Flooded house rented by students

Mr_Warren_2

Hi alls and Merry Christmas to all. Hope you are all having a fab break. Our youngest daughter is renting a house with 3 other mates in Liverpool via a specialist rental place. Over the Xmas break, pipes in the house froze/de-frosted and when one of the tenants went back to the house last night, water was gushing EVERYWHERE and she had to call the emergency services to get the leak stopped (no daddys around to help.!!).

The 4 girls are now all worried that house will become unhabitable for a while.

What is (or what should be) the situation concerning the insurance liability of this rental company as I am satisfied this is a building's insurance claim (Girls tried to contact the rental company emergency number without success so far).

Daughter is specifically worried as she is due to start a work placement in Liverpool (through Uni) on Wednesday 5th January and will need somewhere to stay.......Is the rental company obliged to re-house / offer hotel accomodations until they can move back to the house again? Cheers for any advice.

Blobby8_2

The Travelodge sale starts Wednesday morning 6am, rooms from £10.

martindow

Had your daughter and her friends left heating on? If they had not taken reasonable steps to protect the building the LL or his insurance company may well be chasing the Ts for the cost of putting this right.

Mr_Warren_2

She is out at the moment but somehow, I don't think they would have had the reflex of turning the heating off when they left the house when they all came home last week.

*Robin*

Mr_Warren wrote: »

Hi alls and Merry Christmas to all. Hope you are all having a fab break. Our youngest daughter is renting a house with 3 other mates in Liverpool via a specialist rental place. Over the Xmas break, pipes in the house froze/de-frosted and when one of the tenants went back to the house last night, water was gushing EVERYWHERE and she had to call the emergency services to get the leak stopped (no daddys around to help.!!).

First thought on reading this was; four students going home for xmas, didn't want to pay for heating they wouldn't use, so turned it off.

Oops.

Lokolo

As above! Most probably turned heating off, froze, burst, unfrozen.

I left the heating ON and on a lowish temperature (around 15c), to stop freeze.

G_M

Most insurance policies, including specialist landlord policies, require heating to be left on at a low temp between months of Oct - March when property is left empty.
Most tenancy agreements have similar clauses to reflect the landlord's insurance requirements

Having siad that, damage to the building is the responsibility of the LL to repair, though he may have a case to claim compensation if the tenancy contract has been breached.

If the property is uninhabitable, read this thread.

ps - not sure what " a specialist rental place" means. A letting agency? There are good ones and bad ones - they'll all be 'specialist'!! Bottom line, this is a matter between the girls (tenants) and the landlord (who may or may not choose to communicate via an agency). Deal with the LL, in writing.

Wings

The answer to the OP's question is to consider how unreasonable the tenant’s conduct has been. If the tenants were aware before starting their vacation that cold weather conditions were well-forecast or the tenants goes away for an excessive period with no reasonable precautions being taken, then case law has held that the tenant/s were liable for burst pipes.


So, in each case, the tenant/s behaviour and the reasonableness in relation to the foreseeable danger is the key factor. Given that the current spell of cold weather has been well advertised any tenant/s who fails to take proper precautions is/are likely to be liable for any damage caused.


Although in saying all of the above, it must be noted that, there is a also a responsibility for landlords under the HHSRS to make sure that homes do not suffer from excess cold, have full heating, insulated, draft proof etc. etc

cheekychappy

Prove the heating was not on....

looby75

it was -17 in Liverpool on night last week. My sister (who lives in Liverpool) had a flood caused but frozen pipes in the loft despite having the heating on full blast, so there is a real possibility that the heating was left on low yet the pipes still froze.

tbs624

As Wings seems to have failed to credit a Painsmith blog entry for her useful info - here it is in full (Painsmiths are a specialist LL& T law firm)

Given the current weather conditions it seemed appropriate to do a post on what happens if a property is left by the tenant and the pipes freeze and burst.

The short answer to the question is to consider how unreasonable the tenant’s conduct has been. If the tenant has only been away for a short period and during that time there has been an unexpected cold snap then the tenant will not be liable for burst pipes (Wycombe Health Authority v Barnett). If however, the weather is well-forecast or the tenant goes away fro an excessive period with no reasonable precautions taken then the Scottish case of Mickel v McCoard would be relevant. In this case it was held that the tenant was liable for burst pipes.

So, in each case, the tenants behaviour and its reasonableness in relation to the foreseeable danger is the key factor. Given that the current spell of cold weather has been well advertised any tenant who fails to take proper precautions is likely to be liable for any damage caused.

It should be noted that, separately to this, there is a responsibility for landlords under the HHSRS to make sure that homes do not suffer from excess cold. Local authorities will be keen to ensure that properties are properly insulated, have sufficient heating, and do not suffer form drafts(sic) and have the right to serve enforcement notices to ensure that this is the case.

Source

OP - it is usual for an LA to send Ts (particularly student Ts) a standard "preparation for winter" letter. However, if they didn't ( or the Ts chose not to bother reading it) it doesn't let the Ts off the hook - your daughter and co-tenants may be about to embark on an expensive " learning experience"