Extremely high bill due to boiler "repair"

Duff001

Hi All, I’m hoping someone may be able to help me with this?

My wife has received a much higher bill from Thames Water for our last 6 months of usage. We are in rented accommodation and have had a consistent bill of £120 every 6 months since we moved it. Yesterday Thames Water called my wife to discuss our bill as in their words the usage had rocketed. They have said that between a reading that was taken in February 2013 and 5th August 2013 the usage is extremely high in comparison to our previous rates.

In February we had some trouble with our boiler and the landlady had someone come over to fix it which took about 3 days however the boiler was working again so we were happy. However since their “repair” there is a rather loud sound of rushing water coming form the pipework where the workmen were working. I can’t find any damp so I presume that there is water overflowing somewhere within the system and literally throwing money down the drain. As you may have already noticed the work took place in February so it is my belief that the workmen have done something which has caused this problem.

Thames Water has said that I am liable to pay the bill for the water and that we would need to claim the money back from the landlord. I am just concerned that the landlord will not pay up as in my eyes the fault is due to the landlord not providing adequate maintenance and that they should pay the difference of the bill.

Does anyone have any experience of this type of issue?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

macman

TW are correct. You are liable for the water bill, any dispute with a third party (the LL or his contractors) is exactly that, and yours to pursue.
What sort of boiler is it, combi or conventional? A combi uses a filing loop to top up the boiler pressure, so it can't be continually filling-and if so, you'll see the discharge from the PRV overflow or elsewhere. If it's a conventional vented system then you'd see the overflow from the loft header tank.
If the water has been 'rushing' for 6 months and you haven't bothered to report it, your LL may not be amenable to paying the excess water bill. They are dependent on the tenant to report any maintenance issues-otherwise how can they know?

Duff001

Hi Macman,

We hadn't reported it as the workman, one of whom is the LL father in law said that everything was fixed and working correctly so I perhaps wrongly beleived that it was working.

The bolier is a conventional bolier. Sorry I should have said that I live in a flat and therefore there is no loft space.

macman

Then is it flowing from a header tank installed somewhere else? If you can hear running water then get them in to check it. The family connection isn't really relevant.