Legal advice please!

sooty86

Hi,

A bit of background....

My girlfriend and I are renting a property. The property has a bath, with a shower head fixed at 'half height' i.e. too low to have a stand-up shower in. Now, we prefer having showers not baths, so we bought a shower curtain and have since used it as a 'kneel down' shower (sounds awkward but we've got used to it!). A few days ago, the wallpaper of the ceiling under where the bath is situated started to peel off and shortly after that a large chunk of the plaster collapsed!

After contacting the landlord, he is refusing to take any of the blame. As it turns out, the tiles behind the bath taps are not properly sealed (just grouted) and therefore not suitable for the regular splashes that result from having a shower. Water has seeped through the gaps in the tiles over time and caused the collapse. He claims that it was always designed just as a bath and that the shower head was just for rinsing, so it is our fault since we have misused the property.

His argument is that we never asked if it could be used as a shower and therefore it is our fault. We feel aggrieved at this - a similar argument is that he never told is we couldn't use it as a shower, so why shouldn't we? On response to this, he says (rightly or wrongly) that it was a matter of common sense so he didn't feel the need to tell us.

Phew! So, where do we stand? Is he right saying we should pay for the damage? Does his property insurance not cover him for things like this?

Any pointers would be much appreciated - we're at an uncomfortable stalemate!

Many thanks,

Sooty

Wee_Willy_Harris

You have used a shower that was in place when you took occupancy in the maner in which such a device could/should be used. You have not missused it in any way. This IS the LL responsibility. Had he not wanted you to use the shower, that should have been highlighted in writing and, to be honest, the shower removed.

If you are getting nowhere with the landlord, you could try Shelter for further advice/assistance. Your local council will also have a department dealing with private sector leasing. Try Environmental Health as a good starting point. They will send an officer out to inspect and, depending on the outcome of that inspection, may send the LL a notice to repair.

Fire_Fox

Write to the landlord by recorded delivery and formally report the water damage - I would suggest you also take photographs of the set up in the bathroom and damage downstairs for your own records. If he refuses to repair the damage Environmental Heath can enforce his repairing obligations. This is a bad workmanship/ poor maintenance issue not accidental damage so will not be covered by insurance.

I wash and colour my hair over the bath and the tiling gets absolutely soaked when I do this - I also clean the tiling and rinse using the shower head. IMO it is not unreasonable to expect tiling to be waterproof, there are plenty of products on the market to ensure that it is. I would not get into the whys and wherefores of HOW you used the shower head, simply that you did and the damage has resulted.

G_M

Whether the LL has insurance, and whether that policy covers this damage is irrelevant.

What matters is whether it is the LL or tenant's responsibility.

A shower exists. The tiling is of poor quality. The shower has been used. The damage is therefore clearly not the tenant's fault.
Write to the LL (WRITE) enclosing photos as Firefox suggests, asking the LL to reply providing a timescale within which he is going to fix the problem.

See Shelter here for more.

bitsandpieces

Is your landlord a Magritte fan - maybe he just forgot to attach the 'this is not a shower' sign to the shower head?

Seriously though - the property came with a shower, you used it as a shower, not your fault if the tiles were a bodge job (I mean who tries to save money by not properly sealing bathroom tiles by the shower...esp in a place they're renting out...) It wouldn't be reasonable to expect you to know that the tiles aren't sealed and it's perfectly reasonable for you to use the shower as a shower. This would surely be the landlord's responsibility. You should stop using the shower for now - to avoid further damage - if you haven't already done so.

sooty86

Thanks for the replies everyone - certainly encouraging and confirms what we thought. I also find it hard to believe that, even if we had used the shower head just as a 'rinser', water wouldn't have eventually got into the grouting and seeped through.

As for writing to him - he's already been round, seen the damage and had a discussion with us and said he won't pay - so will we benefit from doing this?

Out of interest, what is the legislation that governs all of this?

Wee_Willy_Harris

If you write to him (keeping a copy) you have a paper trail as evidence.

BitterAndTwisted

There are steps which can be taken to either force the LL to carry out the repair properly, pay for it yourselves and bill the LL or deduct it from your rent or to protect yourselves from having your deposit withheld because of this damage but the first step in all of these is to get everything in writing and be able to prove that the LL received your correspondence. This is why it has been recommended that you do this in the first instance and I would urge you to do this asap even if you decide to do nothing later.

G_M

As for writing to him - he's already been round, seen the damage and had a discussion with us and said he won't pay - so will we benefit from doing this?

Out of interest, what is the legislation that governs all of this?

You are not writing to tell him about the damage - he already knows about it. You are writing because that is part of the process for enforcing your rights.

See the shelter link in my post above. Read the good advice you've received. Follow the advice.

Or roll over and do nothing... in which case why did you ask for 'legal advice please'

teeni

sooty86 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone - certainly encouraging and confirms what we thought. I also find it hard to believe that, even if we had used the shower head just as a 'rinser', water wouldn't have eventually got into the grouting and seeped through.

As for writing to him - he's already been round, seen the damage and had a discussion with us and said he won't pay - so will we benefit from doing this?

Out of interest, what is the legislation that governs all of this?[/QUOTE]


landlords and tenant a act 1985 section 11,

sooty86

G_M wrote: »

You are not writing to tell him about the damage - he already knows about it. You are writing because that is part of the process for enforcing your rights.

See the shelter link in my post above. Read the good advice you've received. Follow the advice.

Or roll over and do nothing... in which case why did you ask for 'legal advice please'

The advice is gratefully received and will definitely follow - just wanted to clear up that writing was part of the 'process' as you put it!