Please Help, water bill and leaking toilet, rented flat!

gabzball

Hi im a bit confused from things ive read so was looking for some sound legal advice if anyone could help!?
I live in a rented flat in manchester and i am due to move out on tuesday. A few months ago i discovered the toilet had been leaking due to a letter from the water utilities making me aware of excessive water usage. The leak must have been going on since i had moved in and had been trickling water from the cystern into the pan silently using a lot of water. I aaume the bill is going to be huge but i have been paying £20 month for the past 12 months and as far as im concerned that covers in excess of what i owe to them for my normal usage in a year, they have also just taken £163 out on direct debit i assume to start payments of the excess water.
I turned my toilet off at the valve for the furture and only allowed enough water in to flush each time manually, i notified the landord of the leak and a plumber came to fix it.
Whos responsibility is the leak and the excess water bill, i feel it should be the landlords as it is his toilet for him to maintain and from what i have read it appears to be that way but i wanted to ask for advice.

Thanks in advance

DVardysShadow

It is a hard case to make. First of all you need to quantify how much water was lost. Then if it is too little, you are wasting time by pursuing it, but if it is too much, you will be challenged for not noticing it and reporting it to the Landlord at the earliest. As the Landlord dealt with it when you pointed it out, you have little comeback

Cardew

I agree with the post above.

You might have a better case if you had notified the landlord and he had refused to fix the leak.

tandraig

you need to check the contract with landlord - if your water bill is included with rent - its down to landlord. if, however, your flat is metered, then it COULD be up to you. My OH who used to be welsh water customer services inspector advises that you contact your water company as you advised your landlord of leak when you were made aware of it. be aware - not all water companies are helpful on this. he says you may need to contact citizens advice as this can be tricky on who is liable for this.

gabzball

Thankyou for your posts, my bill is £549 outstanding i have found out today, i have already paid £240 over the year direct debit and and extra £143 last month which they chose to take extra. I only used a small amount of water each month so i think the water which was lost was a large amount. My rent was literally for the flat, no utilities. I suppose my argument is that if no one was living here the landlord would be liable for the leak so why not for over and above what i have used due to the leak because of it being a maintenance issue, i believe it was leaking when i moved in to have used such an amount of water so it wasnt checked properly.

frostyfeet

Hi

I had a similar problem a few months back with a leaky loo. It came to light when I received my water bill which was much higher than usual. I contacted the water board who sent someone out to help find the leak and once identified and sorted the waterboard credited my account with a leak allowance, so the extra water used didn't cost me anything. (The plumbers bill was a different story!) It might be worth ringing your water provider and checking to see if they are prepared to do something similar. Good Luck!

tandraig

frosty is right - its same in our area - BUT - different areas or water companies may have a different policy. Your first port of call should be the water company - ask them to send a customer service advisor ..........not a call centre advisor - they are two different jobs!. most CSAs will give you good advice as they are customers too!

Gothicfairy

Not disagreeing with the above , however most water companies will not offer an allowance or adjustment if the leak is on internal fixtures and fittings as that is not their fault.
It could be the landlord for bad maintenance or the tenant for not informing the landlord etc but it is not in any way the water companies fault.
That water was used (leak or not it went through the meter) and someone should pay for it. It should not come out of the water companies leakage figures as it is not their leak.


Not sure what a "call centre advisor" would do as they don't visit properties and call centre staff can not say who will go out,that will be down to the people who book the visits. As the leak was internal and on a toilet I can't really see what good getting someone out will do.

Also call centre staff are customers as well and do understand the problem but that does not mean it can be fixed. The leak happened and it was nothing to do with the water company so it is a 3rd party issue

The_Leveller_3

I bet it was a push button toilet, they will all leak at some time or another. Best to use siphon flushing toilets, the ones with handles on, these never leak.