Stingy landlord?

[Doglover321]

Hi everyone, I’m sharing a flat with my boyfriend and we have huge mold and drainage issues. Mold covers the exterior and interior of the property, and the toilet and shower are both thoroughly blocked. The landlord visited following a hole in the ground floor flat’s ceiling (due to our shower flooding), and has told us a plumber will be visiting today - two days after the event!! He says we will have to pay rather than him. Surely this is something a landlord would usually pay for? He also told us that in the meantime we would have to use the swimming pool showers if we needed to shower. TIA for any thoughts.

Landlords are often stingy, but tenants often cause mould by not ventilating properly, and block toilets by flushing things down that they shouldn’t. Could that be the case here?

Of course you don’t have to pay. You need to out everything in writing and take it to the council, they can make the LL do repairs and fine him if he doesn’t.

This is absolutely on the landlord to maintain his property.

Did you cause the blockage?

If the damage is caused by your negligence, then yes, you'd pay. However, this sounds like the issues are with the drainage and the house being damp itself, given that the mould is outside and inside. Give shelter a call for advice. You may have a shonky landlord avoiding responsibilities.

did you leave your shower on?

Why would you allow your shower to flood the downstairs if you knew things were blocked?

That’s bullshit.

Regarding the mould, if it’s on the exterior then it’s clear this isn’t an issue that you caused. Most likely, it’s an issue to do with the building and you shouldn’t be paying for anything.

As for the blockage, I guess it’s more difficult to prove that you didn’t block the toilet yourself but I still wouldn’t expect the Landlord to try to throw the costs on you. This is why I prefer renting through an EA because at least there’s a middle ground.

Sorry OP, I have no advice but it sounds ridiculous

I think this is a depends situation. Shower drainage blocked because the shower trap is full of your hair is your responsibility. Although building insurance should cover damage to downstairs flat. Shower blocked because whoever renovated tipped plaster/ paint down the drain and pipes are blocked are a landlord issue. If it’s leaky sealant that’s the landlord again.

That's the whole point of renting? Your rent covers things like this it's why rent is so dear. It's 100% the landlords responsibility to keep the state of his property in check. I had terrible mold when i used to rent, which was painted over when I moved in but came seeping back through every winter. They will try and fob you off with ventilation issues and bla bla bla. Do you rent through a letting agency?

Nope he has to pay. If he found that you were flushing wet wipes or something that caused the block you would of course be liable but normal use is his problem to sort out. We once had a blockage caused by wipes but they were far enough down the plumber was able to say it was the previous tenants. Landlords have ALWAYS paid for plumbing and mould removal.

Citizen’s Advice, the local council, Shelter and other charities may have advice. If possible I would look for a new place as the landlord and apartment sound pretty awful - my partner got Asthma from mould in a rental a few years ago - not worth risking your health.

You only have to pay if you have done damage deliberately or negligently.
In some cases if you have been slow to report an issue or made things worse by your actions it may be argued that its negligent even if you didn't cause it

You can keep clean by strip washing at a sink and wash hair over sink.

What has caused the blockage? If its been caused by you then of course you should pay for unblocking and possibly repair to the floor from flooding. (Why did you keep the shower going when you saw the water was not draining away?)

OP you really do need to tell MN if any of the problems, issues are down to you being negligent, unthinking. I have a friend who ran a property leasing agency, and some of the things that tenants did or didn’t do beggared belief to be honest. Yes Landlords do have hoops to jump through, and responsibilities to carry out. But so do tenants, and I often ask myself, if they owned the property, and not the Landlord, would they allow things to get into such a state?

I am not saying this is the case here, no one simply knows enough, but the responsibilities do tip both ways. It’s all about if the property was in a fit and proper state when you took it on, and what of the problems might be due to your actions. Good luck with it.

Do you know what's caused the damp, mold internally, blockage and leaking shower.

Plumber is in there as we speak, so will update ASAP

So he picked the plumber and wants you to pay his plumber

He’s just left. Poo caused the toilet blockage, hair caused the shower blockage??

Yep!!

While Pooing in the toilet is of course perfectly reasonable I suppose he could arge that an excess of loo roll contributed to the problem AND that regular hair removal is part of cleaning and general maintanence.
I am not saying I agree, I am just thinking what the LL might try and argue

hes got the contract with the landlord not you. As you have t employed him.

is the plumber quoting or fixing?

If I was your landlord I'd be furious that you were neglecting my property and expecting me to pay for it.

Hair in the shower? Basic maintenance
Poo blocking the toilet? Too much toilet roll or other things flushed with it.

What else don't you maintain?

Have you ever cleaned the shower trap? It’s the first thing to check when water starts draining slowly.

A toilet plunger costs about 6.99. Dr Beckmann toilet cleaning powders seem to dissolve toilet paper blockages too. My children use yards of the stuff so it’s a frequent occurrence in our house. Alternatively switch to 2 ply which doesn’t seem to block loos the same way.

Depending on how happy you are to stay would depend on how I dealt with this. if I needed to stay I would just suck it up, if I was happy to risk a mental price hike or eviction I’d be talking to shelter.

we fix everything in our rentals we always have, it does seem to be an expectation from the landlords.

So you have blocked the toilet and shower? Then yes, this is on you to fix. That's grim.