Plumber caused damage to my ceiling and it fell!

Dannydrock

Hi,

Im not sure this is the right place, but hopefully someone can help?

Recently our boiler/heaters broke and plumbers through our landlord came to repair it.

I came back from work, to find that as I entered my bedroom(which has the boiler in it) was being worked on by two plumbers. I noticed that towels were on my desk and asked what had happened, to which they explained that they had gone into the attic and while doing work, they had somehow broken a valve on the water tank, which caused it to leak. The leak was big enough that it was seeping through my ceiling onto my computer monitor/keyboard etc. They seemed calm and didnt tell me that they hadn't told my parents. They also stated it was safe and that they fixed the problem and is fine to sleep in the room.
I went to sleep in another room(this was roughly 4pm), when I woke up at 9pm, they had left, and I went downstairs and talked to my parents.
The plumbers hadn't told anyone about the damage and the crack in the ceiling, so my parents were nonethe wiser. They had also left a few hours before hand.

My parents phoned the landlord and we could see that the leak had also leaked into my sisters room, enough that it was dripping by the side of her bed, and into her laptop and into a wardrobe containing my mother's clothing(which was soaked).
The landlord stated he would come the following day to check it out.
Fast forward to 1am, I was fully asleep and due to go to work at 4am. I hear my sister screaming my name, so I jump up as I thought something happened to her or my dog. As I got up and ran to the door I noticed my ceiling had crashed onto my desk and towards my door.
Had I not gone to sleep due to work, at 1am I am usually at my desk, it would have landed on me.

The damage was enough to knock all my shelves and my monitor and take roughly a 2meter by 1.5 meter chunk of the ceiling down.

The landlord came the following day and explained we need to go through our insurance.
Does anyone know what we should be doing as I've never experienced any of this before and I genuinely don't know what I should be doing.

Dannydrock

I should also add that had I not walked into my room, they probably wouldn't have told me

DoaM

Rented property? You'll probably get better help on the Housing board.

Mishomeister

Well if you have a content insurance this may pay for the damaged items, however there will excess to pay and no claims discount lost.


The damage was ultimately caused by your landlords property by his chosen plumbers etc so it should be him compensating you including any temporary accommodation or any other reasonable costs.


As a compromise you may agree with him to pay for your insurance excess costs and any increase in premiums for a set number of years due to the claim, but as above technically onus is on him to compensate you whether directly or though his landlord's insurance.

red_boots2

Try posting on the LandlordZone forum. They're usually really good with this sort of query, don't be fooled by the name it's for tenants too.

Potbellypig

Dannydrock wrote: »

Hi,

Im not sure this is the right place, but hopefully someone can help?

Recently our boiler/heaters broke and plumbers through our landlord came to repair it.

I came back from work, to find that as I entered my bedroom(which has the boiler in it) was being worked on by two plumbers. I noticed that towels were on my desk and asked what had happened, to which they explained that they had gone into the attic and while doing work, they had somehow broken a valve on the water tank, which caused it to leak. The leak was big enough that it was seeping through my ceiling onto my computer monitor/keyboard etc. They seemed calm and didnt tell me that they hadn't told my parents. They also stated it was safe and that they fixed the problem and is fine to sleep in the room.
I went to sleep in another room(this was roughly 4pm), when I woke up at 9pm, they had left, and I went downstairs and talked to my parents.
The plumbers hadn't told anyone about the damage and the crack in the ceiling, so my parents were nonethe wiser. They had also left a few hours before hand.

My parents phoned the landlord and we could see that the leak had also leaked into my sisters room, enough that it was dripping by the side of her bed, and into her laptop and into a wardrobe containing my mother's clothing(which was soaked).
The landlord stated he would come the following day to check it out.
Fast forward to 1am, I was fully asleep and due to go to work at 4am. I hear my sister screaming my name, so I jump up as I thought something happened to her or my dog. As I got up and ran to the door I noticed my ceiling had crashed onto my desk and towards my door.
Had I not gone to sleep due to work, at 1am I am usually at my desk, it would have landed on me.

The damage was enough to knock all my shelves and my monitor and take roughly a 2meter by 1.5 meter chunk of the ceiling down.

The landlord came the following day and explained we need to go through our insurance.
Does anyone know what we should be doing as I've never experienced any of this before and I genuinely don't know what I should be doing.

Whichever option you take, stick to the facts. Leave out any of the 'it would have landed on me' rubbish. Stick to what is broken from a contents side of things and your landlord should be fixing the ceiling, pronto too.