Burst Pipe, Landlord wont pay

stekell

Hi, 
Just need to rant really because I know I will end up paying, On Sunday morning a pipe burst under the sink, luckily I was sat in the next room and heard it and instantly turned the water off. The leak was still trickling and couldn't fit a large bowl under the pipe, I instantly reported though an online app the agency uses. I have a list of contractors I got when I moved in they are the agencies contractors. I contacted the plumber who talked me though how to get it to stop dripping and arranged to come the next morning he does work for the letting agency. He came Monday morning and fixed it in no time. At lunch time Monday the agency phoned me I explained what had happened and I explained its fixed, they said good glad its solved. Then today Friday I get a phone call the landlord is refusing to pay the invoice because I'm not supposed to contact the contractor myself and she has her own contractors. So they have asked me to pay £125. Feels really unfair to me I can afford the £125 but its not the point, really disappointed in the landlord we have hardly reported any faults in the 6 years we have lived there only when the hot water went off. Anyway rant over feel a little better.

Stubod

..to me seems this seems very unfair of the landlord not to pay....(I would...)

Brie

Did you point out to the landlord that you have saved her having excessive damage to be repaired by your quick response??  Did you mention that this is the plumber the agency uses and have used for her property in the past?  

I'm assuming the £125 is the plumber's invoice.  Not recommending it but if she wants you to pay it I'd be tempted to deduct that amount from the next rent payment.  

RHemmings

Does it say anything in your tenancy agreement specifically about this? 

There is information on the Shelter website. https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/withholding_rent_for_repairs  However, you have to scroll through a number of different topics before you find paying for repairs yourself. 

It seems that it is reasonable to request repayment for repairs if you contacted your landlord and they did not do repairs in a reasonable time. However, if the fault happened on Sunday and you booked the repair the same day, it may not be the case that that's considered you've given your landlord reasonable time to respond. And you should have waited a bit longer. As the drip had been stopped. However, were you without water in the flat? In which case, same-day response may be seen as 'reasonable'. But, it's a fine line and I'm not sure what side of it you're on. 

If you don't get paid this time, then if I were you I would formally contact the landlord (and agency) pointing out the circumstances of this event. And say that in the future you will be forced not to contract emergency repairs yourself even if not doing so risks damaging the property. However, my very wild guess is that you'll probably be told that you are required to do so, even though the landlord has wriggled out of paying. 

If the contracted cost was extortionate, then I could understand the landlord's POV. But, the property has been fixed for what looks to me to be a reasonable price. If I were your landlord, I would pay for it, and perhaps discuss what to do in the future. But, I'm not your (or anybody's) landlord. So: my opinion is of no consequence to anyone. 

artyboy

Brie said:

Did you point out to the landlord that you have saved her having excessive damage to be repaired by your quick response??  Did you mention that this is the plumber the agency uses and have used for her property in the past?  

I'm assuming the £125 is the plumber's invoice.  Not recommending it but if she wants you to pay it I'd be tempted to deduct that amount from the next rent payment.  

Not a good idea to withhold rent and muddy the waters by giving the LL an opportunity to claim you are in arrears... keep the issues separate...

stekell

I did with a photo of the list of contractors on it, id understood if id of just got a mate in, but I only sent it to the agency I don't know if that was passed on, I did ask the agency to ask the landlord for a list of the preferred contractors and I will always contact them first in future. If I didn't fear eviction I would deduct from the months rent but we are a little below local market value so don't want to rock the boat too much.

Schwarzwald

Brie said:

I'm assuming the £125 is the plumber's invoice.  Not recommending it but if she wants you to pay it I'd be tempted to deduct that amount from the next rent payment.  

Rent and maintenance costs are two separate items. V Surprised to see this suggestion ....

user1977

stekell said:

I have a list of contractors I got when I moved in they are the agencies contractors. 

And did the agency tell you that you could instruct those contractors directly? If so then that's the same as the landlord telling you - the agent is the landlord's agent. If the landlord changed that list and nobody told you, that's a problem for the landlord/agent, not you.

stekell

Thanks for all your comments I just wanted to get it off my chest, I'm going to pay it when they send it through, cant afford to upset landlords in the current climate,  and I will be more careful next time, and I wont be so hasty and if that means more damage so be it. 

propertyrental

There are two legal principle issues here:

1) Tenants should not arrange repairs without either landlord/agent's permission, or after following Shelter process (below).

2) But Ts must act in a 'tenant-like manner' and prevent ongoing damage to the property, so isolating the water rapidly was a T obligation. The repair not so (see 1 above)

Having said that, any decent LL would reimburse you.

Do not withhold rent unless you've followed the Shelter process:

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/withholding_rent_for_repairs

BonaDea

This sounds like the agency and landlord not communicating between themselves to have a unified policy on what tenants should do in these circs.  If you were given a list of the agency's contractors when you moved in, it wouldn't be unreasonable to suppose they had given that to you so you could contact the contractors directly in the event of a problem.  As well as the list did they give you a steer on how and when to use it or not use it, saying for example that you should check with the landlord first?  If you weren't told specifically (in your tenancy agreement or in other correspondence) that you should contact the landlord in the first instance, I'd go back to the agency and landlord - together - and point out that you acted entirely reasonably on the basis of the documentation you were given, feel you have been treated unfairly, and suggest they decide on a common approach and revise the paperwork they give tenants accordingly.  If they are at all decent, they might realise they caused this muddle and reimburse you.