My tenants have flooded the bathroom by trying to fill the bath with the showerhead as the diverter wasn’t working… of course the showerhead upturned once reaching a certain fill level and all the water was sprayed outside the tub while the tenant was blissfully unaware next door!
I am being quoted £1050 just for labour to remove ruined floor, strengthen floor, lay new subfloor and then tile/vinyl over! Can I charge the tenants for this or at least a proportion of the cost?
While I accept that the diverter was not working, I had given them the contact number of the plumber to agree a date with him to get it fixed. They took a couple of months to even call him out and once they did, the plumber found it difficult to find the spare part needed to fix… so after the flooding and speaking to the plumber I have taken it into my own hands to source the part but obviously the damage is done.
While I accept that the diverter was faulty (btw, the tenant seems to have used it as a flow valve rather than diverter anyway, not sure if that contributed to the breaking?) and therefore the bath filler was not working, I still think that the flooding is the tenants fault and he should be liable to cover all or at least some of the cost of repair.
I am not sure how much I am allowed to potentially deduct from the deposit in this instance. Grateful for any advise.
Thanks
Hi Franzika,
I’m really sorry to hear you are having issues in your tenancy.
There are organisations that are able to provide comprehensive help and legal advice. The first place we’d suggest is Shelter’s livechat or helpline:
They’re open 365 days a year, and they’ll be able to provide free advice on the best next steps to take here.
If you wish to query the process of deposit return (less deductions) you can also contact the DPS:
https://www.depositprotection.com/contact/
George
Sorry I dont know who legally should pay, but morally it should be your tenants.
Who on earth leaves a shower filling a bath unattended.
They certainly would not have done this if they owned the property.
It must have been left unattended for a very long time to cause so much damage.
Hope you are able to sort this one and the tenants pay for at least some of the damage their idiocy has caused.
I’d charge the tenant. The bath shouldn’t have been left unattended to fill in the first place whether it was with the shower head or the tap! Negligence on the part of the tenant caused the damage not the faulty boiler