Blocked shared drain in rented property advice

shauniebabe

Hi, I wonder if you could give me some advice whilst I wait for the cab to get back to me.

I rent a property and have done for almost 3 years, during that time I have only had to contact the owner to repair a boiler which had blown 3 switches. However on Thursday we had a blocked toilet which we tried to clear using the normal methods. The toilet didn't clear and on Friday I contacted the landlord and explained what had happened and that we would try to clear it outside. However when we went out we found that the inspection drain had capped pipes and that the soil pipe must join at a manhole that needed a key to get into. I text her to let her know this and to let her know that the property management company caretaker would only cover it if it was the main sewer (all on saved text). They got a plumber out Saturday morning and the blockage was found to be in the soil pipe joining the drain. This was cleared and cost £60 which I didn't mind paying on top of the other £50 plus spent on chemicals and plungers etc. However on the Sunday upstairs returned from holiday and as soon as she flushed her toilet it backed up into the one in our apartment and the toilet was reblocked. I should say when the plumber came he said nothing had come past him so it was a mystery to him! I couldn't get hold of my landlord so text to say that I was having to get the plumber again and when he came out he then had to re rod and get both of us flushing at the same time etc! This after 2 hours finally cleared the problem which looked like soil and leaves to him and he said it looks like on the Saturday he had pushed the blockage past our toilet and up into next doors pipe! He says that the design is flawed because we are sharing one waste pipe when it should be 2 then joining at the soil pipe! He also says it looks like the blockage has been caused by the main soil pipe backing up and pushing into our pipe (we are the first property) he charged a further £40 rounding it off to £100 and I gave him a £10 tip for coming out straight away on a Sunday literally 2 minutes after I rang.

The problem is now the landlord says she isn't responsible for the bill or a share of the bill and it should be down to us and upstairs (I should point out upstairs is owned by her friend) as it's in the tenancy agreement. However I dont see why I should pay when it wasn't caused by anything we have done, it's a design fault. She also says it should of been down to her to get someone to do the work but she didn't want to take any responsibility at the time!

I own property's in Liverpool myself including apartments and have always taken that if it's the toilet or the tenants fault they pay if it's the drains I pay if it's the main sewer the property management company or water board.

I was hoping someone could give me some further advice on this!

Thanks

shauniebabe

Anyone any ideas?

N79

shauniebabe wrote: »

I own property's in Liverpool myself including apartments and have always taken that if it's [STRIKE]the toilet or[/STRIKE] the tenants fault they pay if it's the drains or the toilet I pay if it's the main sewer the property management company or water board.

I was hoping someone could give me some further advice on this!

Thanks

You have pretty much summed up the situation (subject to a slight modification as toilets are covered by a LL's S11 repairing obligations).

However, the difficulty is that you have to give your LL a reasonable period to put the problem right first before calling in your own contractors. Clearly with a blocked sewer the "reasonable" period is pretty short (a day or so). Did you do this? Only a court can answer for sure.

As a first step write to the LL outlining the above and asking that they reimburse you. If that fails, then you need to decided whether you want to try to sue for the money (and no doubt get evicted at the earliest possibility) or whether to just pay the charge for an easy life. A lot will depend on your view on whether you gave the LL a reasonable period to sort the problem first.

LudaMusser

You don`t mention an estate agent. I rent thru an estate agent and have never met or even spoken to my landlord in the 2+ yrs I`ve been there. I have a tenancy agreement and it outlines everything that is the responsibility of myself and of the landlord. Do you have a tenancy agreement?

There is no way I would pay for a blocked pipe. Most landlords will try to get out of paying for whatever they can, my doorbell has`nt worked since the day I moved in

shauniebabe

There's no letting agent as it was let through a agent without management.

I will let them know and then take it from there! I contacted the ll but she couldn't deal with it because her partner was away. The apartment upstairs ll and my ll are friends so it's simple for her to split the bill or looking at my ll insurance she would be covered anyway. Maybe I'm just a good ll with my clients? In 6 years of renting out property's I've never had a problem apart from people owing rent and when people move they always ask if I've anything that suits them!