Here's the message I sent to TW today via their online form:

Dear Thames Water,

Thank you for the letter from your Customer agent A*** T**** dated 3d October 2018. I

notified the agency I'm renting from about the necessity to sort out the leak. They sent a plumber to

confirm that there is no visible leaks. Now the agency told me that they will contact Thames Water

to deal with it. They want to arrange a visit of your plumber with special pressure testing equipment

to be able to locate the leak. For some reason they didn't manage to reach you over the phone for

several days, so here's the contact number of the person dealing with this issue:

Name: A***(S*** Lettings agent)

Number: 0794*******

Or call here and ask for A***: 02084******

well you shoud eliminate anything you can before you spend your money but I would still be tempted to pay for someone to have a good look at everything and then bill the LL if there is a leaky pipe.

Yutning the stopcock off stops the flow but as yoyu haventy actually explored the possibility of the meter serving the wrong property or more tha one property try ir again ad let the neighbours know beforehand so they can tell you if their water has gone off when you do it.

Are you sure they're not billing you for unpaid water before the start of your tenancy?

They seem to try this when the previous account holder goes missing without settling the final bill.

I'm not sure, but the bill doesn't say anything of the kind. The diagram of water usage shows that i'm using 550-600 litres everyday.. I can access it on my Thames Water account online.

well you shoud eliminate anything you can before you spend your money but I would still be tempted to pay for someone to have a good look at everything and then bill the LL if there is a leaky pipe.

I think it is better to offer the LL a choice either to arrange someone to have a good look at everything himself or that will be done by myself, and I will send him the bill.

But i'm a bit concerned about my next steps in case he tells me that he will not pay that bill...

I want to try and do everything in an amicable way. Once I receive a reply from TW, I think I will writr to the LL something of the sort:

They started sending me reminders to pay the 1st bill, the 2nd one is coming, and it's going to be huge too, because the average daily consumption is around 600 litres. What I need from you(the agency) is that the leak be repaired, only after that I will be able to claim my leak allowance from Thames Water. It's been a long time since I reported the problem, but it is not solved yet.

Yutning the stopcock off stops the flow but as yoyu haventy actually explored the possibility of the meter serving the wrong property or more tha one property try ir again ad let the neighbours know beforehand so they can tell you if their water has gone off when you do it.

this is hardly possible. anyway - no point asking the neighbours about that, because they are dodgy enough, and not too stupid to act against their interests..

Have you checked the meter number on your bill is the same as that on your meter?

Have you checked the meter number on your bill is the same as that on your meter?

Yes, I've just double checked it. It is the same.

YOU are responsible for the bill so stop trying to be nice and do something about things. You can reclaim the money from LL/agents later but do something proactive now or stop moaning and looking for reasons to avoid the inevitable.

YOU are responsible for the bill so stop trying to be nice and do something about things. You can reclaim the money from LL/agents later but do something proactive now or stop moaning and looking for reasons to avoid the inevitable.

Yes, you are right. Once the nice steps are done I'll switch to more decisive actions. By the way, just now I've received a text from the agent: "I will come back to you end of the day". So I'm waiting for the end of the day.

As for the bill - I don't think I'm gonna pay it as it is now. I do not agree with the amount and going to dispute this bill and the next one. And TW know that I have the grounds.

Be wary.

For non-payment TW will take to Court and if successful and amount is over £600 they will employ High Court Enforcement Agents to enforce it.

This is done by a different department to who you are dealing with now and most of the process is automated.

involve ofwat.

Be wary. For non-payment TW will take to Court and if successful and amount is over £600 they will employ High Court Enforcement Agents to enforce it. This is done by a different department to who you are dealing with now and most of the process is automated.

Good to know it. But my first bill is only £186..

we can advise you but we cant protect you from your own idiocy.

Now get a plumber in and then tell LL that the leak has been found and fixed and you are owed £xx for doing his job for him.

then you say that you will be using the new meter readings for the next month to calculate how much of the massive bill you have paid is down to his laziness and that you expect him to refund this.

What you cant do is not pay TW as you are contracted to pay for all of the water that passes through the meter.

You might persuade them to adjust the amount they collect each billing period in case of hardship but you are liable and the LL owes you a duty of care so he has a liability.

as for agents

- well they work for LL so if he has the hump over their lack of movement on this then he can chase them for the money he has paid you.

That is how it works.

involve ofwat.

Thank you very much indeed.

This is what I'm going to do, in case i'm unhappy with how the issue is sorted.

 

 

 

 

Good to know it. But my first bill is only £186..

 

 

 

 

In that case it will be the County Court Bailiff.

we can advise you but we cant protect you from your own idiocy. Now get a plumber in and then tell LL that the leak has been found and fixed and you are owed £xx for doing his job for him. then you say that you will be using the new meter readings for the next month to calculate how much of the massive bill you have paid is down to his laziness and that you expect him to refund this.

What you cant do is not pay TW as you are contracted to pay for all of the water that passes through the meter. You might persuade them to adjust the amount they collect each billing period in case of hardship but you are liable and the LL owes you a duty of care so he has a liability.

as for agents- well they work for LL so if he has the hump over their lack of movement on this then he can chase them for the money he has paid you. That is how it works.

I can't disagree with you, and will do exactly as you advise once the agency refuse to cooperate.

TW will definitely give me the leak allowance.

Btw, I don't even know my LL, I'm only dealing with the agency.

then how do you know you are a tenant of the property and not just paying some rogue who happens to know the property is empty? Have you actually read the tenancy agreement? if will say between you and landlord at ...... then whatever address.

Pay the £3 for the Land Registry entry and find out.

Why would TW give you a leak allowance when you have failed to take control of the leak? They might give you a small something but they arnt going to put up with paying you to throw potable water away for the next year.

you are not a child, start taking some responsibility for your situation

You first bill is only for a very short time, expect the next one to be about 2 grand if you dont do something other than say you want to be nice

Well, the leak was finally fixed.

TW fixed it, as it was the outside one.

They did it on the 18th of January.

according to the smart meter it still looks like the consumption is a little too high for 2 persons.

It never falls less than 150-200 litres a day, even when no one takes a shower.

That is very strange.

TW said that they need to be sure there's no leak inside, and after that they will calculate my leak allowance.

For now they put my account on hold.

Today a manager from the agency i'm renting from came to check the leak inside.

the meter reading didn't change withing 2 hours, as no one used any water facilities inside the house.

I wonder is it possible that there is a very small hole or a crack somewhere in the pipe inside the house, which does not leak until someone turns the taps on or start using a shower??

Is it possible, that i lose extra amount of water only when I turn something on in the house, and i don't lose any water when nothing is turned on?

the pressure in the pipes will be higher when nothing is being used and that will force water out of any crack or leaky joint and will then stop leaking when water is flowing so the reverse of your thoughts.

150 litres a day is the equivalent of flushing the toilet 15 times or 5 average showers so it soon adds up.