Here is a question to the blog clinic from Julie who is a tenant’s neighbour:
The property above mine is rented, managed by a letting agent. One month ago, exactly, I noticed water marks on my lounge ceiling & I notified the tenant, and the letting agent was notified.
However, a month down the line the leak has not been fixed dispite several appointments made for a plumber to attend. I am told by the agent that the tenant will not allow access, even though she passed on the report of the leak.
I have continued to get water seepage, not only onto my ceiling but also on two walls and on an archway and the stains are getting worse with paint bubbling now too.
The letting agent is telling me that they cannot gain access if the tenant refuses.
Is this the case even after written notification has been given?
Answer:
The agents are right, if the tenant will not let them in, it will be unlawful for them to enter anyway, save in a case of real emergency (for example if the building is on fire). See this post here.
When a property is let to a tenant they are the ones who have control over it (or to put it another way, they ‘own’ it temporarily). In which case it will be the tenant who you should contact about compensation for damage to your property.
A solicitors letter may be a good idea.
However whether this has any effect or not, will really depend upon who the tenant is. Some tenants are, it has to be said, feckless and irresponsible individuals. Occasionally tenants may have mental health issues.
In which case there is not a lot you can do, other than wait until the tenant has left.
The landlords will probably not want this tenant to stay, as if the water seepage is damaging your flat it is almost certainly also damaging the rented property and the landlord will not want this to continue.
So they may be gone in a few months. If not, you may have no choice, if you cannot effect repairs, to consider legal action.
“I notified the tenant”
Did you speak to them tho?
Of course best thing wd be for the tenant upstairs to just let the other tenant come in and see what’s what. So many misunderstandings / disputes can be resolved if us humans handle them well. I wonder if neighbour relations and / or tenant-agent relations are already fraught. But – speaking personally – I wd knock their door (every morning/evening for a week if necessary) and see where that gets me.
Then (with more actual facts to speak of) we might have cause to label this tenant “feckless and irresponsible”.
Where that will get you Rent Rebel is a claim for damages for harassment under The Harassment Act 19967 I think it is.
Section 11(6) of the 85 L&T Act alone probably gives enough powers of entry for this sort of situation. Otherwsie throw in s16 and s116 of the 88 Act as well.
Quiet enjoyment is a privilege but not an absolute Divine Right. If the tenant upstairs objected and tried to sue for breach of it they’d be laughed out of Court. “So Mr Plaintiff you want to sue your Landlord for attending to an essential repair that for some bizarre reason you refuse access to complete a month after it was reported. And for no good reason unless you are growing cannabis or housing illegal aliens?”
The prosecution rests
If no progress is made, should the legal action be brought against the tenant or the landlord of the flat above? E.g. is the landlord responsibly for all the damage from a leak that his/her tenants will not give access to fix?
What hasnt been addressed here is the question of the source of the leak.
I remember once getting involved in a similar dispute where the source of the leak emanated from the demise of the downstairs tenant not the upstairs one because of the design of the building.
Following my understanding of the finer points of Grand v. Gill (2011) it would appear that tenant misuse doesnt absolve the landlord from their s11 duties but they can then sue the tenant.
Landlord/tenant law isnt about outrage and summary justice, its more akin to a car crash, where the person in front of the pile up sues the person behind them, who sues the person behind them etc etc
That’s funny IO. Cos presumably any such person that sued for said “harassment” when a neighbour knocks the door wd be the same kind of person (tenant) to refuse an agent/landlord access for essential repairs.
Julie,
Some landlords won’t give a damn about your ceiling as long as the rent is being paid. Cost of evicting, loss of rent, voids and hassle make it not worth their while unless they are pressured.
Get the freeholder/block manager involved. In the lease for the flats there will almost certainly be something in there about repair access, damage etc.
Additionally, consider putting in a claim on the block insurance. There might also be some kind of ‘leak and trace’ cover.
I had a similar situation with the flat above one of my tenants. The occupants were purposefully flooding the bathroom (amongst other things) in order to get a section 21 eviction as they wanted rehousing somewhere with a garden.
They apologised to my tenants for doing it when they left,
which was nice.
Yet anther reason I would demand a VERY good yield before I consider buying a flat for BTL…
It should be possible to insist that the Local Council takes legal action as well as bringing your own civil action.Since 1 flat is allegedly effected by damp from from a problem outside the boundary of that flat, a Statutory Nuisance may exist. The Council must investigate a complaint under such circumstances and must serve an abatement notice on who it thinks is responsible if it decides such nuisance does exist or likley to occur or recur. See Environmental Protection Act 1990 Part 3.