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daisiegg
Posts: 5,395 Forumite
More advice needed please! 
We are moving out of our rented property at the beginning of September, and we are on holiday for most of August.
We have had a few problems with the kitchen sink leaking. We have lived here for two years and the landlord is very nice but hasn't been particularly proactive in getting things repaired. He's had a plumber round to do the sink once, but when it broke again he took so long that we ended up doing a bit of a DIY job on it ourselves (it's a simple problem, just some of the plastic pipe coming loose). It then broke again after that and again we fixed it ourselves, and it has been fine for around a year. However today it started to leak again and now it seems that the seal on a different part (not the part we had originally fixed ourselves) has gone...we have done, this time, a very makeshift job on it, partly because we are going on holiday tomorrow so don't have time to spend all day on it, and also we know the landlord is out of the country so there would be no point asking him to sort it out.
It's useable now but leaking a tiny bit (there are two bowls to the sink and one of them is absolutely fine, so we're just going to use that one).
My question is, if we leave it in this state, is this something that the landlord can make a deduction from our deposit for? As I said, we have told him about it a few times but due to his slow responses have ended up fixing it ourselves, and now a different part of it has broken.
He's out of the country now so we can't ask him to fix it, but also, we're asking him for a big favour in letting us extend our lease for a week and I'd rather not rock the boat until I know whether he's going to say yes to that or not!
Any advice on what we should do? Really don't want to annoy the landlord demanding repairs while he's on holiday, when we need him to say yes to a big favour for us! but equally don't want to lose our deposit over it, if that was a possibility.
We are moving out of our rented property at the beginning of September, and we are on holiday for most of August.
We have had a few problems with the kitchen sink leaking. We have lived here for two years and the landlord is very nice but hasn't been particularly proactive in getting things repaired. He's had a plumber round to do the sink once, but when it broke again he took so long that we ended up doing a bit of a DIY job on it ourselves (it's a simple problem, just some of the plastic pipe coming loose). It then broke again after that and again we fixed it ourselves, and it has been fine for around a year. However today it started to leak again and now it seems that the seal on a different part (not the part we had originally fixed ourselves) has gone...we have done, this time, a very makeshift job on it, partly because we are going on holiday tomorrow so don't have time to spend all day on it, and also we know the landlord is out of the country so there would be no point asking him to sort it out.
It's useable now but leaking a tiny bit (there are two bowls to the sink and one of them is absolutely fine, so we're just going to use that one).
My question is, if we leave it in this state, is this something that the landlord can make a deduction from our deposit for? As I said, we have told him about it a few times but due to his slow responses have ended up fixing it ourselves, and now a different part of it has broken.
He's out of the country now so we can't ask him to fix it, but also, we're asking him for a big favour in letting us extend our lease for a week and I'd rather not rock the boat until I know whether he's going to say yes to that or not!
Any advice on what we should do? Really don't want to annoy the landlord demanding repairs while he's on holiday, when we need him to say yes to a big favour for us! but equally don't want to lose our deposit over it, if that was a possibility.
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Comments
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How likely is it that any prospective viewers are going to run the taps and look under the sink for leaks or that your landlord will do the same at your check-out? By the time this comes to light you will be long gone. In any case, the failure of a part is not accidental damage so I can't see how the LL could justify proposing a deduction from your deposit. Just to be on the safe side I would minded to report the leak in writing, regardless of whether your landlord is on holiday to arrange a repair or not.0
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As I said in your other thread:He's out of the country now so we can't ask him to fix it, but also, we're asking him for a big favour in letting us extend our lease for a week and I'd rather not rock the boat until I know whether he's going to say yes to that or not!
Technically speaking, you are not asking for an extension, because the tenancy will continue anyway if you remain in occupation after 4th September. What you are doing is offering to surrender the tenancy on 9th September, mid-period.
You have a duty to report the disrepair. If you don't you could be liable for any damage caused. I wouldn't rely on it not being discovered; how do you know it won't get worse while you're on holiday? Does it leak only when you use the sink? i.e. is the seal that's broken just on a bit of the waste pipe or on a pipe connected to the water supply?Any advice on what we should do? Really don't want to annoy the landlord demanding repairs while he's on holiday, when we need him to say yes to a big favour for us! but equally don't want to lose our deposit over it, if that was a possibility.0 -
You have a duty to report the disrepair. If you don't you could be liable for any damage caused. I wouldn't rely on it not being discovered; how do you know it won't get worse while you're on holiday? Does it leak only when you use the sink? i.e. is the seal that's broken just on a bit of the waste pipe or on a pipe connected to the water supply?
It leaks only when using the sink, it is just the seal on a bit of the waste pipe. It doesn't even leak that much (maybe a couple of drops each time you empty the sink of water).0 -
I'd still report it to LL, and explain that it doesn't appear to present any risk of water damage while you're on holiday. LL can then decide what he wants to do - if anything - and you're off the hook.It leaks only when using the sink, it is just the seal on a bit of the waste pipe. It doesn't even leak that much (maybe a couple of drops each time you empty the sink of water).0 -
report it in writing "just to let you know........." - then you have covered yourself.0
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