Burst pipe - who's responsible?

Amity666

Hi there. The other day a pipe in my bathroom under the sink suddenly burst. It looked like someone had taken an axe to it, it just exploded. It took a while to shut off the water because the stop valve was ridiculously stubborn to the point where I had to call my 20 stone son down to turn it and even he struggled. Needless to say, there was a lot of water and three carpeted rooms in my flat were affected. They were absolutely soaked. I bought a wet/dry vac and did what I could do in each room to remove the water. It's been a couple of days now and the carpets are still damp as you'd expect. I still give it a go with the vacuum every so often, but as of today a really bad smell has reared its head in the rooms. It's pretty strong and definitely not good. Given how much water got into the carpets, I'm leaning towards the idea that there's little that can be done except to completely replace them. So my question is, who's liable for responsibility? I live in a council flat. My bathroom was renovated by the council about three years ago. Am I 'responsible' for the pipe suddenly bursting, or is the council? And obviously if they are, they can sort my carpets out!

tacpot12

Pipes can and do wear out, and generally no-one is "responsible" for this, but you could check your tenancy agreement in case it covers this situation. The council are responsible for fixing the pipe, you are responsible for replacing your carpets. That is why Building Contents Insurance was invented because accidents that are no-ones fault can and do happen, and they can expemsive to rectify. You did well to Wet-and-Dry vacuum the carpets but you also needed a de-humidifier in each room, this is something that Contents insurance would have covered. It may be too late to save the carpets now - the smell means that mould has stared to form. If you have Contents insurance I would can the insurers straight away in case they can advise you if the carpets can be saved in any way.

You are responsible for reporting the stiff stoptap to the council - how are they to know it is stiff if the person who occupies the property doesn't tell them? You could ask the council if they will fit you a Surestop value. These allow you turn the water off with a switch rather than a stoptap.