Problems with landlord above

[grey_lady21]

Hi,

Not strictly a letting situation but Im hoping someone here can point me in the right direction of what I can do next.

My neighbour above (tenant) has a fault with her boiler which causes a pipe to leak heavily onto my flat, she reported it to her landlord and was fobbed off several times and I complained to the management company who manage the whole building on behalf of the freeholder. After lots of going back and forwards, promises of plumbers excuses etc 6 weeks later nothing has been fixed - what has actually happened is that this landlord told his tenant (a single mum on HB with 3 children including a baby) to keep the water shut off during the day and only have it on to fill pans, or flush the toilet very late at night / early morning. The landlord has told the property management company that the tenant is refusing access / waiting for parts / waiting for new boilers etc and basically lied to the management company.

This has been going on for several weeks and I can't imagine how frustrating / intolerable this is for the tenant - I have advised her to contact the local council as i think the situation she is in breaches minimum fitness - re Housing Act.

My own problem here is that it's causing damage to my property, two double glazed windows have been breached and I have mould / water on the inside along with a horrible large mould patch outside and it looks like the brickwork is being erroded which worries me.

The property management company have confirmed that the landlord is breaking the terms of his lease but say that its not worth taking him to court and that he owns a number of properties in the block and they find him difficult to deal with, i've obviously phoned them numerous times to complain.

So my question is what can I do here, Im worried for the tenant, for my property and the noise is actually making it difficult for me to sleep!

Many thanks if anyone can advise.

[JOSH_IOU]

Complain to the council there are health and safety concerns. The council have a duty to force local private landlords to carry out repairs.

The landlord of the property above may not have done a health and safety check when the property commenced.

[demon_x_slash]

Your local Housing Officer at the Council should be able to deal with things on behalf of your neighbour.

Failing that, if the leak is causing damage to your property, a letter containing a legal threat of making a claim for your own repairs, sent to the landlord as the responsible party, may speed things up a little...