Is this my Landlord's responsibility?

silvercar

The landlord is responsible for the leak, in fact the water board will serve notice on him to repair the leak within 28 days if necessary!

If he didn't fix it they would send their contractors in and fix it and he would have to pay a penalty.

Sometimes a leak is not apparent, if it is on the supply pipe outside the home and flows away from the house, it could be that the garden four doors down looks lush and greed due to the water leak on your property.

I think that the water board can reduce the bill to allow for the leaked water as a one off.

Wheras the landlord should be liable for the cost of the water if he didn't fix a leak, he can hardly be responsible for something he didn't know about.

Nag the water board, they will force him to fix it.

clutton_2

""he can hardly be responsible for something he didn't know about""

OP said she told LL 6 months ago .....

Elle00

Bingo, I think I've found what I need...

I've got a letter from the water board from 6wks after I moved here in 2006 stating:

"Dear Mrs xxxx,

We apologise for the delay in opening your account for the above property.

We are currently awaiting our report from our company technician who has been asked to check your supply.

We have this arrangement on the basis of the recent readings of the meter, which appear to reflect above average consumption of water being recorded.

We will contact you again shortly."

The metre reading before that was taken 6wks before I moved in. There were bills for over a thousand pounds being sent to the old tenants from the start of my tenancy. Therefore the point is that I can prove this problem was here before I took over tenancy.

As far as I'm concerned, it was the landlord's responsibility to ensure the property was in good working order before letting it to me. And obviously he did not.

I have made him aware of this problem on several occasions but he has chosen not to do anything about it. I'd be pretty confident that the last people did too.

I am just not going to worry about this. I think it's his responsibility and the proof the problem was here before I moved in is what I think I need to lay this at his doorstep. Sorry if that sounds cold but he really is a very bad landlord who takes advantage all the flaming time.

pcwilkins

Yes, you have a very strong case. Strange that there is not evidence of the leakage. You say you are in a block of flats, would be interesting to find out how far your are from your meter. If meter is on ground floor and you are on 20th floor, that's a lot of pipework that could be the culprit.

Could be complications if leak is not in your actual property as it may not then be your landlords responsibility --- depends who owns the block and who is responsible for the water supply from the boundary to each individual flat. Either way you should be able to get out of paying the bill.

Peter