renting a flat, plumbing problem

sezemy

Hello all this is my first post so please be gentle!

Well I have been renting my flat for a year now and of course right before Christmas I have a bit of a problem. My neighbour directly below me came up to say he had water dripping from his ceiling in his bathroom. I went down and sure enough the whole ceilling was damp and water was coming out of the light (just dripping out, not running or anything)

I went back to mine and just shut the water completely off went to bed and thought I could phone the landlord in the morning (It was about 3am this happened)

When I phoned the letting agency I found out they are closed until the 7th! They normally phone the plumber in to get it fixed.

So could I phone a plumber out and give them the bill? I know it will be bloody expensive at this time of year and I cant really afford to pay that kind of money. I thought about looking at it myself but I know I would !!!!!! it up and end up flooding everyone.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Canucklehead

Hi

In the grey box on the upper right there is a line 'Christmas emergencies' http://www.iphe.org.uk/ See if you have anyone in your area. A better option than the big phone book.
Corgi Guy.

It might be worth taking the bath panel off to have a look , it might be the bath waste has come apart or something else that would mean you don't need to turn the water off.

eco-friendly_2

When I phoned the letting agency I found out they are closed until the 7th!

They really are complete muppets/amateurs , what if your power failed completely or another serious emergency , write to the LA of your dilemma {just for the record} and get a couple of quotes to repair, nothing else you can do.

HugoSP

eco-friendly wrote: »

They really are complete muppets/amateurs , what if your power failed completely or another serious emergency , write to the LA of your dilemma {just for the record} and get a couple of quotes to repair, nothing else you can do.

I think in the event of you getting a few quotes in and then going with the cheapest you could be seen by a court to have acted with due diligance as this is an emergency and your instructed point of contact is not available.

To this end, IMO a court may well see your side if you widthheld the cost of the works from the rent - but don't count on the agent/landlord giving you an easy time over this.

The agent we use has many faults but does at least give out of hours phone numbers for tenants to contact them.

HugoSP

Where abouts are you in the country?

The reason I ask is that the chances are that there may be a competent person near you who may be able to come out and have a look to see what the problem is.

Help of this nature has been given via forums in the past. If I felt that you weren't far away from me.....

sezemy

thats very much for the offer hugosp, unfotunately for me im in glasgow! I phoned around to see if I could get someone to come out and give me a quote but rather ironically found the "24/7 365 days" plumber was not available until JAN 7th! What are the chances. . . might try and get them for false advertising, ha.

I have a friend coming round to look at it hopefully at some point and luckly for me I have friends across the street.

HugoSP

Glasgow's a bit far, but we do have relatives up there.

My wife's family used to all live in a tenement in Cathcart years ago. Now it's just her aunt that lives in the same block. It was refurbished by the HA and she moved from one part of it into another part.

I'm glad you've got your friends up there who can accomodate you.