Water Damage

GillEvans_2

Hi dont know if you can help me but here goes anyway.

My daughter rents a 1st floor flat which recently the water boiler bust and flooded her landing carpet. We had to rip it up cause it was so badly damaged and we have recently paid to have it replaced.

What I want to know is who is responsible for the cost?

This is an exert from her rental agreement

"The landlords repairing obligations referred to shall not be construed as requiring the landlord to rebuild or reinstate the property in the case of destruction or damage by fire or by tempest, flood or other inevitable accident."

"Keep the interior of the property the internal decorations, the fixtures and fittings and appliances in the property in a clean condition to prevent damage to the property and its contents. To repair or replace with articles of a similar kind and equal value, any fixture, fittings and appliances destroyed, lost or damaged during the tenancy (except for damage cause by accidental fire and except for anything which the landlor is liable to repair under this agreement or by law)"

Surely it wasn't her fault the boiler broke and leaked everywhere and caused damage to the carpets so it shouldnt be her responsibility to replace them.

Any advice on how she stands legally would be great as none of us have ever rented before so dont know the ins and outs.

Thanks

david29dpo

Did the boiler bust because it froze due to her not having the heating on?

anselld

Unless the boiler leaked because of missuse by you daughter (including leaving no heating on during a freeze) then the LL is responsible for both the boiler repair and the cost of any damage to LL property.

GillEvans_2

This happened before all this cold weather we had about three months ago. She was using the boiler as normal it works on the same principal as the night storage heaters she has, its electric and warms up at night.

Firstly she noticed a small leak and no hot water so we called the agents they arrange for someone to come round and change the emmersion, that next morning she got up and the whole of the landing was drenched, so wrang agents again and they sent round same plumbers who on further inspection said there were cracks in boiler and she needed a new one. All this was paid for by the landlord but we were told we would have to replace the damaged carpets which felt wrong with me. We managed to afford to get the carpets re done last week and sitting here thinking about the more I do the more I believe its not down to her its down to the landlord to pay and needed some advice as to whether my thinking is right.

She did nothing different than she has done since she moved into the flat some 19 months ago.

So any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

david29dpo

You are not liable for the cost of the carpets.

firstaspect

I would have thought the landlord would be liable for the cost of the carpets.

angrypirate

GillEvans wrote: »

This happened before all this cold weather we had about three months ago. She was using the boiler as normal it works on the same principal as the night storage heaters she has, its electric and warms up at night.

Firstly she noticed a small leak and no hot water so we called the agents they arrange for someone to come round and change the emmersion, that next morning she got up and the whole of the landing was drenched, so wrang agents again and they sent round same plumbers who on further inspection said there were cracks in boiler and she needed a new one. All this was paid for by the landlord but we were told we would have to replace the damaged carpets which felt wrong with me. We managed to afford to get the carpets re done last week and sitting here thinking about the more I do the more I believe its not down to her its down to the landlord to pay and needed some advice as to whether my thinking is right.

She did nothing different than she has done since she moved into the flat some 19 months ago.

So any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

You are not liable for anything. This is a case of the Landlord being incompetent and not fixing the problem when notified. It is entirely his fault. Your daughter notified him when she became aware of the problem. That was her sole responsibility in the matter

GillEvans_2

Thanks for that will send him and invoice and see what happens