Huge energy bill following leak - can I ask the landlords to help pay?

[Toxicblackmould]

We had a terrible leak from upstairs last month and which caused a lot of damage and mould issues. Landlord asked us to keep the heating on and run our dehumidifier which we did. We’ve just had an energy bill through for just shy of £400. I’m honestly shaking. Our bill is usually within the region of 160/170£. Can I ask the landlord for support with this or are we liable even though the leak was from the upstairs flat?

I don't know about legally but I would tell the landlord how much putting on the heat so much cost. I would hope they would offer to pay as it was for the benefit of their property. I would give them a chance to offer before I outright asked.

You need to claim on your insurance or else ask the above flag to pay and they can claim off their insurance.

I would expect this to be part of the claim on insurance.

This should be part of the landlord’s insurance claim so yes you definitely can ask

This happened in my elderly mother's house. The insurance covered the extra energy costs of running the heating / dehumidifiers. Speak to the landlord - they should be able to check with their insurance. Pity you didn't get a meter reading from the date of the leak.

How would I go about asking? I feel like a right cheeky bugger but energy prices are ridiculous enough as it is without this extra, and we really can’t afford it. Our rent alone is just shy of 2k! Our later meter reading was on the 1st Jan, leak started on the 7th but wasn’t fixed until the 11th so quite significant damage. For the 2 weeks following we had the heating blasting just in the bathroom along with the dehumidifier and the extractor fan (which meant the halogen lights were switched on too as the fan doesn’t work without the lights). I feel like we were extremely flexible in terms of handling the leak (LL were in holiday at the time) and facilitating plumbers, decorators etc. Didnt use the bathroom the leak happened with so there wasn’t any additional condensation from showering. horrible mould came up everywhere which I cleaned as the LL said the decorating couldn’t happen for a month and I have 2 small children I didn’t want breathing it in. I just feel so cheeky asking! Even if they just put £100 towards it would make a difference.

It's not at all cheeky to ask. Your landlord probably has insurance that will cover it.

So just open the conversation with that.

Hello landlord,

Difference between December and January bill was X after running heating as requested. Can you please request this sum back from insurance?

Thanks,

TBM

Then If they don't have insurance, ask them for a rebate on rent to cover it. Keep it clear and factual.

Your landlord should cover this as part of the insurance. We had a similar issue - the flat we rent had a leak which caused more damaged than it needed to cause the stupid woman upstairs refused access for repair…it was her pipe and it couldn’t be accessed from our flat below. Anyway, once the leak was sorted the tenant had to run an industrial dehumidifier to clear the damp. That was paid via us, via insurance. It’s not the tenants job to pay for increased energy required to dry damp after a leak. We also didn’t charge rent until the issue was resolved because they didn’t have a full usable flat.

Buildings Insurance should cover running a dehumidifier.

Insurers need to get involved.

If necessary get your LL involved because it’s ruined the fabric of his flat so it’s up to him to get insurers involved and in his position ask his (or upstairs insurers) to foot the heating bill.
Worth a try?

Example: years ago my mum was abroad for 6 weeks in the antipodes during uk winter. Her house sustained a burst pipe in loft. Wrecked the carpets and walls.

DH and I lived 3 hours away and couldn’t stay there to sort things out/give access (until very busy plumbers attended)so we had to get hotel accommodation. Mums household insurer paid our hotel bill and for her house to be refurbed. We had to be assertive but we got there in the end.
Good luck OP.