So stressed - landlords are wanting us to pay for issues I don’t believe are our fault

[PinkLadiApples]

Hi, I really hope someone may be able to help me, will try to keep this readable.

We live in a flat above a restaurant, the entire building is owned by a lady who lives locally and she uses an estate agents to manage it. We moved in 3 months ago.

Last week, the people in the restaurant complained that suddenly every time we flushed the toilet, used the taps, the washing machine or the shower, water and toilet waste was coming through to them. We stopped immediately and called an emergency plumber out, who identified that the toilet pipes had become blocked and the reason was my partner was using flushable toilet wipes and they’d built up and caused this.

We were without access to our toilet, shower, washing machine and all taps for 5 days because various plumbers didn’t bother turning up, plus a builder and drain unblocker were needed to fix this. It was a huge massive job which was incredibly stressful and we had to use the restaurant downstairs toilet and sinks which was very kind of them.

That first night it happened, they had to close, understandably, and they’ve lost a lot of money from bookings. They’re a small independent family run restaurant so I realise this was a huge deal to them.

The narrative throughout these past few days was that it’s basically all our fault for using these wipes, the owner was hinting at this several times and said we’d hear from the estate agents soon. I should add, the area we live in is very very old and we’re actually in a listed building, she told us that pipes here extremely old and narrow and not like most places. However no one told us that when we moved here.

So today we’ve had an email saying the responsibility of all this is fully ours, and we’ll be invoiced soon for not only the plumbing and builder bills but for all lost income of the restaurant. We’ve checked our tenancy agreement and it just states we have to take reasonable precautions not to cause pipe blockages. Nothing about these particular pipes being extra narrow or old.

When we’ve said the toilet wipes packaging says it’s “Certified fine to flush” they’ve said everyone knows not to trust that, but I didn’t know!

If anyone knows where we stand legally please let me know, I’d be so grateful.

I agree they seem to be trying it on. The refusal to even attempt to get insurance to pay for it means that either

1. They don't have insurance

Or

1. They don't want their premiums to go up so are trying to bully you into paying.

As the pp said that is exactly what insurance so for and it's up to the insurance company to go after the person they think is liable to mitigate their losses. Not for their insured customer to do it on their behalf.

If you saw someone hit and run your car then your insurance would pay out and they would go after the person who damaged your car.

I think they know the insurer will say you aren't liable and therefore their premiums will go up.

@PinkLadiApples. That's good to know (regarding your deposit). As it's protected, you can double check, but I don't think they can just help themselves at this stage. You can certainly call them to dispute it and let them arbitrate or put you in touch with a department that will.

I concur with the sentiments above that they're trying it on. Buildings insurance is specifically designed for accidental damage and if this happens to my tenants I'd be on the phone.

I wonder if they've been down this road before and haven't carried out the repairs or upgrades to the plumbing to prevent this from happening again.

All good advice from the recent responses. This is 100% an insurance matter - the estate agent doesn't get to decide what process the insurers would take. I still think they have let their insurance lapse and so are trying to get you to pay instead.

Agreed @Shitandhills either they’ve let it lapse or they have claimed for the same thing before and they know insurance will either not pay out again or premiums will go through the roof. Not OPs problem.

A tenant cannot possibly be expected to hold insurance for all of the other tenants in case of an accident which caused them damage. I cannot even imagine an insurance policy of this nature would be affordable when there is a business operating in the same building. The insurance company would need to know the revenue of the business, and to inspect the whole building and the other tenants’ property before writing the policy.

I think the estate agent is an idiot and the landlady is nuts.

@Shitandhills

All good advice from the recent responses. This is 100% an insurance matter - the estate agent doesn't get to decide what process the insurers would take. I still think they have let their insurance lapse and so are trying to get you to pay instead.

Exactly. Or the estate agent is just daft and talking out her nose.

So sorry you are going through this crap (sorry). Glad you've got goi advice on here. Stand your ground. Be polite but firm. Knowledge is power.. Is your partner taking on any of the stress over this?

I.ude the Saxon wipes that are certified by water board to be flushable. Another option is to keep using the wipes but put them into a nappy sac and then into bin.

Dragons Dennis quite interesting about wet wipes now

That Wype gel is supposed to be on it. I use that

It states on the Sainsbury wipes to flush them one at a time.

How many was he flushing?

@iRun2eatCake

It states on the Sainsbury wipes to flush them one at a time.

How many was he flushing?

RTFT, or at least OP’s posts.