighbours who noticed the sewage coming up through our drain. We didn't notice the problem when we flushed and neither did anyone else in the road including the immediate neighbours on the other side.

Luckily it only happened once in all the years I lived there. I personally thought it was related to a new household moving in next to the neighbours who noticed the problem.

Bungarm2001

ruggedtoast wrote: »

You as landlords can put whatever you like into your ASTs but if it doesnt accord with what is legally permissible in an AST then its not binding. Rectifying your drainage problems is no more your tenants problem than fixing your roof.

This particular clause is legally permissable and you are typical of the type of person I am referring to. YES if the problem is caused because of something I have or haven't done as a LL/property owner then obviously I am responsible.

If the problem is caused by the tenant clear misuse of the facilities i.e. blocking the drains with food waste and other substances, then it IS the tenants responsibility. It is no different to the tenant being responsible if he kicked a door down, or deliberately smashed a window.

The problem with blocked drains is it can affect other properties and other peoples right to live in a healthy environment. By putting in the clause, we not only bring it to the tenants attention that it is better for everyone if they keep the drains clear by using the facilities correctly, but it will also keep their costs down.

Way off topic now.

mlz1413

PasturesNew wrote: »

I paid £300 because of a blocked sewer a few years back. After reading above about councils etc, I double-checked if I could have got it done any other way/cheaper than automatically calling out Dyno Rod (took them 3 goes).

About 4 years ago in my rented place I noticed the toilet water was coming up the bowl and going down very slowly as it was a 1900 terrace house I rang Anglian Water and they came out next day and rodded the drains - free of charge, problem sorted.

A year later a friend of mine (3 streets away) was telling me that she had just paid £80 to have the drains rodded due to a smell coming from her drains - when I asked her why she didn't call the water co, it turned out she didn't know she could.

I'm not saying everyone can get a drain unblocked for free - but surely it's worth asking before paying a private company?!

JonnyBravo

olly300 wrote: »

When was the house built?

I rented a property which was built in the 1930's and we had drains in a daisy chain affect. When they blocked we telephoned the landlord who told us to called out the water company. We did and they unblocked them free of charge.

Lots of water companies are actually responsible for clearing shared drains in older properties so I suggest you go to you water company's website and have a look.

Spot on.

Back this up 100% with recent experience