UK Landlord Forum / Life

Good evening, I'm looking for some advice from someone more experienced than me.

My tenant has repeatedly blocked the toilet in their rented home.

This has happened four times now.

The first time, I unblocked it myself with a mop. Did the trick. Next time, around 3 months later, I sent a plumber, thinking there must be an underlying reason.

He found there were some old deposits in the pipe so cleared those, although he said it was unlikely these had caused the blocked toilet but as he had removed them and they likely predated the tenancy, I paid.

The last time was December and the tenant messaged me saying the toilet is blocked again. Plumber attended and said there were two large toilet paper clumps which caused the blockage. He removed them. I felt she should pay as it was clearly her fault but she refused and I ended up paying the plumber because I couldn't leave him out of pocket when I had asked him to attend. I told the tenant that I would pay but would seek to recuperate the cost from her deposit at the end of her tenancy.

Plumber took videos showing the toilet flushing correctly and the water flowing through the pipes, following his visit, so we have that as evidence that the toilet was working fine after this occasion.

Today she messaged me saying the toilet is blocked yet again. I really feel that it's not my responsibility to pay as I can prove it was clear after last time, and only she and her family, plus any guests they may have had, will have had access to the property since then.

Can I just refuse to pay? I'm concerned that if I do, it may end up causing more damage. I intend to ask her to leave at the end of her contract but that isn't until Sept and I know I have to give her 6 months' notice.

I'm new to this and she's my first problem tenant. Any opinions/ advice would be helpful.

Many thanks,

Hannah

Quote from: DeerH on February 16, 2025, 10:15:35 PMI felt she should pay as it was clearly her fault but she refused and I ended up paying...

With this behaviour you have set a precedent. After the second visit, where the Plumber said they had removed any issues from prior to the tenancy, you should have had this documented and communicated, and - from then on - any problematic foreign objects would be down to the Tenant.

Instead you relented from that position and paid, likely thinking of Landlord obligations well-documented under Section 11 of some Act.

That said, how much is the Plumber charging? If it's a couple of hundred quid then discretion may be the better part of valour, if you know the tenancy is not going to persist. Give her a good talking-to and see how many times more she can achieve a blockage in the months left.

There are plenty of DIY blocked toilet solutions - various pour down products, home-remedies, plunger, snake - you don't need a Plumber if you're perfectly fine in wading through the waste of others. Effort and time spent doing, seemingly, much the same thing are key as the object works its way along to wider pipes outside the property. Having pipes jetted can cause other problems.

I agree with above advice. I don' t understand why you think you have to give 6 months notice?  This person is clearly disgusting or rather twisted or both.  I would be inclined to contact environmental health at the council to get yourself covered before she starts on that tactic. I speak from experience.

Quote from: heavykarma on February 17, 2025, 09:47:00 AM...get yourself covered...

In Human waste.

I knew I should not have sat down with a coffee and slice of cake to log in!