Landlord's fault, not mine

[Hopeful9]

Hello

 

My house flooded due to the landlord not having lagged a pipe in the loft, which then burst in freezing weather. Not my fault in any way.

 

I moved house as the place was going to be uninhabitable for approx 8 months.

 

The landlord has informed me that he will not re-pay the full deposit as he says that there is damage to the veneer on two internal doors under which i had run a cable for a free-standing electric heater. I don't dispute that the heater cable went under the doors, but when I was living there there was absolutely NO damage to the doors whatsoever, and my position is that having 20,000 litres of flood water going through the house has lifted the veneer. They were NOT damaged prior to the flood.

 

Any advice?

 

Thank you.

[Conniff]

Have to seen the veneer lifted on this door and is it obviously water that has done it ?

[Hopeful9]

Yes I have seen it, and I have photos. As far as I can tell it is water that has done it.

[Conniff]

Good.

 

How big is the contribution he wants you to pay?

 

Is your landlord approachable, can you talk to him ?

 

If so and you haven't moved back in yet, then ask him to meet you there to explain how he came to his conclusion. If you can't talk to him at all, after notifying him in writing, (recorded), you can get an expert who will probably charge a fee and if that expert says it is water damage and not by a wire under the door, then you can ask for your contribution to be reduced to nil and for reimbursement of the experts fee.

[Hopeful9]

He wants me to pay the full cost of buying new doors and locks, and labour to fit them, including sanding, primer, woodstain.

 

No he is not approachable. I will not be moving back in, and I no longer have keys for the property.

 

Where would I find the sort of expert you suggest? I haven't got a clue!

[rebel11]

Thread has been moved to the correct forum.

[Steve__M]

When did the tenancy begin? Has it actually been formally ended? Is the deposit protected by a tenancy deposit protection scheme?

[Hopeful9]

It began in January 2011. I handed in my letter of notice approx two months ago. Yes the deposit is protected.

[Steve__M]

Probably number 1 advice then is to contact the tenancy deposit scheme and find out the procedure for raising a dispute.

 

Did you move out because of the water damage? There could be grounds for *you* claiming off *him* (or his insurer). My insurance includes payment of rent for tenants should my house become unlivable in due to an insured risk.

[Hopeful9]

Yes I moved out because the house was uninhabitable. I moved in with a friend temporarily whilst looking for somewhere new to rent. Two days after the flood the landlord told me I had to have all my belongings out within the next two days because the driers had to come in. His insurers insisted the drying could not start while my possessions were in situ. Obviously I had nowhere to put them and they ended up in a damp unsecured garage for two weeks. I have sent him a letter stating the costs of my losses and expenses and asking him to inform his insurers and to let me know he has done this (within 21 days). The 21 days are up and I have not heard yet.

[raydetinu]

You defo have a claim against him.

Write to him with details of all your out of pocket expenses, accommodation costs etc and your deposit to be returned in full and give him 14 days to respond or you will start court action.

[Hopeful9]

Thanks, I will consider doing that if I don't hear from him in the next week or so.

[Hopeful9]

Update:

 

I wrote to LL, outlining my costs and losses etc and asking him to pass the info on to his insurers. As a result he now says the burst pipe has been inspected and deemed suitably lagged (although he had previously said it was not lagged, but that it relied on other lagged pipes nearby to protect it), and that he has therefore not been negligent. His insurers will not compensate me because of this.

 

As for the doors, he is still insisting that I have to pay for new ones. The rental agency tell me they have referred the matter to the Rent Deposit scheme.

 

Additionally he has informed me that I am to pay his costs for removing a compost heap. When I moved into the property I asked whether I could build a compost heap and the reply was that I could, and LL would let me know if he wanted it removed when I left the property. If I had known he wanted it removed I would have removed it. As he did not tell me after I handed in my notice that he wanted it removed I don't see how he can now ask me to pay for it retrospectively.

 

Any advice?

[raydetinu]

well, if you are sure of your claim, you can take him to court! thats what they are for in dispute situations.

With regard to compost heap, I am afraid you should of sked if it was ok to leave it, then there would have been no problem.

He is entitled to ask for the property to be left in a similar condition as when it was let, so he can charge for its removal.

[Hopeful9]

As he says he has had the offending pipe inspected and the contractor (probably the guy who did the lagging in the first place) has informed him that it was adequately lagged, I am not sure of the claim, no.

 

Re compost, are you saying that even though LL had said at the beginning of the tenancy that HE would let me know if he wanted me to remove it when I left, that it was still my responsibility to ask him, when I left, if he wanted me to remove it? That doesn't make sense to me!

[raydetinu]

If you got that in writing then maybe!

[Hopeful9]

I have it in an email from the agent, that LL would let me know if he wanted me to remove it.

[raydetinu]

Thats fair enough then, have you told him that?

Also use that in dispute service for deposit or court.

[mariner51]

Lagged or unlagged cold water feed? pipe burst after freezing causing 8 months uninhabitable. For that level of flooding I can only assume property was left unoccupied for some time, perhaps without background heating. Perhaps OP can indicate if this assumption is correct?

[Hopeful9]

No, it's two issues - two seperate houses, two seperate LL's. Can you please seperate the threads again?

[citizenB]

No, it's two issues - two seperate houses, two seperate LL's. Can you please seperate the threads again?

 

done

[Hopeful9]

Ta

[Hopeful9]

Rayd: Yes, as soon as I was told I was expected to pay for the removal of the compost I wrote to the agent saying I would rather arrange to get the job done myself, thank you very much, but I objected to having to do it in any case seeing as LL had originally said he would let me know if it needed removing (and I pasted in the original email terms regarding LL would let me know IF he wanted it removed at end of tenancy). Agent replied that 'unfortunately the landlord has already had the heap removed'.

Perhaps I need to reply to that, reiterating the 'terms'?

Mariner: It was the cold water feed pipe - or so I was told by the LL at the outset. The water comes from his reservoir out in a field somewhere. 20,000 litres of it.

No the property was not unoccupied, I was resident, and away for the weekend (fortunately - as having 20',00 L of water rushing into the property while I was there would have been horrendous). Because freezing weather was forecast I left the boiler timed to have the heating on for 7 hours of each day I was away, at a higher temp than I would have had it on if I had been at home. If I had been at home I would have had the heating on for less time than that. I also left a couple of electric oil radiators on in the coldest rooms (I am a responsible tenant, I think).

[mariner51]

20,000L = 20 cu M is more water than I use in 6 months!

 

It is a sad fact that occupiers today fail to isolate the water supply and leave cold taps open when away during freezing weather or during summer holidays. Frozen pipes only cause a problem when they thaw.

[Hopeful9]

Mariner, as the pipe was up in the loft, and fed water from outside into the tank before it came down the pipes into the house, how is it related to switching the water supply off in the house?