To have waited a few days to report problem to landlord?

[lordharvey]

Plumbers have been at our flat on and off for weeks due to a leak. Plumber was last here Wednesday of last week (9 days ago). I happened to be in when the plumber came, but we’d left keys at the estate agent on the assumption that I would be out.

Separately to that, at some point last week our shower mixer started playing up and our shower water was either very hot or very cold, previously it had always been a pleasant mixture.

I don’t remember the exact day that this happened, but I decided to give it until the weekend before reporting it to the landlord because we live in an old property where water pressure can be very up and down. It’s not uncommon for there to be issues with the taps, boiler, toilet etc which work themselves out in a day or two. The other flats experience this too.

On Monday morning of this week I reported it to the landlord because the problem was persisting. She then ignored it for days but texted me this morning, annoyed that I didn’t report it on the day the plumber came so he could have fixed both at once.

AIBU to have not reported this earlier?! I can’t even remember if the problem started before the plumber came last week, but even if it did, if I was the sort of tenant who reported everything that went wrong in the flat as soon as it happened then I would be on the phone to her every day.

Also, surely I don’t have the authority to instruct her plumber who she pays?! On previous plumber visits she has sent me texts saying things like “the plumber does not have my permission to do anything to the tiles or the lights”, so she has set a precedent for her to be the one who directs her contractors (which is fair enough). And for all she knew, I was out when he came.

I understand that it’s expensive for her to send a plumber twice in two weeks, but that’s just bad timing and an inevitable risk of being a landlord who commits to fixing issues around the flat. We have been here four months and didn’t report anything until a month ago.

Wtf wouldn't you send her a text telling her about the problem when you knew you had a plumber there??

I'd be pissed off with you to for causing me unnecessary expense.

Argh. This is what frustrates me so much about renting.

In her text today she said that she's never had a tenant who gets in touch to report issues as much as I do. And then on the other she is upset that I didn't get in touch fast enough. I can't win!

Yes, I do think you should have reported it as soon as you became aware of the issue because, as you've pointed out, you've had plumbers there on and off for weeks so your landlord could have easily investigated whether this was something that needed looking into before it got worse.

That's terrible! I've never had a landlord like that. They usually want you to report issues as those issues are there whether you report them or not and can get worse over time. And if you don't report them the next tenant will, perhaps when it's even harder to fix.

She's being a prick. I'd look into moving and renting from a place where there's an estate agent intermediary between you and the actual landlord. I much prefer that as you can liaise with a proper business not just the person who owns the flat and it seems to catch a lot of the issues becoming personal. I don't even know the name of who owns this place and deal with all issues via the estate agent and I like it this way.

you should have said something when the plumbers were there, yes.

I have that exact problem with my shower. My landlord told me "keep an eye on it and see how it goes" He's useless. We go through a letting agent rather than straight to landlord but they're just as bad and are never on our side. I've had a plumber in twice since I reported it but they wouldn't look because that's not what they were there for. Just let your landlord have a moan, yes it's inconvenient to pay for another plumber but shit happens.

You're supposed to highlight the problem as soon as you notice it. Forget her moaning that you bring up too many issues, your contract will say that you must give notice as soon as reasonably possible of any defects/repairs that need sorting.

I can see why she would be frustrated as well, I'd also be annoyed if you told me after the plumber had left, what's the point in doing that, you're just creating more hassle for her.

On the flip side, why did she choose to be a landlord if she was going to complain every time you told her of disrepair. It's your duty to tell her, nobody else will!

OP l am a LL ...
it does say in most tenancy agreements to report immediately any faults.....

She sounds like a fair and responsible LL who fixed your leak promptly so why would you not want to be helpful?

Where l am it costs me £90 call out each time for a plumber, so l would feel frustrated to have wasted the opportunity to combine the two issues in one visit as you didn't bother to call.

It is your home and l think you should take responsibility for informing her as per your contract.

YANBU You have reported the problem.
The problem doesn't really affect your landlady as much as it affects you!

If I knew I had plumbers coming out for one thing I would call the LL (agency in my case) and say this other thing is also broken, can they do both together?

Yes. You should have reported the problem at the time then it could have been resolved immediately with the plumber on site.

I guess if you knew about the issue and knew there was going to be a plumber I would have contacted her so she could have asked to plumber to check. Unde normal circumstances I'd leave it to resolve.

If plumber was there of course you should have mentioned the shower. U prob cost her another call out fee.

She was also just making it clear he's not qualified to do lights or tiles - did u report lights and tiles too?