Billing landlord for recurring plumbing issue

YeatsCounty

My wife and I moved into new accommodation a couple of weeks ago. Last Monday, our shower stopped working (only a tiny bit of cold water was flowing from the shower head). A plumber was called out and he informed us that air was getting locked in the pipes connecting the boiler to the shower head. He fixed the problem and let us know that it was to do with how the pipes have a lot of "superflous bends" which is causing this problem. Also, the pipe is reduced from an inch in diameter to 3/4 of an inch for no reason at all, according to him. He said that this problem may happen again.

It has just happened again, less than a week later, and on a Saturday no less. We cannot contact the letting agent as she has not provided us with a mobile phone number for weekends/emergencies.

We (and especially the missus who is quite cross at the minute) can not go a weekend without showering and go to work Monday morning.


If we call a plumber to fix the acute problem (not the underlying one which would be a much bigger job, but one which we will push to have completed soon), can we bill the landlord? What does the law say about this?

The last time they waited until the following day to contact a plumber so as not to have to pay off hour rates, and since it's the weekend these rates would be higher still. But we're entitled to a working shower, right?

Climate Expert

YeatsCounty wrote: »

My wife and I moved into new accommodation a couple of weeks ago. Last Monday, our shower stopped working (only a tiny bit of cold water was flowing from the shower head). A plumber was called out and he informed us that air was getting locked in the pipes connecting the boiler to the shower head. He fixed the problem and let us know that it was to do with how the pipes have a lot of "superflous bends" which is causing this problem. Also, the pipe is reduced from an inch in diameter to 3/4 of an inch for no reason at all, according to him. He said that this problem may happen again.

It has just happened again, less than a week later, and on a Saturday no less. We cannot contact the letting agent as she has not provided us with a mobile phone number for weekends/emergencies.

We (and especially the missus who is quite cross at the minute) can not go a weekend without showering and go to work Monday morning.


If we call a plumber to fix the acute problem (not the underlying one which would be a much bigger job, but one which we will push to have completed soon), can we bill the landlord? What does the law say about this?

The last time they waited until the following day to contact a plumber so as not to have to pay off hour rates, and since it's the weekend these rates would be higher still. But we're entitled to a working shower, right?

Yes, get a plumber and subtract his costs of your months rent. Tell them to provide an out of hours number if they have a problem with this.

Xiney

I think we're going to wait until Monday (we went to the gym to shower) just as a show of good faith.

But boy, are they ever going to give us an after hours number + get us a permanent fix on the shower.

DublinDilbert

To be honest it doesn't sound like a plausible diagnosis from your plumber...

Just cause they put a few bends in a pipe, it will still not allow air into the system.

What did he do the last time he came to your house? how did he remove the air? How much did he charge for this air removal?

If you post over in the DIY forum there, and some pics of the so called problem, the guys there will be able to asses if he's talking rubbish...

Was the letting agent/landlord informed after the first time this happened? what was their response?

Xiney

I sent an email to the letting agent so that I would have a record of having informed them of the plumber's diagnosis - I did not get a reply.

I'm not sure how much he charged - I never saw the bill, he dealt directly with the letting agent.

Last time, as far as I know (and I tried to watch since I like to know these things) he just unscrewed some of the taps that lead off the pipes (there are a lot of them) and said he heard the air come out and sure enough, the shower started working again. I tried that this time but obviously I didn't do it right so the shower's still not working.