emergency number for plumber

brenda50

Hi

I am womdering about the event of a burst water pipe when the LL refuses to give the phone number of a plumber to contact, insisting that he is contacted instead. What about when he is not available? He says he will not pay the bill if I contact a plumber directly. What about damage to my posessions?

G_M

If your belongings are damaged as a result of something that is the LL's responsibility, you claim damages off the LL.

However, if the damage is your fault (ie you failed to act in a tenant-like manner by keeping heating on low during a freeze) then all costs/losses (including the repair) can be charged to you.

There is no obligation on a LL to provide an emergency number, though clearly it is in his interests to do so as this minimises damage to his property as well as yours in the event of a problem.

What makes you think a pipe might burst? They really never do... without a cause....

ognum

Your flat should have a stop !!!! !!!! With that you could stem the flow of water Do you feel this is likely to be a common occurence because in my long experience of owning and letting homes this has never happened?

DominicJ_2

I had a house, empty, for several winters, boiler came one 4x a day for 15minutes as low as it would go.
No pipes burst.

GDB2222

G_M wrote: »

If your belongings are damaged as a result of something that is the LL's responsibility, you claim damages off the LL.

Claim away, but you won't be successful unless you can show that it was due to negligence on the LL's behalf. The tenant needs to have his/her own contents insurance.

Mallotum_X

Have you actually had a problem or worried about a what if scenario?

If its the what if, then you could always ask the landlord what they want you to do in the middle of the night in the event of a problem. However if you are keeping the place warm and not doing any DIY the chances of a burst pipe are pretty remote.

G_M

GDB2222 wrote: »

Claim away, but you won't be successful unless you can show that it was due to negligence on the LL's behalf.

That is true, of course, in any legal action in the civil courts, and really goes without saying!

GDB2222

G_M wrote: »

That is true, of course, in any legal action in the civil courts, and really goes without saying!

Sorry if I was a bit over-adamant about this, but there's a growing belief in this country that if bad things happen it's always someone else's fault. Sometimes pipes burst and nobody is responsible - except that if it's due to freezing up, the tenant is probably responsible for all damage to the flat.

I agree that it's worth checking with the LL what to do in case of an emergency when the LL is unavailable.

The obvious answer is that if there's a flood due to a burst pipe the tenant should turn off the stopcock and wait for the flood to stop. An emergency plumber would not do anything else except issue a £1000 bill and come back later when it's become dry enough to deal with the leak.

brenda50

I keep thec combi boiler switched on and use the heating twice a day 2 hours each time when it gets below 14 inside. I did have the rad off at the bottom of the stairs but leave it on now since the boiler servicer told me to. It will not be my fault if there is a burst pipe. The plumbing in the flat has been installed by a cowboy. The toilet was not flushing properly and the plumber said it had been installed wrong and another plumber told me that the sink plumbing had been botched. I wondered if this might be an issue in a freeze.