To not want to pay for this? (

[JennyPiccolo]

If I am being U I will pay for it.

There was a leak in the bath in my rented flat last week. Downstairs had phoned their letting agents who phoned the factors who phoned my landlord who phoned me.

I couldn't see anything so somebody ( the factors? The letting agent? ) sent a plumber to investigate last Friday. They found that there was a leak in the overflow waste pipe. They didn't repair it, just diagnosed the problem and went away. I phoned my landlord and he flapped about a bit, came round to the flat to see it, then went away again saying he needed to look into the problem further before getting it fixed. Yesterday, he sent me this email;


"I have concluded my investigation into the water leakage from the en suite bath and the resulting flooding of the flat directly below you viz., FLAT 0/1.

The consequences arising from the event are such that I need to discuss them with yourself and and the resultant actions I intend to take.


On receipt of this e mail please contact me in order to set up a meeting."

So I phoned him and he refused to discuss it over the phone, but made reference to my 'negligence' and said that the issue had been 'intimated' to me 8 months ago.

NOW, this is true (ish), in that I was bathing DD one afternoon and a man came to the door and said some water had come through his ceiling. I had said I didn't think it was coming from my flat as I hadn't let the water away yet. I told him to let me know if it happened again. He said something along the lines of 'no problem, it's not my flat anyway, just thought I'd let you know' and shrugged and went away. I never heard anything of it again till last Friday. I've used the bath 3-4 times a week for the last 8 months and they've never said anything else.

My landlord has told me (when he came to see the bath) that he doesn't want to get the insurance involved because his policy is really expensive and he doesn't want it to go up, but surely that is covered by the rent we pay?

Our rent, incidentally, has just gone up by £45 a month, which I wasn't really that happy about but we agreed to it because our landlord has been quite helpful in the past. I doubt he'd get that rent on the place if we weren't living here.

Sorry that was so long, AIBU?

[OPeaches]

Is there anything in your lease agreement about fixing stuff like that? I'm pretty sure that it'd be te landlords responsibility to fix it if not.

[Onesleeptillwembley]

Pmsl. He's trying it on, the cheeky twat. Tell him so.

[Wibblypiglikesbananas]

Well, I'm a landlady and I'd pay for the damage. But then I have adequate insurance cover, should the job turn out to be really expensive. Depending on the exact type of damage, there may also be a way to claim on the block building insurance, which is presumably not just in your landlord's name (I've done this in the past).

I hate dodgy landlords who try and pass blame back to tenants. If he'd been so bothered, he should have had the damage repaired himself months back (assuming you informed him then).

[Wibblypiglikesbananas]

And just a thought - even if you didn't tell the landlord what the man downstairs said months back, he can't prove you were told in the first place. What I would have expected to happen in this case is the man downstairs' landlord to deal with your landlord re getting this repaired. You can't be held responsible for a leak you can't see!

[JennyPiccolo]

No, I don't think so, specifically. There is a part that says the landlord should comply with schedule 10 of the housing act ( Scotland) 'to keep in repair and working order the installations in the premises for supply of water, gas and electricity and for sanitation ( including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences).

The damage downstairs is minimal, by the way. They need the ceiling painted.

[JennyPiccolo]

I don't think I told him at the time because I didn't think there was a problem. My DP thinks he remembers me mentioning it in passing to the landlord but I can't really remember. He visits once a month and had a 'thorough inspection of fixtures and fittings' three weeks ago. He didn't look at any pipes (obviously).

[JennyPiccolo]

I am in the unfortunate position of being a landlord and also renting my home, and my tenant had a leak in the kitchen the day previous ( great week I had, last week). I just phoned a plumber and got it fixed! It was done in 24 hours. It didn't occur to me that someone else should pay for it.

[Hegsy]

Tell him to feck off. No way should you be paying for it. He's chancing his arm.

[JennyPiccolo]

So I need to meet him tomorrow, so he can 'present his case' to me. What should I say? I don't want to be rude, but I don't want to back down either.

