To think there must be laws preventing Landlords leaving untreated sewage in tennant's gardens?

[Frequency]

And that one of the LL's on MN must know what those laws are?

If, for example, the outlet pipe from the toilet was not attached to anything and the raw sewage was flushing into the garden, how long would a LL have to put that right?

Are the rules different for housing associations or if there are children and pets at the property? What if one of the pets has already been ill, probably (but not provable) caused by the sewage?

Also, while I have you here, how long would a LL have to make right windows which don't open or lock and to provide the correct bins, particularly in light of the sewage problem as the tenant will need to clean the sewage and with only one bin will struggle to find space for it among all the recycling and garden waste.

I tried legal but no-one answered. I want to arm myself with the facts before I call the HA back.

I'd assume the sewage thing would be an emergency call but it could also be whoever you pay your sewerage rates too? Where we used to live it had a very old drainage system. The water company came out at 9pm because there was sewage coming out into peoples gardens.

Windows that don't open I would imagine urgent because of a fire risk, escape route thing?

And bins here are from our local council irrespective if you rent or live in a mortgaged house.

I'm not a lawyer btw just making assumptions

It was an emergency, such an emergency I had to miss an exam at college to wait in for the plumber to come out, which I will have to pay to resit as I don't have a dr's note proving illness.

Now they've realised it's an all day job and they'll have dig down to the sewer, it's fine to leave it until the 22nd of June I reported it ten days ago.

One window won't lock, the others will open but I daren't open them because they don't close properly when they've been opened. That's the reason one doesn't lock, the handle came off in my hand when I tried to close it.

Our council say LL's are responsible for paying for the bins. They charge £35 a bin. The HA haven't got round to ordering any yet. I asked for them three weeks ago.

As a LL the sewage would concern me in terms of health of the tenant but also damage to the property so it's one of want to act on quickly.

Are you renting from a LL or through a HA? If it is a private house but the HA are effectively subletting it then it's the probably the HA's responsibility to sort all of this. If so it can be worth finding out who the LL is and contacting them directly as they will want to ensure that the HA fulfil their contract.

If you rent direct from a LL then speak to housing at the council, they can start enforcement action against the LL. If you deal with the council then keep notes of everything. Dealing my local council fills me with dread as they are terrible at communicating internally so you agree things and nothing happens.

I rent from a HA, AFAIK, they own the house themselves, so there is no LL to contact and I've been in touch with them three times about the sewage already.

It is leaking right next to a wall. I will mention that next time I call them. There was standing sewerage water but I poked drainage holes into the soil and that seemed to help.

I'll be calling the council they can give you advice and write to your LL.

Contact council environmental health.

Ok, so on Tuesday, I will contact the HA again and tell them if it is not fixed within the week, I will be contacting environmental health, that's fair, right?

I'm really worried about pissing them off as I've only just moved in and I'm on a probationary tenancy. I can't afford the deposits to move again and really wanted a secure home. Although, atm, I am regretting moving at all. Raw sewage is not a fair trade off for security.

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/health_and_safety_standards_for_rented_homes_hhsrs

All the steps you can take are included in this link.
Good luck.

If you have lodged a complaint they revenge evict you, you're protected by law. Can you escalate up the chain in the HA?

Frequency which HA are you with PM me if you dont want it on the thread.

Only if you want to though.

Environmental health asap I would have thought. Don’t wait another week !

If you do twitter @nearlylegal is great at this.

I've messaged you Helena.

I don't understand Twitter so never bothered with it.

I understand revenge evictions but how I would prove they didn't offer me a secure tenancy because I kept complaining about things not fixed and not for other reasons? Do they have to offer proof for the reasons not offer a secure tenancy?

Just wanted to confirm, where is the sewage actually leaking from? Is it an underground pipe that has become fractured and therefore it’s coming up through the ground or is it a manhole?

What did the plumber do?

It is the outlet pipe from the toilet. At the bottom of it, there is a concrete ring. The concrete ring is smashed and the sewage spills out of the gaps in the concrete whenever anyone flushes the chain.

Some of it goes down to whatever is under the concrete ring, most o it ends up in the garden. Since I dug the drainage holes the situation has improved massively but there is still shitty toilet paper building up around the base of the outlet pipe and if you rake the soil there is also feces. You can see the difference in colour between the soil and the shit that's seeped into the soil.

My phone is out of charge atm but I will try to add a photo of the concrete thing and the outlet pipe later.

The plumber said the entire thing needs taking out and replacing from the pipe down to the floor and it will take all day because they will need to dig down as the outlet pipe should be buried and should let out directly into the sewer.

I suspect the pipe behind the concrete is also smashed. There is a forest of dandelions just by the base of the pipe (well established dandelions, not ones I've allowed to grow in the month I have been here). I think the roots have smashed the pipe and the concrete thing.

The plumber seemed to think the pipe should go right into the ground, whereas from the way the toilet waste gushes out of the cracks it appears to hover above the ground.

Has anyone from the HA been out because this should be classed as an emergency.

They sent a man to unblock the drain. I don't think they understood what the problem was. He saw the drain and immediately realised the entire thing needed replacing. He is the one who booked the work for the 22nd of June. It was the earliest he could get because of the level of work involved.

I'd just cleaned the sewage up so I think maybe they still don't understand what the issue is but I can't just leave raw sewage floating around the garden. I have a dog whose already been sick, I believe from eating shit flavoured soil. I also have a child living here, leaving sewage immediately under the kitchen window is not an option, certainly not in this heat.

Call environmental health tomorrow morning.

How are things now OP Must be bloody rank in this weather.

how disgusting.

bins come from the council, regardless whether you rent or own. That's easy.

as a private LL if I rented out a literal shithole like this, (and I wouldn't...) I would expect my tenant to go to environmental health if I didn't fix it ASAP. But I have home emergency cover for the property and it all started off working. Should there be a drainage issue like this I'd be on to the fixit line the moment I knew about it.

But it does seem that HA's are above the law....

and while the dog is not relevant (the housing duty is only to humans) both you and child are and matter equally. If you have an MP who doesn't just warm a seat in parliament, you could also try him/her.