Problem with leaking from the flat above.

audioblackout

Hi there everyone hope you're well.

A question regarding my friends flat.

She rents a flat from a landlord. She's been through an almighty court case with them, it's a huge story, but ultimately what happened is, the flat above leaked (which they also own) and condemned her flat. It all ended up with her winning, the flat was re done and she moved back in. This has taken around 3 years of court cases.

So what's happening now is it's all happening again. The bathroom above started leaking about 3 months ago. It's very bad. She's been in touch with them constantly but NOTHING has been done. I'm thinking it's because they want her out, as they obviously weren't happy about losing the court case. What I want to know is what are her rights as a tenant.? If that was me I'd stop paying the rent until it was fixed! Shall she do this? What should she do here? Is there some kind of law or thing you can apply for that means they must fix it immediately?

I know I'm a third party here, and I didn't know her when the original court case started all those years ago, but she has been through so much and I think I need to start to learn what's going on here and help her know her rights. Obviously the last thing I want her to do is go through another court case after the trauma of the last few years. But if it that's what it takes, that what it takes I suppose.

Any advice or help would be brilliant here. Thanks in advance everyone.

Mark

G_M

If she's been through 3 years of court cases for an identical problem, she must surely know better than us what her rights are and how to deal with the matter.....?

tacpot12

The landlord could be guilty of harassment, a criminal offence. If she has a good evidence trail of the amount of time and effort that has been put into attempting to get the repair fixed, she could go to the police with this evidence.


However, the local authority can also prosecute the landlord for harassment. Check on the local authority website whether they have Tenancy Relationship Officers who can investigate the case and who can prosecute the landlord.

tacpot12

G_M wrote: »

If she's been through 3 years of court cases for an identical problem, she must surely know better than us what her rights are and how to deal with the matter.....?

In this case, there is the suggestion that the landlord is using the situation to force the tenant out. The previous case sounds like it will have been a civil case, whereas now the landlord could be guilty of criminal wrongdoing, if the tenant has sufficient evidence.

A court needs to be convinced that the harrassment has occured beyond all reasonable doubt. I think this could be quite easy to prove in the a leak from a flat above should normally result in emergency action, e.g. the leak should be fixed within a few hours. 3 months is completely preposterous.

HampshireH

Has she reported it? Got her copies of correspondance, been through the complaints procedure this time?

Makes no sense for Clarion to devalue their assets in the manner suggested.

Is it possible the "leak" is a deliberate act by the the tenant above?

Has your friend been up to investigate? Or brought it to their neighbours attention?

Her court case must have been for compensation? Or are you saying she was moved out for 3 years as you said the flat was "condemned".

She could look into disrepair legislation and explore this route of putting in a claim. However would suggest in the 1st instance she follow the process.