Broken toilet & £500 water bill

Charis

Have you recently moved into the property? If so it might be interesting to find out from the water company if the previous tenant had a very large water bill. It may be the reason they moved out. If so it would indicate that the water company knew about the problem and should have informed the owner of the property. The onus would then have been on him to do something about it.

Also are you quite sure the water was leaking via the toilet and not from a cracked undergound pipe between the meter and the house? They are often covered under household insurance. If it is a cracked pipe it may well still be leaking.

stickstickstick

Apologies for the late addition to this thread but we got the money back!
not through claiming it off the landlord, but due to some very friendly people at the water board.

After my girlfriend phoned them up and explained the problem, they sent us a leak allowance form, we filled it in and hey-presto! most of the money was returned to us.

I wish all companies were as friendly as this.

Rikki

dionjones wrote: »

Apologies for the late addition to this thread but we got the money back!
not through claiming it off the landlord, but due to some very friendly people at the water board.

After my girlfriend phoned them up and explained the problem, they sent us a leak allowance form, we filled it in and hey-presto! most of the money was returned to us.

I wish all companies were as friendly as this.

Its nice to hear a happy ending.
Thank you for coming back and letting us know. :T

davey67

dionjones wrote: »

Apologies for the late addition to this thread but we got the money back!
not through claiming it off the landlord, but due to some very friendly people at the water board.

After my girlfriend phoned them up and explained the problem, they sent us a leak allowance form, we filled it in and hey-presto! most of the money was returned to us.

I wish all companies were as friendly as this.

Hey,
I realise this post is a while after the last one but thought it was worth a try posting. I have had exactly the same problem with the toilet and high bill. The water company has said they will send out the leak form anyway but they also said that the excess water useage from the leak is not their responsibility to and we need to take it up with the landlord as the leak was inside the flat. So was just wondering if you had any tips on filling out the form as you managed to get the money back. Our form asks us to draw a picture of where the leak is but not quite sure how to do that. Glad to hear you got yours sorted.
Thanks

The_Leveller_3

Leaking toilets are on loads of threads, I bet they are all push button. These have whats called a drop valve in the cistern, the seal is at the bottom of the cistern, just like a plug in a sink, with water always above it. They are renowned for leaking.

Get a toilet with a flush handle on, these have siphons in the cistern, which never leak.

thamespirate

to check for possible leak , if you have a meter , usually under plastic cover outside house or metal, if meter not moving no leak if moving turn off stop !!!! usually under the kitchen sink , but could be in toilet , then check meter if still moving you have a leak between meter and stop !!!! . if internal leak turn stop !!!! back on if meter moving check for uasage in the house.

emmaje

We have exactly the same problem, only difference is we reported the leaking toilet to our letting agents 8 weeks ago but they still havent been out to fix it!

Should my landlord/letting agent be responsible for the large water bill we now have?

Ive spoken to Severn Trent and apprently we cant have a leakage allowance because the leak was inside the property.

Where do we stand if the letting agent refuses to pay?

deanos

Im sure OFWAT changed the rules and you can now claim for an internal leak i know Anglian Water let you claim for an internal one now