Burst pipe who's responsible - Landlord / Tenant?

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There seems to be 2 opinions to this topic, both I appreciate but am inclined to sway towards the fact that if she neglects (<-- used very lightly so dont slaughter me) the property then she should be liable.. Nothing that a conversation with her wont sort out. I've arranged to pop to her Thurs.
I'd have a close read of your rental agreement contract before hand.

I'd also advise having a brief chat with your solicitor about the legals of all this before you broach the subject.

Know where you stand in relation to the law before requesting someone to fulfil obligations in a matter like this - no points for being clueless or relying on the free advice given here.

ONQ.
 
Good sound advise ONQ. I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with solicitor on another matter i'll take along my contract & speak to him before I approach Tenant. Will let ye know the legalities of it


Greedy - I am never... Careful - I am always
 
Shootingstar,
I have to agree with an earlier poster suggesting that this attitude gives landlords a bad name.
Why dont you not renew her contract after febuary and then see what the rental value of your property is in a new contract with new tennants.
Consider youself lucky you have a tennant.
 
With regard to insulation, do remember it keeps heat to one side, cold to the other. If the tenant leaves the house, unheated, there's nothing to keep in, and damage of some form is inevitable. What homeowner would do that, in this weather

I'm not sure if you didn't read the original post, but the original poster himself did this:

It just got me thinking this morning when our own pipes had froze.
 
...sorry, don't know what happened with the font sizes in my response above.........can't seem to get them the same.......??.....

Resized. You can edit the post and click on the 'Go Advanced' button which will give you options to change fonts and sizes.
Leo
 
My presumption is..and i may be wrong.. you would be thinking of having the boiler timed to come on at certain times while the Tenant is away..

What happens if there is a gas leak and nobody in the property to shut the boiler down? Then who is to blame?

(Presuming its GFCH)
 
Manto, you aer perfectly correct of course, but you could take things too far in trying to foresee every eventuality.

The tenant has no liability in terms of a gas leak AFAIK - that's what insurance is for.

ONQ.
 
Could you please clarify,that you intend that your tenant puts the heating on in the rented property while she is away on holidays? And do you also want her to foot the bill for this? I have property rented and I think its landlords like yourself that give landlords a bad name... Its quite reasonable to ask her to put the heating on for a couple hrs a day while she is away, but that you will contribute to the heating bill for the time she is away!!Thats reasonable..

I'm sorry, but that position is completely wrong. If you were 'sharing' a house, then yes, that avenue may work, but in a formal landlord/tenant situation, it does not. As a tenant, you have responsibilities, including a duty of care to take reasonable care of the property. To leave an unheated house, in these temps, would be nothing short of negligent.

Whilst you are a contracted tenant, the property is your responsibility from one end of the lease to the other (book-ended). You cannot dip in and out of your contract as the whim, or holiday brochure takes you......
 
There seems to be 2 opinions to this topic, both I appreciate but am inclined to sway towards the fact that if she neglects (<-- used very lightly so dont slaughter me) the property then she should be liable.. Nothing that a conversation with her wont sort out. I've arranged to pop to her Thurs.


Shootingstar are you for real

Are you saying because the tenant might not have left the heating on whilst she was away from the property she would be responsible,

please clarify,

IMHO, you as landlord is responsible,
and i think that posting this thread on here, makes me Feel sorry for the tenant to have a landlord like you,who has no problem collecting the rent,But then tries to wriggle out of his own responsibilities, pure GREED is what it seem's to me, it's landlords like you shootingstar that give the rental buisness a bad name,be thankful you have a tenant in the current climate,because come Feb you might not,
and finally put the boot on the other foot for a moment and if you was the tenant would you HONESTLY BELIEVE that that because you might not have left the heating on whilst you was out of the property that YOU AS TENANT was responsible for a burst pipe,
 
I had this same problem about 10/15 years ago. Tenant's went away for xmas and I visited to find the water like rain coming through the house. The insurance paid for the damage to my house but not the tenant's contents (they naturally never returned after collecting their stuff) I had a light/heater installed in the attic that apparently has solved the problem ever since but I don't know about this unusual severe winter what would have happened if the heat had not been on.

