Problems with landlord, our fault????

stokeymad

Hi we are having a few problems with our landlord at the moment.
Out toilet blocked a while back in November, which we advised the landlord of, he told us it was our problem and we would have to get it fixed.

We looked over our tenancy agreement, and while it says we cannot bloke pipes and drains (which is this even a fair clause? accidents happen) Section 11 of the Landlords and Tenants act states he has is responsible for the maintanace.
Dyno-Rod came out and fixed the problem, charging over £100, and gave us an invoice stating pipes were old and poor, toilet was poor, and cause of blockage unknown.

The toilet is now broke again, and we advised the landlord again, we had a private plumber out who did not know what it was, and dyno-rod out who phoned the landlord to advise him the pipework was that unstable he would not be prepared to machine them. The landlord has now sent out a emergency plumber, who has yet to fix the problem, but has fished something out (unknown, looks like a block of ice, not big enough to cause a blockage though - landlord argues we have tipped powder down the toilet and its formed in the pipes, even though we havent) and now wants some payment towards the final bill, and has said that he has had a letter off Dyno-Rod (which he has sent us a picture of) stating the problem was wet wipes and we have to pay that bill as well. He has only started this though because we have said we are leaving because we have had enough.

Are we responsible for any payments? I personally dont think that he has sent out an emergency plumber because the toilet is still blocked even after fishing out the unknown object, and our landlord said the 'plumber' advised us to just prop the pipes up with a brick and it would sort the problem. Also if he has paid for something on his own back, can he turn round to us two months after the fact and say actually you should of paid this so pay it.

We are just worried as he is threatening us with legal action and this whole experince has stressed me and my partner out (who have gone a total of 17 days without a toilet the two times its blocked) and he is also becoming quite nasty as we have said we dont see why we should pay.

Also I should point out that we have only used the toilet for its intended use, and have not been negligent in anyway.

We are perhaps prepared to pay some or even all of the dyno-rod bill, but he is pressuring us for more.

Thank you and sorry for this being long winded.

stokeymad

update: I text my landlord to ask if i could have the name and number of the emergency plumber so i could advise him where to leave our house key after, but he said that the plumber would only deal with the account holder i.e the landlord, and advised any correspondance with the plumber would have to go through him.

julie03

im sure landlords are responsible for all repairs, the only time you would pay is if you was negligant, which in this case doesnt sound like you are, you certainly shouldnt have to prop pipes up with bricks. i have been renting for 4 years and never have paid for a repair.

DVardysShadow

No help for the actual problem, but as you are planning on leaving, take photos of it as it is now. He may do the work and then try to come after you,by which time it is too late to take photos

stokeymad

Thanks for the advice, we took pictures, and a video as well just in case. I agree we shouldnt have to do a makeshit solution like propping it up with a brick.

anselld

"makeshit solution" :rotfl:

BitterAndTwisted

What costs have you borne to date and what expenses has your landlord incurred? It's not clear from your post what the total expenditure is to date.

For advice on landlord's responsibilities for maintenance and repairs you should have a look on Shelter's website.

It's my understanding that it's the landlord's responsibility to pay for maintenance and repairs and the tenant's for accidental damage regardless of what your tenancy agreement may say. Blocked lavvys might be a grey area if the blockage is proven to be from tenants chucking down inappropriate items like wet-wipes and those moistened toilet-tissue thingys but if blocked by those items it would be hard to prove that it was you and that they haven't been lingering down there since the previous tenants chucked them. Tricky

Pitlanepiglet

This one depends on what you have been doing. If the problem is entirely down to old/faulty plumbing then you can't be responsible. However, if you have been putting wet wipes down the loo then you may well have caused the blockage and to me that would not be "tenant like behaviour".

Have you put wet wipes down the loo? (for clarify toilet wipes are OK, baby wipes, face wipes etc. aren't).

BitterAndTwisted

OP please be aware that there is a distinct possibility that your landlord will withhold part or all of you deposit if this dispute is still on-going when you vacate the property.

Did you pay a deposit and if you did were you informed of which deposit protection scheme it is held in?

stokeymad

Oops sorry makeshift** :-S

They first bill for the first blockage was £110. He also wants a proportion of the bill from the emergency plumber (he hasnt given us a figure he just advises us that it is a lot) yet we have seen no invoice for the second plumber, and he is refusing us to have contact with them.

I did pay a deposit when we moved in of £650 which the landlord has already advised us that he will be keeping this as he believes we have done damage amounting to more than this (which we disagree - I agree ther are some things that need replacing, but he is arguing that he needs to RETURF the gardens and re-carpet the house and believe me this doe NOT need doing) and unfortunatly we dont know which deposit protection scheme it is in.

I know that we havent put anything like wet wipes down the toilet, we have a bin next to the toilet for that, and as it is the only toilet in the house we would certainly not block it on purpose. We do have a lot of proof advising the plumbing is old and in poor condition, but he argues that he has a letter of the manage rof dyno-rod stating that its our fault due to wet-wipes.

BitterAndTwisted

PLEASE check with the three deposit protection schemes before you do anything else! If he hasn't protected your deposit he's in the !!!!!! and you could be home-free but you don't need to tell him this. Yet.

Was there a full inventory done counter-signed by you at the beginning of the tenancy?