leaking toliet in rented house

klee1505

Hello,
Bassically i have a bit of a problem at the house that i rent at the moment. bassically we moved in at the end of may and as soon as we moved in we realised the toilet was not screwed in to the floor and contacted them to advise of this. and got the usual stuff of we will get someone to contact you to sort this out. this obviously never happened. now due to this the toilet is now leaking and coming through the ceiling downstairs. i contacted them straight away last monday when this started and they advised they where going away but their son was a plumber and would call me or my other half to get this sorting again no contact what so ever. because she was away (dont even know when she is back) i cant get in contact with her i have called and emailed her due to tthis and still no response at all. now if it happens that the ceiling does fall trough as now it is bowing is that her responisbility as she has not done anything about this. bassically she is one of them people that would say that anything is our fault when it is not. this isnt the only problem we have in the house like out window in the kitchen does not lock so any one can get in this also has not been relsoved.

does any one know what else we can do?? we dont have the money to sort it our selves other wise we would. we aer with an agency but we are direct with the LL.

Thanks
Kayleigh

Bufger

first of all as a tenant you should never spend money fixing a house that isnt yours, its a good job you dont have the money to do so as you would be doing someone elses work for them!

If the ceiling collapses it is completely your landlords fault (but will obviously be your immediate problem as you have to live there). My advice would be to send a letter or email to your landlord and note down every interaction you have. If you think she will blame you but you can prove you pointed out the problem several times then she is liable. You may also be able to get some compensation if she is knowingly having you in an unsafe environment.

Most of all make sure you're safe. If you think its going to collapse then dont stand under or ontop of it! The last thing you want is to be sitting on the loo but in the kitchen after a 7ft fall.

klee1505

thanks for that what do you mean about the compensation?
it wouldnt be so bad if we had more than one loo in the house but we dont other wise it wouldnt be such a bad problem!! but we litterally have to go the loo as fast as we can just in case it does go through

purplebuzz

Can you take any pictures of the damage now as it is occuring to prove what is happening. Maybe you could send them to your LL to show how serious the problems is and then they may come and sort it out.

clutton_2

this is definitely an Environmental Health issue - and if you are willing to contact EO they will write to your landlord to force them to get it fixed as a matter of urgency - unclean water etc dripping through a ceiling is very nasty .....

klee1505

i dont mean to sound really stupid but whats the EO? im new to this park of the forum so not to sure thanks

clutton_2

Environmental Officer - part of your local councils legal responsibility is to ensure Health and Safety issues in the Private Rental Sector are dealt with quickly and efficiently

are there any screws in the base of the toilet which have come away from the floor-joist they should be screwed into - if so - you could try tightening them up with a screwdriver

Pee

But there is a letting agent involved? If so bother them. otherwise, you need to keep ringing the landlord, but be careful not to exaggerate - I'm not saying you are but if you were the landlord, you'd want a tenant that told you when there was a genuine problem, which this sounds like, and shut up when there wasn't one...

klee1505

no there are no screws in it what so ever because that was our 1st thought when we moved in that they just need tightening. bassically we think the bathroom has been made smaller to make one of the bedrooms bigger there no bath there theres just a shower and the toilet is in between the shower and the wall which is a bit of a small space so im asuming who ever fitter it couldnt get there hand round to fit it correctly. theres a pipe that is obviously not connected properly and thats the one that we think is causing the problem.

there is a letting agents we went through but bassically its a tennancy that is directly through the LL and the letting agents dont have anything to do with the tennancy except have us on their books, we have called them but they advised to contact the LL as it is not their responsibility.

If we had more than 1 loo it wouldnt be such a big issue, the toilet is making the ceilng bow and it is getting worse every day. im dreading coming home and the bubble burst there would be alot of water there as well, and i dont honestly know how long this has been going on for so i dont know how safe it is to go on the loo and put weight on it thats why i want it sorted out asap,

theartfullodger

The agency & LL are just going through the motions (sorry)..

I am sorry to read your story: It is disgraceful what is happening.

Don't fix it yourselves, write to the LL copy agent explaining problem & invite them to let you know what they wil do to fix it.

Take photos of the problem..

Ask if you should contact the council environmental health dept (you can anyway, but just asking tells LL you know how to apply pressure...)


Follow these instructions...
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets


Cheers!

Lodger (A Landlord since 2000)

klee1505

thanks so much for that! I will write a letter tonight about this and send a copy to both the agency and LL thanks for that