Frozen pipe - what is my landlord obliged to do?

shelleywa

Hi,

I woke up this morning to no cold water in any taps or the electric shower and no flushing toilet. Hot taps are working fine. I phoned my letting Agency, I was told that the property is very old and that there's nothing they can do - we just have to wait until the pipes are thawed.

I have spent today researching this as best I can. I have studied the exterior of the property and would guess that no water in the entire system would mean that it's a mains pipe that's frozen, but it's difficult to tell what pipes belong where (I live in a top flat, with 2 other properties below) and even so, there's not much pipe visible externally (incidentally, I have checked with the neighbours and their water supply is fine). I can't get to the water supply in the pavement out the front because it's frozen shut.

The temperature isn't set to get back above freezing until AT LEAST Saturday. The toilet won't flush - this is now becoming a sanitation issue - does my letting agency have an obligation to sort this out? And if so, please could someone advise what official clauses I should quote them?

Our tenancy agreement states that "During cold spells it is your responsibility to ensure that adequate precautions are taken against frost damage. This means that the minimum heating required by the external temperature should be run in any 24 hour hour period to prevent any possible freezing". It is worth noting that this property has NO central heating (i.e. doesn't use water) - it only has electric heaters installed, and that the water supply was fine when we went to bed the night before.

Sorry for the essay, I hope someone can help.

S

silvercar

I woke up this morning to no cold water in any taps or the electric shower and no flushing toilet. Hot taps are working fine.

Odd.

Is your kitchen cold tap working?

If your kitchen tap is not working it suggests your mains is blocked. This makes me wonder where the hot water is coming from. Do you have a hot water tank? If so it could be that you are taking water from the hot water tank and it is not refilling. I had this once, the hot water tank imploded as the water was taken out and not replaced. After the thaw it gradually grew back in size.

Our tenancy agreement states that "During cold spells it is your responsibility to ensure that adequate precautions are taken against frost damage. This means that the minimum heating required by the external temperature should be run in any 24 hour hour period to prevent any possible freezing". It is worth noting that this property has NO central heating (i.e. doesn't use water) - it only has electric heaters installed, and that the water supply was fine when we went to bed the night before.

I would tend to open the loft hatch to allow heat to rise into the loft area to prevent pipes from freezing in the loft area.

nottseagull

shelleywa wrote: »

I can't get to the water supply in the pavement out the front because it's frozen shut.

You need to do this before the pipe thaws out and possibly spurts water (at mains pressure) into your property.
Pour boiled water into the gaps all the way round the cover, then cover with some insulating material (such as a door mat with something on top if it has holes) for 5 minutes while it thaws. If it's still stuck, repeat immediately (before the water you have already poured in freezes!) If you can turn it off, you then need to check the dwellers of the other flats to see if it has stopped their supply too.
You can always turn off the stop tap in your kitchen (clockwise), but this will not help if the pipe splits before this point in your system.

shelleywa

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Last night I had a friend who's a builder come round and look at the pipes. Apparently, I have a water tank up in the loft, which supplies the flat. Everything up there seems to be in good working order (even if it is a 'total cowboy job', as he put it!). But he said there's no water coming in. So I'm guessing it's a mains blockage (Silvercar there is indeed no water coming from the kitchen tap either and we do have a hot water tank. Since reading your post I have stopped using the hot water!).

Anglian Water have put me on emergency callout, which is 24-48 hours but could be longer as they are inundated. Today, I'm going to tackle the mains tap outside. Thanks, Nottseagull, for your tips!

I just hope this is sorted before Christmas!

hendersonb

Hi, I know what your going through - we are in exactly the same boat, we're with a LHA and they have said there is not much they can do. The worst thing for me is it happened last year - was off for 2 weeks. They did absolutely nothing to prevent it happening again. We had a daily 30 mile round trip to the in-laws to get showered etc. Cooking and the dishes was a major operation with no mains water. The wife basically moved out last year and we were told there would be no compensation with it being put down to severe weather. I feel its a bit harsh to be paying full rent for a property that is obvioulsy not well enough insulated to cope with our current weather.


Brian

vic88

Hi, I am in a similar position too. I live in a private rented house and I've had no running water since Friday night and the toilet won't flush. I contacted the letting agents to inform them of this, and in the area I live we haven't got above subzero temperatures for a couple of weeks now. Yesterday it was -10 at 9am! I had a plumber come out on Monday to look at the pipes after i'd spent all weekend with a heater under the kitchen sink and hair dryer blowing on the visible water pipes. There are no external pipes at all outside the property that are on show. The plumber came and said he suspects the water pipes are frozen underneath my house, and there's nothing that can be done, and I'll just have to wait until they thaw, and as I live at an end house at the top of my street it gets battered by bad weather. It could take some time for the pipes to thaw due to the severe weather conditions we are having. I have a 2 year old daughter and just recently got out of hospital after an operation and need to keep my wounds clean properly which is hard with no running water. I have been going over to my neighbours house to fill bottles of water up to cope the best we can. But, it is so hard.
Luckily we have central heating which seems to be working fine, but the gas bill is going to be huge when that comes as I've not turned the heating off since Saturday.
I spoke to the letting agents again and they are useless, saying i'm not the only person in this position, which I am fully aware of, but there must be something that could be done, in the way of providing alternative accommodation or lifting the floor boards to tend to the frozen pipes and lag them properly.

I am wondering if anyone could tell me if their are any legal obligations the Landlord has to comply with, as its his house, and i'm sure the pipes should be sufficiently lagged to prevent this sort of thing happening or not as bad.

This is day 5 now with no running water. I cannot keep going over to my neighbours as there's only so many times you can go and ask.

Any advice on this issue would be much appreciated.

Thank You


ps, I have spoken to the local water board who have said if the pipes are frozen under the house, then it is the landlords responsibility, not theirs.