Plumber charging £225 for blocked toilet

TroubledTarts

I think this is just a case of knowledge as you get older.

Use this as a life lesson that you can't just flush what you like down a toilet but if you do you have other options to try to unblock a toilet before realising that if it's your fault for blocking the toilet that will be at your cost.

Is the cost high? Not sure. Different regions of the country have different pricing e.g. London will be higher.

How much time did the plumber take?

gazfocus

Personally (as a landlord), I don't think £225 is particularly high to get a plumber out straight away to unblock a toilet. Had the landlord insisted on getting 3 quotes just to save you £45, you could have been waiting a couple of days just for 3 different plumbers to be available to call round and quote, and then as a rule of thumb you wouldn't generally go with the cheapest just because they are the cheapest so might have only saved you - £10-20 anyway.

Unfortunately the toilet sounds as though it was blocked because of the actions of someone in your household rather than the toilet/plumbing being faulty so it's on you to pay for it. Your landlord might be willing to accept payment over a couple of months but realistically he has no obligation to.

GDB2222

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961770#Comment_81961770

It's quite rare to see such unanimity from posters here. It's obviously quite a lot of extra money for you to find. Can you get a part time job at the weekend for a couple of days, perhaps?

michael1234

I'm currently on the fence about buying a flat here to rent out. There are a large number of rules and regulations you need to keep on top of. This thread might have been the final nail in the coffin.

Why on earth would the landlord be contacted if a tenant stuffs the wrong things or quantity down the toilet? Surely in that case, the tenant should make their own arrangements to unblock it ?

TroubledTarts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81963306#Comment_81963306

Just a word of wisdom. Some tenants you end up being their go-to for all advice, not worldy wise and they do the most stupid of things in a property.

Worst still you get the people that think they can fix things and make things worse.

Then you get those that live like animals and never report issues and that means thousands to fix when they move out.

Occasionally you get normal people

saajan_12

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81963306#Comment_81963306

I've been called out because the theromstat wasn't turned up above the temperature at the time. I've been called to turn on fuses.

In some cases its better for the LL to arrange a qualitifed tradesperson rather than a bodge job or leaving it while things get worse and damage the property further.

mills112

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81963306#Comment_81963306

they probably didn't know that one of their housemate stuffed a toilet roll down the loo! and neither did the landlord until the poor plumber found it!

to be fair to the landlord, when he agreed to that quote, he probably thought he was going to have to pay that bill rather than the tenant. so the fact that he didn't shop around shows he is a good landlord as he wasn't trying to save money but had the tenants' interest at heart in getting the problem resolved as soon as possible.

now that the tenant is faced with a large bill, the occupants in the house may think twice about stuffing objects down the loo!

yeah, being a landlord is a tiresome job as everyone thinks the landlord is the evil person in the party but this is not always the case and they are having to nanny irresponsible tenants all the time.

OP - if you can not afford to pay the bill in one payment, agree a payment plan with the landlord, where you can pay the bill over 6 months for example.

mills112

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81963583#Comment_81963583

i had a tenant that was using me as his agony aunt! he would moan about his housemates and he would have rows with them and ask me to intervene. then the housemates would complain about him and ask me to evict him, when in fact they chose him as their housemate!

being a landlord feels more like a kindergarden teacher sometimes.

_Penny_Dreadful

To add to the landlord experiences of @TroubledTarts, @saajan_12 and @mills112 above using a letting agent doesn't necessarily help to filter these tenant requests.

1. Letting agent to me - tenant doesn't know how to turn on the oven. Me to myself - why is the tenant even contacting the letting agent instead RTFM left for them in the kitchen or Googling it. Me to letting agent - remember I told you [in writing] that I'd left a folder full of the manuals for the appliances in the kitchen, have you suggested to the tenant that she read them?
2. Letting agent to me - tenant says the light in the hall has stopped working. Me to letting agent - does the light need a new bulb. Letting agent to me - let me check with the tenant. Me - sigh.
3. Letting agent to me - the tenant says the dishwasher has stopped working. Shall I order a new one from Currys. Me to letting agent - what specifically isn't working? Letting agent to me - it's stopped draining. Me to letting agent - could you send out an appliance repair person please? Letting agent to me - oh but that will cost £80 + VAT per hour. It might work out cheaper to buy a new dishwasher. Me to letting agent - I'll take the risk. Ended up costing me £96 and I'm uncertain why this was charged to me rather than the tenant who caused the blockage just like I'm uncertain why I was charged for replacing a shower curtain that the tenant never washed but I'm working overseas at the moment so better the devil you know.

These are all with different letting agencies. I'm on number 3 at the moment and so far the best of a bad bunch.

Jumblebumble

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81962260#Comment_81962260

Tie the bag to the mop with a cable tie works well