Emergency contact number

[Sparks_]

Should letting agencies have an emergency telephone number?

 

This evening I found water pouring through the ceiling at the bottom of my stairs...dashed up to the bathroom to find that the toilet was overflowing and the overflow pipe had become detached(another botched job!) and the over flow was caused by the ball cock thing in the toilet had come lose....me panicking trying to stop the water flow and reattach the overflow pipe! Asked daughter to switch off the water at the stop cock....its behind a panel that needs a screw driver to get to it!

 

Rung the letting agency up... a few mins after they shut up shop...no answer and no answer machine

[martin2006]

There should be something in your tenancy regarding out of hours emergency call outs

[Sparks_]

Nothing there at all

[martin2006]

So the first job must be to speak to them tomorrow for clarification on the correct procedures in an out of hours emergency, preferrably get something in writing sent out

Doesnt help with the mess you will now be clearing up tho!

Edited March 30, 2016 by martin2006

[Sparks_]

I know, the carpet is begining to smell like a damp dog! Have used up all the towels to try and dry it out, plus I just hope the blooming toilet behaves over night

[martin2006]

There should be a means of isolating the supply to the toilet, you may need a small flat screwdriver to shut it off overnight.

If it does, you will see the slot is in line with the supply pipe, a quarter turn, so it looks like it crosses the pipe should shut it off.

It can then be put back on in the morning so you can sleep without worrying.

[mariner51]

No, LA does not HAVE to provide an out of hours number. Most true emergencies eg gas leak, fire, are covered by other Bodies 24/7.

There are no other T 'emergencies' that could not wait 18 hrs to be reported after T taking appropriate action, or be resolved by T at own cost. Report toilet problem to LA/LL tomorrow at 9.00 am.

[martin2006]

18 hrs of water leaking through a ceiling and no means of contacting someone in an emergency like that is a ridiculous scenario.

 

Why would a tenant resolve repairing a LL property at own cost?

 

Unhelpful advice mariner, the tenant has a genuine issue of water leaking through the ceiling, doubt you would want that in your home if you were renting.

[mariner51]

Martin, read what I wrote...

"There are no other T 'emergencies' that could not wait 18 hrs to be reported after T taking appropriate action,"

 

 

OP stated she asked dau to isolate property supply at main stop cock. Correct & appropriate action to minimize leak from toilet. Not all cisterns have ind water feed isolator or stop cock.

So the ceiling leak is only from water already escaped, before supply isolated. The drips will contine for some time, so T places container to catch drips and avoid further damage.

Even if LA had provided an out of hours number the plumber would have done no more than isolate the supply on that call out. I did not mean to imply, T should repair LL property at own cost, just take appropriate 'T-like' action to minimise damage at time.

Most LA's do not provide 'emergency numbers' because Ts can abuse this when claiming to be locked out late at night.

The principle is that T engages a tradesman eg locksmith or plumber etc they are resp for payment. LL can reimburse if LL repairing resp.

As Lord Denning observed a T cannot expect LL to provide better service than that avail to an 'owner-occupier'.

[martin2006]

As a private tenant myself through a letting agent i DO have emergency contact numbers should i ever need them.

So as not to take over the OP's thread we will just have to agree we don't agree and try helping instead.

Hopefully the tenant has now contacted the agent and remedial action is underway.

[Sparks_]

Well for once the LA has moved pretty fast, toilet is now repaired, but as for the emergency contact number, they say they dont give one out unless the office is going to be shut for a prolong time such as xmas, but they did say I could call out the appropriate tradesperson(as long as they are not expensive!) and forward the bill to the letting agency.....I can't see that working!

 

still got to wait for an electrician to check a light fitting that was affected and for someone to decide what to do about the wet dog smelling carpet

[martin2006]

The only foreseeable problem with that is a tradesman taking instruction from yourself but invoicing a 3rd party, who could quite easily say, bog off, we didnt employ you, go see the tenant.

 

The damage to the carpets,lights etc would be covered by the buildings insurance as the WC and plumbing are fixtures and fittings, again you may need to speak to the LA to get the ball rolling with that.

 

Glad you got it fixed so quick!

[The Carpet Cleaners]

The reason that the carpet smells of wet dog, is that it has wool in it....

 

If you can open the windows and put a convector heater close to it, so that it blows across the carpet, it should dry out in a day (without a carpet extraction machine to remove the surplus moisture). this is realistically all that can be done by a non professional... Once the carpet is dry, the smell will go...