When I travel to Ireland I leave the heat on in my own home at a low temperature constantly as I don't want the house to freeze, but I do this as it's my own home. I wouldn't really expect a tenant to do so, but if I knew a tenant was leaving during severe weather I would (and did 2 xmas's ago) pay for some oil to keep the house at a minimum temperature in their absence. I don't want the hassle of an insurance claim.

In relation to Galwaytt's lease, I don't' think it's reasonable for a tenant to be responsible for the pipes freezing over.
 
Manto, you aer perfectly correct of course, but you could take things too far in trying to foresee every eventuality.

The tenant has no liability in terms of a gas leak AFAIK - that's what insurance is for.

ONQ.

I agree ONQ, you could come up with a hundred scenarios if you really wanted to.

Would it not be sufficient / reasonable for both parties to come to an agreement where by:

Tenant goes on holidays & notifies LLord
Llord agrees to call to property and turn on heating at regular intervals
Tenant agrees to pay the bill once heating is not left on constant.

Both parties interests are covered and i dont think it is unreasonable for the Llord to play their part to protect their interests (property)?
 
Right.....!!

Sought legal advise on this.

Landlord is responsible for burst pipes and Landlords insurance wil cover same. Landlord is entitled to deduct the excess on the policy from tenants deposit. Tenant is oblidged to inform Landlord if the property is going to be vacant for a period of time during such weather.

Just to clarify... Im female not male! As one poster suggested :D
 
Sought legal advise on this.

Excellent,

So just to clarify, If say, I am your tenant and i advise you i will not be in the property for the first two weeks in January as i am going on holidays, am I still Liable for excess even though i have formally (in writing) advised you the property will be vacant?
 
Right.....!!

Sought legal advise on this.

Landlord is responsible for burst pipes and Landlords insurance wil cover same. Landlord is entitled to deduct the excess on the policy from tenants deposit. Tenant is oblidged to inform Landlord if the property is going to be vacant for a period of time during such weather.

Just to clarify... Im female not male! As one poster suggested :D

Landlord is responsible for burst pipes but you can deduct excess from deposit??

Surely not if its landlords responsibility? Sounds a bit contradictory to me..
 
Thats exactly what i was thinking, now i could accept if you DID NOT notify your LLord the premises would be vacant during a cold snap like the one we just had, then the LLord could take the excess as they had no knowledge of the premises being vacant and therefore could do anything to prevent freezing..

But being THEIR property and THEY are legally required to insure the property - how can this be liability if the tenant????
 
Landlord is responsible for burst pipes but you can deduct excess from deposit??

Surely not if its landlords responsibility? Sounds a bit contradictory to me..

Enclined to agree, yes it does sound contradictory however...
I can only tell you what was said to me by my solicitor today. As mentioned in an earlier post, I was visiting my solicitor for a total different reason and I kinda threw in the Q at the end of our meeting so it was a very brief conversation.

I got my answer and hopefully we wont have to endure these artic weather conditions again! Who knows!
 
I have seen more burst pipes in the last four weeks then in my whole career, saying that I was only a child in the 80's, when the last big frezze hit.

We have seen pipes burst in all buildings, commerical and domestic. Yesterday I was in a public building where pipe work was insulated with heavy lagging and the installer can not be blamed, I was in a house last week, where every inch of pipework was lagged and the pipe burst.

The biggest factor to burst pipes in attics was the lack of heating. We have been to many vacant rental properties where they burst, simply because there was no heat on.
 
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The biggest factor to burst pipes in attics was the lack of heating. We have been to many vacant rental properties where they burst, simply because there was no heat on.

I wonder how keeping on heat in empty buildings to prevent water damage will site with our somewhat evangelical green Environment Minister?

ONQ.
 
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