No Water in rented property

Kataki

Hi All,


Unsure if this is really the right place but need some advice.


I am currently renting a property privately, i came home 4 days ago to find that there was a leaking pipe in my kitchen just above the stop clock. so i turned this off straight away as i didn't want to cause any further damage to the property. I inspected the pipe and it looks like this is in a bad way and would probably need replacing. The first thing i did was get in touch with the landlord and i told them i had turned the water off. they said that they would contact me the next day to arrange getting it fixed but this did not happen. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and gave them another day... still nothing. i rang them directly on the third day and was told that they where having issues getting a plumber over because the one they usually use wouldn't answer. It is now day 4 and i still have no water, i have been told a plumber will contact me but still nothing.


What can i do here? can i just get a plumber out and send my landlord the bill? as its just myself and my partner at the property we are just getting on with it but 4 days without water means that we have been using bottled water for everything like flushing the toilet, washing dishes and general drinking water and we are having to shower at other peoples houses. I didn't think it would be to difficult but by day two i realized how wrong i was its actually a nightmare.



I am not interested in getting any money taken off my rent or anything at this point... All i want is to do is have running water in my house!!



Any thoughts on what i can do?

Jackandn

The landlord has the responsibility to provide running water to your house. the landlord has a responsibility to repair this within 48 hours let alone 4 days. What I would do is contact the landlord and ask him to isolate the broken pipe from so you can restore running water. If he still says he can't do it or waiting for a plumber request that he phones up an emergency plumber to carry out the repair. If he refuses all of these then as it is longer than 48 hours you can contact environmental health and go from there (saying this to your landlord will most likely get the landlord to repair it very quickly)

PasturesNew

I'd be turning the water on/off as I needed to use it... it'd only ever be on for 1-2 minutes at a time 4-5x a day.... that's better than bottles.

tacpot12

Your landlord is being a cheapskate - he can get a plumber in an hour, but it will cost a few hundred pounds. I would do what Jankandn said.

House_Martin

Replacing a bit of copper pipe is easy. Personally I d be slotting in a short length of new pipe and shove each end into a compression fittings rather than wait days, then bill the landlord £100

Kataki

Hi All,

Bit of an update on this one. I finally managed to get in touch with my landlord... after my partner gave her a bit of a telling off via text. We came home to one of our cats being sick on our bed and couldn't wash anything so i think that was the last straw for her.

She told me the reason she couldn't get in touch with the original plumber was because she had been ringing the wrong number for 2 days! i was livid. At this point i stopped being understanding and told her she needed to Fix Up and she had 24 hours at most to have someone at my house to at least look at the problem and provide a temporary fix. I explained that it was unacceptable to expect any one to live for 4 (Going on 5) days without any running water and if it were her own house she wouldn't wait that long.

End result... a plumber magically contacted me this morning at half 7 so i am arranging for him to come round. Plus side is i am going use this as leverage to get some other stuff done round the house that's bugging me.

One last point all be it not to relevant to the water thing... we found out she hasn't protected our deposit either in a deposit protection scheme. absolute Cowboy of a landlord how she has managed to get through life without setting her self on fire everyday i have no idea. Roll on our completion date for new house.

Thanks all for the responses!

macman

Deposit not protected? Then you can sue for up to 3 times the value-and you will win. That should give you some leverage to get other jobs done.
Did the LL supply a current gas safety certificate (if you have any gas appliances) on start of tenancy? If not, that's an imprisonable offence, or an unlimited fine, should you choose to report it. Even better leverage.

Kataki

So things i was not given when i moved in... Gas Safety, Right to Rent Booklet, Deposit scheme information. What i was given... nothing but a contract stating the usual things and how much i needed to pay.

Out of interest who would i report the Gas safety issues to? i think that one is a pretty big one to be honest as i actually question the last time this was inspected... sorry bit clueless with this stuff as its the first bad landlord i have had really.

Plumber is due first thing tomorrow morning as i couldn't duck away from work today but looks like it should be sorted by then.

Jackandn

If you think your house is unsafe and that the land lord is not taking responsibility for basic safety (such as gas) it would be as I mentioned before environmental health who you contact through your local council.

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/complain_to_environmental_health_about_rented_housing

follow link above for more information if you need it.