Please Please Help

missminx

We are renting privately. During the night Xmas Eve, we discovered we have no water at all. We cannot find the source of the problem and are not able to get hold of the landlord. There is no answer, and he doesn't have an answer phone or alternative number apart from his office which is next door to us. It may be that the proble is in the office next door as it once used to be part of the original house. It is a nightmare as we have a baby as well. What can we do?

silvercar

Even with the best will in the world, a landord would struggle to get a plumber to you today.

Have a look on the DIY board for similar posts.

Does your kitchen cold tap work? If not it is likely the mains has frozen, do your neighbours have similar probs?

does your heating still work?

princeofpounds

What an awful situation.

The landlord has a duty under section 11 of the housing and tenant act to perform all repairs within a reasonable timescale. If a repair is not urgent, that can mean a timescale of weeks. However, if it is urgent, that should mean hours and days.

You should consider calling in a plumber yourselves after doing all the obvious things like checking with neighbours to make sure the issue is specific to your house and speaking to your water company to make sure there isn't an unexpected service interruption.

Your landlord should reimburse you when you get back in touch, assuming it is a genuine repair issue and not a problem of your own making.

Only a court can decide what is and what is not reasonable, so I cannot give you an exact course of action. However, courts use their common sense. If as a tenant you accelerate a repair somewhat ahead of what is reasonable but the cost remains sensible then they would likely award for you anyway, because the landlord would have had to do it sooner or later.

Now, lack of water to me comes in at the highest level of urgency, even more so than lack of heating. So depending on how you are coping I would at most wait until tomorrow (first monday back) and might even ring around today to see if you can book up any appointments.

missminx

Hi, neighbours are all fine. No water at all coming in anywhere in the house, heating is on. We can't find where the water comes in to the property BUT what was the original kitchen to the house is part of the office next door. We did wonder, if the problem could be in there? They haven't been at the office for just over a week. No problems prior to this, even with the extreme cold. Is this a possibility would you think? Also worth noting they have had a few people to do work for them on the place and they haven't done the best job, shall we say! So when they altered the layout to separate the office away, anything could have been done. We don't know where landlord is or when we can get hold of him. We can't continue indefinitely as we are. What are we allowed to do in these circumstances?

silvercar

Only guessing obviously, but it sounds like the mains inlet has frozen. Has the office been left empty without heating for a few days?

If you can't get into the office, can you look around the outside and see where the mains water enters the building. If you can identify this, then plenty of options involving hot towels and hair dryers on the DIY board. (To possibly prevent burst pipes, open the kitchen cold tap slightly at the same time).

If you can't get hold of the landlord and suffer no water I agree that you should be able to arrange a plumber yourself. On a practical level, if you can sort the problem yourself it could be quicker.

(Desperate measures include buying bottled water and boiling snow!)

Yorkie1

I am no expert but some thoughts which occur to me:

I assume you've checked all of the obvious places for your stoptap? Under the sink, in a cloakroom, etc? Do you pay separate water rates from the office or not? That might indicate whether there is one or two supplies to the property now.

Assuming you can find where the water pipe enters your property, have you tried applying gentle heat in case it has frozen there?

If there's nothing you can identify inside your property, do you know how long the office is going to be shut for? Is there an emergency number on the answerphone / window / etc?

If you know the LL's name can you try googling him, or looking him up in the phone book to locate an alternative address / number for him? Can you obtain his details through the land registry online? (I don't know if this is a viable immediate solution or not).

The difficulty you may have is as you've identified, that the pipes are frozen in the office and you cannot contact anyone for a plumber to gain access. Have you tried ringing your water company and asking whether there is a right of entry for the police in such a situation? Hazard to health etc?

If all else fails, do you have neighbours who you can use to get water to flush the loo and do basic washing functions? I have friends down the road who have been without water since 22nd I think. They have been using my bath and washine machine, as well as taps for water, in order to keep things going. Their pipes are frozen under the drive, they think, and there's nothing to be done until they thaw naturally.

Or, if all else fails, I think you are entitled to alternative accommodation and to be reimbursed at the LL's expense - but check this out with more experienced peeps on here first.

missminx

Thank you all for your replies. The landlord pays the water as included in rent, so I couldn't say for sure. I have tried to get through to the water company but you just queue eternally! We are getting some water from my Dad, but is very difficult. It's amazing how much water you use daily :eek: Just flushing the toilet uses a surprising amount. We have so far failed to find anything but will be trying again.

Thank you all again for you helpful advice. :A

silvercar

Have you had a look outside the office, where the original water supply enters the building? See if there is an exposed pipe there.

princeofpounds

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets

here are some of the general principles on repairs, as a reference. Nothing in it on breaking into other premises to enforce repairs though.

Wings

Contact your local Water Authority/Company, I had the same problem just before Christmas, frozen pipe from outside path stop tap to rented flat. Although another possibility is that those who use the nearby office premises, have turned their (and yours) water supply off, in order to stop the same freezing. Which ever it is contact Water Authority.

Hammyman

princeofpounds wrote: »

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets

here are some of the general principles on repairs, as a reference. Nothing in it on breaking into other premises to enforce repairs though.

Basically because its illegal without a court order.