Leak in apartment, landlord notified on numerous occasions. What to do.

RINO87

Hi folks, I am currently renting from a letting agency. Shortly after christmas I noticed a damp patch on the carpet just outside the hotpress. I checked the pipes and one of them was fairly wet. Notified agency. Nothing happened, wet patch continued to grow, again notified agency.They write down all reports into a diary (or at least they do anytime I have been to the office in person.
Again after several no-shows, i eventually ran in to the guy that runs the agency in the carpark. He said he would look into it the next day

They came to the conclusion that there was no leak and the wet pipe was due to "condensation due to the cold weather".

I have called them umpteen times had them back numerous times, all they do it steam the carpet, and even on one occasion the wrapped the pipe with toilet paper!!!

Anyways after another exchange on the phone last week, they returned on Wednesday, said they did indeed find a leak, steamed the carpet and said they would return Thursday to fix the leak. Still nothing, still have a saturated carpet in the hallway.

Here is the kicker, I have since received notification that our rent is due to go up from May!! What a joke!!

Any ideas what my options are here?? Pretty sure witholding rent would lead to trouble but I certainly dont want to be paying even more rent in a damp apartment with a soggy carpet!!!

The_Morrigan

Write them a registered letter, outlining the fact that they agreed there was a leak, give them a certain number of days to rectify the situation or you will call in a plumber yourself and deduct the cost from the next rent payment.
Make sure you take plenty of dated photos of this damage to keep on file so that you can't be blamed and have a deposit retention when you do eventually leave the property.

Black_Knight

Best you can do is use the leak as a method to stall the rent increases. If you're ok with the rent increase, pending the leak is resolved, tell them. You might get a further month on the old rent while they fix the leak, or the leak might get fixed quick and snappy.

Withholding rent is not an option, they're working to a resolution, just not a quick as you'd like. If the place and this hassle isnt worth it, move. Afraid those are the options as I see it.

RINO87

Thanks for the input folks. Printed out the photos of the leak I had taken over the past few weeks and brought them to the office. Within the hour I had maintenance in the apartment.

Carpet finally appears to be drying out!

Black_Knight

Awh... only got 4 posts outta this thread. Thought it was going to be juicy :pac:


Happy out OP. Hope thats the end of it.