Pipes frozen in rented house

clutton_2

thanks poppy - but nothing at all sensible on there really - "put hot water bottle on to frozen pipe" .. i think we could all have worked that out for ourselves...

Pitlanepiglet

Bexter wrote: »

Over Christmas our hot water went off twice (in a privately rented 4 bed house). The heating was on 24/7 - we got hot water back after about 24 hours each time by dint of blasting a fan heater under the sink and running the oven.

On Wednesday last week we lost all water supply - hot and cold - so presume now the pipes are frozen somewhere outside the property.

We took the call to move out temporarily as don't imagine this will change until the thaw, which could be some way off and lord knows what state the pipes will be in then. We have a 6 month old baby so it's a real hassle - the landlord was initially trying to say not his problem but we pointed out that in fact he has an obligation to maintain the property and without water it's legally uninhabitable.

My understanding via shelter is that either they would have had to bring in tanks of hot water or bottles of cold - or rehouse us. Neither looked likely so we have advised LL we'll seek an abatement of rent for the time we can't live there. Obviously this weather is highly unusual but we still need a water supply and are now having to pay for short term accomodation. No idea how long for either - not ideal. We have also told LL we won't be paying the bill to heat the house while we can't live there!

Anyway thought it may be useful - shelter advised that we could apply to the council for emergency accomodation but that could be anywhere and that ultimately if the LL wea taking no action to remedy the situation then they could be reported to LL registration.

Also found this quite interesting article

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article4954290.ece

I'm confused as to why this is your LL's fault or responsibility if the pipes outside of the property are frozen.

Where exactly is the frozen pipe?

poppysarah

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

Where exactly is the frozen pipe?

On a shared supply it could be frozen between you and next door (And if his windows are frozen inside I'd say this was a possibility)

---

1----2

---

3

If you're house 3 and the pipes comes through 2 other houses first then you need to see the neighbours.
If it's frozen before your stop tap then it's not your house causing the problem (it's the pipe coming to it)

a non shared supply
---1
---2
---3
each house is fed directly from the mains in the street

Bexter

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

I'm confused as to why this is your LL's fault or responsibility if the pipes outside of the property are frozen.

Where exactly is the frozen pipe?

Well therein lies the problem! Pipe could be anywhere - it's an old house in quite big gardens and LL not sure exactly where the supply pipe comes in. And we can't find out until the ground thaws. Neighbours have water though so it's likely it's on the land belonging to the house and therefore the landlord's responsibility.

clutton_2

the water company should be able to tell you .....

SKIPPY

I'd be careful about moving out and leaving frozen pipes, they may have burst and then when thawed out will flood the property!