Leak in burst pipes - What can we do?

The pipe for our boiler burst on Thursday night, and caused a leak in our apartment. We've been on to the Management Company who sent out a carpenter/plumber who ripped up the floor, and got to the broken pipe

It looks like its going to take at least 4 weeks to fix the pipes, dry out the concrete in he floor, and re-lay the floor.

There is no way we can live in the apartment while all of this is going on. The apartment is very cold.

Can anyone help, and advise what our rights are? Should the landlord be responsible for putting us in temporary accommodation? Does anyone have any advice?

blackbox

I can understand it may take some time to reinstate the floor, but he should be able to get the pipes fixed and the heating going pretty quickly.

...unless it turns out that all the pipes are corroded and need to be dug up and replaced.

blackbox

blackbox wrote: »

I can understand it may take some time to reinstate the floor, but he should be able to get the pipes fixed and the heating going pretty quickly.

...unless it turns out that all the pipes are corroded and need to be dug up and replaced.

Yeah, hopefully the pipes will be fixed by tomorrow, but then they need to bring in de-humidifiers for the next 2/3 weeks to dry out the ground. Only then can they re-lay the floors

Mrs OBumble

LL does not have to re-house AFAIK - but his/her landlord insurance may cover the cost of doing so. Ask. Politely of course.

Either way, AirBnB should help you find somewhere suitable to stay in the meantime.

DesperateDan

Mrs OBumble wrote:

Either way, AirBnB should help you find somewhere suitable to stay in the meantime.

Strange solution. Might as well tell them to stay in the Shelbourne...

Well if it was your own house you would have to find a solution out of your own pocket not sure why renting would mean the LL has to pay for you to stay somewhere.

Can you really not stay there? Is it just a case of putting up with a bit of cold for a few weeks or is it really not habitable.

limnam

DesperateDan wrote: »

Strange solution. Might as well tell them to stay in the Shelbourne...

:pac:

dennyk

I'd imagine they'll want to get the heat going ASAP, as the place will never dry otherwise, dehumidifiers or no. Once that's back on, it should be habitable at least; the equipment will be quite noisy and I'm sure the torn-up flooring is a mess, but there's nothing to be done about that.

If they are slow getting the heat back up, you could always pick up a portable electric heater for your bedroom at least; cheaper than an AirBnB, anyway.

the_pen_turner

Why do you need to move out

ted1

Op , why did the pipes burst? In my leases I have a clause where the tenant must ensure the heating must be set so as to prevent pipes from freezing. It’s common in many leases

dennyk

ted1 wrote: »

Op , why did the pipes burst? In my leases I have a clause where the tenant must ensure the heating must be set so as to prevent pipes from freezing. It’s common in many leases

I don't think it's even been below freezing at all anywhere in Ireland yet this season, certainly not cold enough to freeze any pipes.

Gumbo

As a landlord, the priority here is to
Locate leak
Repair leak
Get water flowing and hence boiler fully functioning
Now, we dry out the fabric before any repair works can take place.
This can take days or weeks.

Just have to work around it, if you want it done properly.

Graces7

I lived in a house after a major pipe burst with an industrial dehumidiier going and just one power point ,, better than moving out by far

Thanks for all the feedback. I was a bit shy with details yesterday, as I was only posting from my phone, so here are some more details.

On Thursday night, the radiators weren't working in the house. The boiler was reset (Very simple procedure. Turn off the boiler. Switch the dial to the reset button for 2 seconds. Turn the boiler back on). The radiators didnt come on, so I left it, as went to bed. The timer kicked on at 6:30 am to heat the water for the shower. At 07:30 my wife got up, and went into the kitchen. It was then she noticed all of the puddles on the floor, and the floorboards had started to warp.

We immediately shut off the boiler, and rang the emergency number for the Management Company. A carpenter and a plumber came out then. The looked at the boiler, and restarted it. Confirmed that there was a leak, and shut it down again.

After speaking with the Management Company (who we leased the apartment through) the carpenter then pulled up the floorboards, and found 1 crack in the pipes. He has that one fixed, but is certain that there is another leak elsewhere.

The Management Company confirmed that they will need to get in dehumidifiers to dry out the concrete, and this might take a few weeks to dry.
We stayed in the apartment on Friday night, with no heating or hot water, and everything moved all over the place. The apartment was very cold, and damp. My wife is coughing a lot from the damp air.

We're not looking to shaft the owners, or the Management Company, but we can't live in the apartment while it is so damp and cold. We moved out some of our clothes yesterday, and are storing them in my parents house. We can stay with my parents for a night or two, but there isn't room for us to stay for much longer.

I need to ring the management Company this morning, and get them to take a meter reading, as running the dehumidifiers for the next few weeks is going to result in a huge electricity bill. I'm going to ask them if the landlords insurance will cover us staying in some basic hotel for the time being. I dont mind moving back into the apartment once it's warmed up again, and the air is not so damp, but at the moment, we can't stay there realistically.

Hope that clears up some of the confusion. If anyone has any thoughts, or questions, I'll try to answer them

DublinDilbert

Why has the heating not been fixed?

What did the plumber actually do?

The burst pipe should be fixed and the heating running again. After that the place will warm up and dry in now time at all.

DublinDilbert

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Why has the heating not been fixed?

What did the plumber actually do?

The burst pipe should be fixed and the heating running again. After that the place will warm up and dry in now time at all.

No, heating is not fixed yet.
They found one burst pipe on Friday, and fixed that, but they are convinced that there is a second one, and are planning to find and fix that today. Only then can they turn on the heating.

To be honest, if they can get that fixed today, and leave the heating on constantly for a couple of days, I dont mind moving back in by Wed/Thurs, once the damp has lifted

Just spoke with the Letting Agent again. Basically the contractor thinks all the pipes need to be pulled up, and re-laid.
He thinks this is going to take up to 2 months.

We've been offered an opportunity to get out of our contract, and get all of our deposit back, and any extra we have paid. Or we can find a place for two months for ourselves, and move back in when the apartment is ready.

It's all very frustrating. Regardless of what we do, we're going to have to pay for storage for the next few weeks while we try to find a new place.
Most likely, we'll need to sign a new lease in some new place, which disrupts our plans to buy a place.

The Letting Agent said that they have 2 places coming up on the market in the next few weeks, that we will have first dibs on, but I've no idea what quality these places offer.

No ones fault, but quite stressful, and very annoying.