[marriedinwhiteisback]

Reverse AiBU? Of course the landlord should pay. Get out the lease and read out the clause to your own tenants if you have to

[orangepudding]

If there is dodgy pipe work the landlord should pay.

[TylerHopkins]

I'm a landlord and I would pay for this. Only if it is accidental or malicious damage should a tenant have to pay.

Check your agreement, I'm sure you'll find in there that it is his responsibility. If you don't have an agreement he loses anyway because he has nothing to enforce.

Please DO NOT pay anything until you have sought proper advice.

[PumpkinPositive]

In what way is he suggesting you have been negligent? Did you spike a javelin through the overflow pipe??

[TylerHopkins]

He's taking the piss. Landlords like this make my blood boil.

[mummytowillow]

I'm a landlady and I also rent myself. There is no way way I would expect my tenant to pay for this. I also wouldn't pay it for the house I rent.

Tell him no and just wait to see what he does.

[JennyPiccolo]

I'm meeting him tomorrow. I think he is going to say that I've been negligent because I 'knew' about the problem and didn't tell him. Also he mentioned something on the phone about the fixture being loose because I kept overflowing the bath, which I don't think I have been doing. And even if I did overflow the bath, is that not the point of an overflow pipe?

[m0nkeynuts]

Had a similar problem once with a rented flat (overflow leaking down side of bath through to neighbours below) and there was no question that the landlord would be responsible for the repair cost.

Sounds like he's chancing his luck!

[Enb76]

I was a landlord and the exact same thing happened with my tenants. It was absolutely my responsibility and was covered under my insurance. He is chancing his arm.

[ThinkAboutItTomorrow]

Firstly I'm not sure if the problem is worse for having not acted 8 months ago or not. Has there been damage creeping in downstairs they want your landlord to pay for?

It may be worth pushing the owner of downstairs if they have been ignoring a problem for 8 months until it is a bigger problem. This happened to me. Downstairs was rented and came and told me my dishwasher was leaking. I got a plumber round to fix it that morning. They then turned round and asked me to pay to reaping their room as it was trashed. Idiots even said 'it started months ago with a slight shadow and just got worse and worse'. Well tell me when it is a shadow and I will fix it before it does any damage FFS. I did get their room painted but with much under breath chuntering.

Anyway, sorry for side rant...

I think saying 'sorry but I asked the guy downstairs to tell me if there were any more problems and he hasn't so I assumed it was a weird one off. I can't fix a leak I can't see and that is why you have insurance.'

Should be fine. It is totally reasonable. Invoke the mumsnet jury if he gets tricksie!

Good luck.

[PumpkinPositive]

Why didnt you contact your landlord when downstairs came to let you know? I've experienced leaks from successive upstairs neighbours who all contacted their landlords upon being advised of the problem - as I would expect them to do!

Your landlord might have a point about your failure to advise, but I can't see that he can reasonably expect you to meet the cost of the repair to the pipe.

[JennyPiccolo]

I didn't think it was coming from our flat, and then we didn't hear about it again so I was fairly certain it wasn't.

[Takingbackmonday]

I'm a landlord. He's taking the piss.

[tabbytolst]

I imagine that when your neighbour mentioned it months ago, you would have asked him to let you know if it continued, as you didn't think it was your plumbing at fault. As he didn't mention it, you reasonably assumed there was no leak, and therefore the landlord can't state that you knew and were negligent.

[Beastofburden]

can you take a friend along who can pretend to be your lawyer?

[WilsonFrickett]

He's taking the piss. And I love the way he's doing it with big words viz to intimate to you. Numpty. It's totally his responsibility to fix it, you need to just stay calm and keep quoting the clause from your lease to him.

Also 'I'm sorry to hear your insurance policy is expensive, but that isn't my problem' is a handy phrase.

I'm also a landlord in Scotland and use a standard SAT agreement. It's definitely down to the landlord to fix stuff.