Private Rent - Who pays for a blocked toilet?

LEJC

m0bov wrote: »

You could look at the long term, maybe pay the £70, but tell the LL that if it happens again, you will obtain a report and if it shows the system is faulty, you will be claiming for expenses. The LL really should have found out about his responsibilities before agreeing to the call out.

I sort of agree with this however if the tenant has already lived there for 5 years without problem then its taking a long time for the fault to manifest each time.

Presumably there is only the word of one plumber that the pipes are wrong....I would perhaps be asking the LL to prove/disprove this is the case by getting a second opinion.

gibbs1984

I don't flush the toilet once a day all the time between some days I'm out, I generally go to the toilet at work, then twice a week I'm out straight from work until midnight playing snooker, weekends I can be away. He basically said to flush it even if I'm not using it.

Stupidly I never realised that I didn't have a smoke alarm for 5 years (yes I'm an idiot in this situation) and when I notified the landlord they asked me to get a smoke alarm, so I paid for one myself and they sent their handyman round to fix it. Looking it up that is actually a criminal offence with a £5k fine but I never said anything about it.

Gas inspections have been done once a year. I've never had any electrical items (fridge, freezer, cooker are the landlords) PAT tested.

I admit I have been lax in following these up, mainly due to cheaper rent at the time and being naive. Now I'm being more stringent with everything.

My deposit is with a third party, which I assume is protected?

silvercar

Stupidly I never realised that I didn't have a smoke alarm for 5 years (yes I'm an idiot in this situation) and when I notified the landlord they asked me to get a smoke alarm, so I paid for one myself and they sent their handyman round to fix it. Looking it up that is actually a criminal offence with a £5k fine but I never said anything about it.

It was 2015 that the new smoke alarm regulations required the landlord to provide smoke alarms. In a single dwelling (as opposed to HMO) they don't need to be wired - any battery operated one will be sufficient.

m0bov

LEJC wrote: »

I sort of agree with this however if the tenant has already lived there for 5 years without problem then its taking a long time for the fault to manifest each time.

Presumably there is only the word of one plumber that the pipes are wrong....I would perhaps be asking the LL to prove/disprove this is the case by getting a second opinion.

I know but op says "never had any issues before apart from blocked pipes occasionally when using the sink or bath" so poss a faulty system, but could be miss use.

gibbs1984

silvercar wrote: »

It was 2015 that the new smoke alarm regulations required the landlord to provide smoke alarms. In a single dwelling (as opposed to HMO) they don't need to be wired - any battery operated one will be sufficient.

I live in a one bedroom flat, there was no smoke alarm at all, neither wired or non wired.

I only had a carbon monoxide alarm which I assumed with a smoke alarm too.

gibbs1984

m0bov wrote: »

I know but op says "never had any issues before apart from blocked pipes occasionally when using the sink or bath" so poss a faulty system, but could be miss use.

What is classed as misuse though?

I never put anything down the sink, bath or toilet that shouldn't go down there. I personally don't believe that I put excessive amounts of toilet paper down the toilet.

m0bov

Misuse, ask a plumb they find all sorts! Hair, nappies, towels, cooking fats, loo paper. If the cistern (the tank above the toilet) is not filling right up, that can cause issues. If the flush is not "strong", then again it needs adjusting.

I recently moved and the house has all these problems. Maybe ask the plumber if the flush was weak?

LEJC

gibbs1984 wrote: »

What is classed as misuse though?

I never put anything down the sink, bath or toilet that shouldn't go down there. I personally don't believe that I put excessive amounts of toilet paper down the toilet.

I guess misuse is putting things down that shouldn't go down....

but it is also important to regularly flush and clean your pipes through occasionally too....I still think it's a "maintenance" issue or at least something that is a very slow build up over a long period of time.

Given that its taking years to block then the pipes cant be overly small or not steeply angled enough else the problem would be happening more often.

to have a blocked toilet once in 5 years is not bad going really....

gibbs1984

OK, this seems to be a grey area and not 100% certain either way.

If I was to refuse to pay on the grounds that the drainage system and toilet are inadequate what could possibly happen?

I've never had any disagreements or arguments with my landlord in 5 years, always paid on time and bit quite laid back with getting things fixed, like the smoke alarm and paid for things myself so is this something that they would likely follow through with?

LEJC

Sadly we don't know your LL so its hard to predict a reaction.
at best they will pay and you all move onwards with the rental agreement both safe in the knowledge that they have a good tenant and you have a reasonable LL....

At worse the LL could decide that actually you may be paying slightly under market value for the property and it's probably time they went in did some remedial work and got themselves a new tenant.

and then there's all the other things in between where you could decide to split the bill etc.

Theres no hard and fast way to deal with it sorry....its all down to how you and the LL communicate and whether the toilet issue is more of a sticking point than just a blocked pipe....