UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, my tenent is complaining that her bathroom drains are blocking up. All her appliances run through a one of those awful saniflow bogs. As a rule of thumb who is responsible for clearing it, I have checked the tenancy aggreement and it is not very specific. Normally I would just get stuck in and get the job done myself. But because she is behind with the rent whilst she can go swanning off on foreign holidays I am rather reluctant to do it if I am not responsible. It is a standard AST and not a service rental, has anyone got a view on it. Thank.

I think this is down to the landlord, unless you can establish that the tenant has negligently blocked the drains. 

We had a case where an upstairs  tenant flooded her own and downstairs flat.  Our plumber reported that the kitchen sink trap was blocked by grease and food, causing a major overflow from a tap that hadn't been properly turned off.

We also have had tenants who have put stuff down toilets that they shouldn't.  As with the kitchen sink above, the tenant gets charged for the repair.

Landlord and Tenant Act, 1985, Section 11 - Repairing Obligations...

"In a lease to which this section applies (as to which, see sections 13 and 14) there is implied a covenant by the lessor—

(a)to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house (including drains, gutters and external pipes),"

...the only grey area might be that this is not exactly a repair, although it might be, but more of a Tenant-caused blockage. The added complication is the Saniflow, which you describe correctly, and should never ever be installed in a Tenanted property.

Normally you would just get stuck in and get the job done yourself??? I would not. I'm not working in that kind of environment for no-one or nothing.

Not grey area...'to keep in repair' is an ye olde English way of saying to 'not allow something to fall into disrepair'. 
In other words it is 101% your responsibility unless your can prove it was due to the negligence of the Tenant becasue under the same law - the lessor does not have to "carry out works or repairs for which the lessee is liable by virtue of his duty to use the premises in a tenant-like manner"

Problem is how you prove it is their negligence? 
...and I reckon any decent plumber worth his salt will immediately point to the saniflo as the root cause of the problem anyway...you have no chance.

You could however 'stretch' the limits of reasonable response time to perhaps add some incentive for rent payment - of course you might not be on morally good grounds but neither is sodding off on holiday instead of paying the rent.

Your real issue is if the place floods then you are supremely screwed - suggest get plumber out.  Also ask him if there is a way to reroute piping to get rid of saniflo - will be super expensive but the saniflo could be a monthly issue! 

Best of luck

Hi, thanks for all replies. I contacted my tenant pointing out the rent areas, i said i would send a plumer to have a look at it but if the drains were blocked with her muck it was her responsibility. To which she replied "You can F off you can shove your house i am moving" and put the  phone down. So i guess it saves me a section 21.

I'd call that a result :-)

Hope Martha is right but to me it sounds like the start of court proceedings