Ceiling fell down

whiterose11

Hi all,

Looking for some advice on my current situation. I currently rent on a periodic tenancy in England. I have on 2/3 occasions reported a suspected leak from my bath as water was coming down the ceiling from the bathroom. ( all officially reported in writing to the letting agency) each time they sent a handy man round who said he couldn’t find a problem and just put more sealant around the bath.

This morning whilst making my lunch for work the ceiling plaster disintegrated and huge chunks of plaster fell off the ceiling and whacked me on the head! ( no real damage done to me but boy did it wake me up at 630 this morning!) we reported the problem immediately and they sent a handyman round who took one look at it and said this is well beyond my skill level. He video called another person with more experience who advised us to not use the bath or kitchen as the structural integrating could be bad.

I can’t really live without a bathroom or kitchen! I am a teacher and I’m sure the kids will be cruel if I don’t wash my hair soon! :rotfl: what are my rights as a tenant if this doesn’t get fixed in the next day or 2. I don’t want to be unreasonable but I really can’t live without a kitchen and bath. I have always worked through the letting agency as the landlord lives abroad.

Can’t believe it’s taken the ceiling falling down for them to realise that there really was a leek somewhere like I said!

Many thanks in advance!

anselld

I hope you are not an English teacher!

The ceiling in not going to get fixed in a day or two. Having said that the priority of fixing the leak and cleaning up the mess should be done quickly and that would at least enable you to use the bathroom and kitchen until full repairs can be completed.

The worst case scenario that the bathroom floor has rotted would cause further disruption but that is unlikely as the ceiling normally gives way long before permanent structural damage occurs.

G_M

Letter to the landlord. Tonight. Email it and send by post too. Requesting alternative accomodation. For his sake hopefully his insurance will provide that.



Environmental Health. Tomorrow. Property is uninhabitable.

tacpot12

If I were the landlord, I would want to get to find the cause of the leak, otherwise the money spent repairing the ceiling is going to be wasted. It is going to take time to find the leak, fix it properly and reinstate the ceiling.

Don't let the letting agent fob you off with a story that they can't contact the landlord, or that they need his authorisation to provide alternate accommodation. The letting agency should have a copy of his insurance and as his agent they will be authorised to act without his authority in an emergency, which this is.

AdrianC

It should be a doddle to find the bath leak now...

Once that's been identified and resolved, bunging some new plasterboard up, skimming it, and painting it is not a big job. The messy bit has already been done.

I really can't see why the bathroom or kitchen shouldn't be used. The only difference between now and the last few months is that the old, damp plasterboard has given up the fight with gravity.

EachPenny

AdrianC wrote: »

I really can't see why the bathroom or kitchen shouldn't be used. The only difference between now and the last few months is that the old, damp plasterboard has given up the fight with gravity.

Possibly rotten joists supporting the bathroom floor and bath? They could well be sound, but I'd hesitate to tell someone it was ok to use the bathroom until someone knowledgeable had taken a look.

AdrianC

Rotten joists...? From a short-term bath leak...?

EachPenny

AdrianC wrote: »

Rotten joists...? From a short-term bath leak...?

Who said anything about it being short-term?

I'd have said that unless the plasterboard had been fixed with wallpaper paste then it would require there to be a long-term or recurring issue to cause the plasterboard to just suddenly drop like that.

The OP doesn't mention it, but I assume there wasn't someone jumping up and down on the bathroom floor to trigger the collapse, in which case for it to give way like that it must have been very substantially weakened.

I wouldn't say the joists have definitely gone rotten... but if asked to advise via video call about something I cannot see properly (and more importantly cannot touch) then I would always err on the side of caution.

hazyjo

Had a similar thing and had to have a couple of heavy duty dehumidifiers in my bathroom and under the floorboards for several days before they could even think about doing any repair work. It ain't likely to be a quick job!


In my case, it was the tiniest little occasional drip from the hot water cylinder that you really wouldn't even see apart from the small wet bit underneath it. It didn't have water running down or anything. Had prob built up over months or even years. You'd have expected it to just evaporate, but nah, a massive ceiling section came down. Lathe and plaster too, so extremely messy.

martindow

hazyjo wrote: »

a massive ceiling section came down. Lathe and plaster too, so extremely messy.

Blimey, a lathe as well. Hope that didn't land on anyone's head.

spadoosh

Weve got leaking leeks.

Lathes falling through lath's

And structural's integrating. Its all going wrong in this thread!