So 2 different builders have told me 2 different stories

[saltire]

Our tenant called to say ( a couple of weeks ago) that there was water coming into teh kitchen. her Bfs dad was a builder and he thought it was coming from teh flat roof in teh bathroom, as some of the tiles have also come away from behind the toilet.

So called builder 1 - DB's PIL - and he has just called to say that he had a look at the flat roof and its "knackered", needs new felt and new timber.
Builder 2, friends dad who we usually use, very reliable, wnet and had a look (not up ont ehr oof though) and he says he is pretty confident that it is condensation in teh bathroom becasue there is no fan in teh bathroom and they don't open the window. He hasn't got time to go and look on the roof just now though as he is very busy, but says he willl next time he is round that way
How can 2 builders get such completely differing stories! How much is a new flat rook going to cost - admittedly its not a big one, just aobut 3ft by 5ft or similar

Can you ask tenants to open bathroom window and see if that alleviates the problem?

I know what you mean though - a bit like doctors sometimes! Can you get a 3rd opinion?

I did ask her to open the window, but she now says that radiators don't work and the bathroom is freezing if she opens them. First I've heard of it. I told her to try bleeding the radiators, and see how that goes.
I am going to call another building company and see if they can go round and look at it. they do roofing as well apparently so may be able to give me a quote. I'm annoyed with tennant, as
A) She never mentioned the radiators until now, we have BG homecare so could ahve got someone round to fix them
B) When this first came to light about the leak in the kitchen, it turned out it had beeng oing on for a couple of weeks.
C) Some tiles fell off the bathroom wall, which she never told us about

Is there any chance you could climb up to have a look at roof yourself - do you live near enough to visit? It will be pretty obvious if felt is gone and timbers are wet - there will be water pooling, the felt will feel soft and squelchy, you could pour a bucket of water and see what happens.

I would be tempted to go with the builder you have used before - tenants rarely want to hear that any fault may be caused by their treatment of a building (having same problem re: condensation with ours at the moment).

If it is the flat roof, it really shouldn't cost more than a few hundred for one that size but it is a job that you have to get spot on so I would want to use someone you trust.

Can't imagine that condensation alone would affect the kitchen . We had a condensation problem in ours when we rented it out - sharers heavily using the shower, lettign water splash against the window and not mopping up, not opening window and not keeping curtain inside bath so floor got soaked repeatedly. It affected the decor, ruined a carpet and the mdf floor panels had to be replaced but the damage was internal to th bathroom. A fan helped to some extent.