Advice needed re: Water Bill/Letting Agent

N79

Do you contact the Landlord (LA) in writing or is everything by phone?

fluffy123

I'm through a letting agent therefore don't deal directly with any landlord - every time I've contacted the letting agent it's been via telephone. I've never considered writing...unless that'd be a further avenue and cease telephone calls.

tushar46

The landlord is responsible for the leakage I dont you need to pay the amount of the plumber and agents are very smarty to get money from you guys.

G_M

So you've you've been phoning all these months?

You have no record/evidence of your ongoing complaints?

ALL complaints should ALWAYS be done in writing. Addressed to the landlord at the address on the contract for formal notices (which may/may not be the agents). As N79 advised back in Feb!

Follow the advice given by Shelter.

fluffy123

No, afraid not. I guess all I have are dates of bills which indicated when the problem first occurred and the letting agent have a record of when I've called (they told me that last time).

Either way, plumber has contacted me again and will be out next monday. So, I will try the written approach to landlord and letting agent next Tuesday if it's another no-show or non-fix I guess.

Thanks guys. :T

clutton_2

After 12 months of non-repair - any court would say that more than enough time has passed for a "reasonable" amount of time to have passed by and that they repair should have been done..

you MUST do this in writing... to the LL - find out where the LL lives (agent Has to tell you if you write for this information) and write and say that this is now a 12 month leak, that you are no longer willing to put up with it, and that you will be getting 3 quotes for the repair and then you will be following Shelters advice on repairs being done by the tenant and recouping repairs costs from the rent ... and that s/he has 2 weeks to effect a proper repair before you start this process

Having said all that... is there a danger that the LL may issue you with notice if you do this ?

Are you in a fixed period or on a statutory periodic tenancy ?

steve_blake_2

Hi
I agree with with a previous responce that the boiler leak is not the cause of your 350% increase in your water consumption, this would be a major leaK and if inside the property would be obvious unless it is under the floor, I would firstly check the meter reading and then turn off the stopcock in the premises and leave like this for as long as possible, before turning the stopcock back on; check the meter reading if this has increased then you have a leak on the supply pipe from the meter to the stopcock, this is a very common place to get a major leak. If the leak is not on this pipe check your header tanks to see if there is any water going into one of them all the time. Get the plumber to turn off the water to the boiler and again check meter befor and after
It may be worth mentioning to the landlord that a leak of this magnitude may be causing damage to the foundations of the property which would result in a lot of needless expense for him

clutton_2

""If the leak is not on this pipe check your header tanks to see if there is any water going into one of them all the time. ""

if water was constantly going in - it would be constantly going out - through an overflow pipe which they would hear and/or see...

""would firstly check the meter reading and then turn off the stopcock in the premises and leave like this for as long as possible,""

it is difficult to do this unless several thousands of litres of water are used..

why doesn't OP contact the Water Board - they should send someone out to at least check if it is their responsibility

fluffy123

Hi all, many questions to answer hehe!

Well, we were initially on a fixed 12-month contract which we completed and now it's just left open and we've been there for a further 2 years so we have now been there over 3 years. As for the LL's attitude to writing and doing what you suggest clutton, I can't honestly say whether it'd get their back up or not and they'd give us notice as a result.

With things like the stopcock etc, it's all been tried by ourselves, the plumbers, united utilities and all have pointed out to it being not united utilities responsibility. In fact, UU said way back earlier this year that they would issue a notice to the letting agent that they had a certain number of days to resolve this matter due to water wastage....I guess they haven't done that or it's been negotiated?

However, yes, UU have been out and said it's nothing to do with them.

DVardysShadow

Looks to me like a neighbouring flat has a supply off your meter.