To not have has to spend over 24hours without a toilet.

[Berryglitter]

Cistern cracked on my loo early hours of yesterday morning (no idea how). Only discovered it when my elderly neighbours son came up to tell me water was coming down into her bathroom.

I took the day off work, rang our housing association etc. At 4.55pm someone finally turned up, I'd turned the water off and put buckets/towels around to try and stop the damage. The man isolated the leak but said nothing they could do until today but they'd be out first thing. It's now 12pm. I'm having to run to various neighbours to use the loo.

I understand they're busy and apparently a few were off sick but I pay rent, it have a ds who's 5 and this is now the second day I've had to take off work.

What did the HA suggest to do in meantime?

Not a lot, he suggested staying with family which isn't an option as they live miles away. Luckily my neighbours have been brilliant but it must be annoying for them having me knocking every time I need a wee. My dp suggested using the loo then chucking a bucked of water down to try and flush it but I'm worried it won't work and the plumber will be faced with a interesting sight when he turns up.

would have been easier just to use the loo and flush with a bucket, it works fine have had to do it befor and never had a problem

I'll give it a go. I'm just annoyed as they said it would be the first job of today as they couldn't do it yesterday. I hate taking time off work and have just realised how dreadful day time tv is!

This needs to be addressed with your HA because my HA only allow 4 hours for this kind of thing and im sure yours should too as it is an important need. I'd phone them and check what the situation is incase you've been forgotten

If it was anything else I wouldn't mind waiting. I'll give them a call and see what they say. I hope they haven't forgotten me.

Our cistern broke for a couple of days and we were told to just chuck a bucket of water down and it works!

It's just what the flush does anyway. You have to be a bit forceful but it's fine. If things don't disappear, at the worse you'll have to fish them out, but it does work

Oh that would be and experience, I'll go find a bucket. I wish they'd hurry up, I'm getting cabin fever.

If they can't fix it till then they can't, but I think you would be within your rights to ask for a rent rebate to acknowledge the inconvenience you have been put too. I'd send them a letter asking for this, and stating you have also lost two days' pay so it isn't as simple as deducting two days from your payment.

Your house is essentially uninhabitable without a toilet, so if they can't fix it in a timely fashion they should compensate you, as they have breached your contract.

When we had our new bathroom fitted we went 2 weeks without a cistern, just the old toilet bowl balanced on rickety floorboards. We had to flush with a bucket, it does with but you have to try to chuck the whole bucket full down at once to get a bit of force behind it. At least you can fill the bucket in your bathroom. We had to lug it up the stairs!
I hope it gets sorted soon though.

I think I may have to do that, I can't afford these two days off but there wasn't any other options. I've called them and the lady "couldn't give a time but soon". Dp keeps telling me you enjoy the day off, not being able to leave the house (or have a nap) isn't my idea of fun.

Definitely use a large jug or bucket. It does the exact same as a flush. Very common in other countries to do this.

Will the mop bucket do? I'm hoping for no splash back.

3 years ago our loo was tilting because the floor was slowly giving way underneath it We have someone underneath us and the HA wanted to wait a month to fix it In the end it got done the following week because I phoned Environmental Health who agreed it was dangerous.
HAs don't seem to do emergencies IME. Ever heard the phrase "well we have to raise a works order" Must be comforting for tenants to hear if theres water pissing down the walls or a toilet is about to land on your downstairs neighbours head.
Hope its fixed as soon as poss OP.

Still nothing. I wish I could just pay for my own plumber to do it (friend of the family) but the HA get a bit funny about things like that.

Are your HA on Twitter That might shift them

We were a week without running water when a main burst. Chucking a bucket of water down works just fine.

joining the chorus - a nuisance, and certainly needs fixing, but you do have a loo. You just have to flush it with a bucket.

YY to using a bucket of water. The water disappearing down the loo is only doing so passively as water streams in from the cistern. You can easily stream water in from a bucket.

We had no cistern for 2 weeks and flushed by filling a bucket up and throwing it down the loo. Takes about 6litres of water to flush a loo

Put tissue in a bin, then if it's yellow let it mellow if it's brown flush it down.

But have a buckets of water ready for when the plumber arrives

It's an emergency repair and by law must be done within 24 hours - have a look at the complaint policy and proceed with it, I'd suggest OP.

I do the bucket thing all the time to properly clean the toilet.

I turn off the tap that refills the cistern, flush, then use a bucket to flush the rest of the water down. I find a 3-4 gallon bucket works best because the sheer volume is enough, no force required (so no splash back).

Then I clean the toilet (soak it with CLR thanks to hard water stains) and then turn the tap to the cistern back on. Done!

Did they turn up OP?