Water leak or burst pipe in a rented home: what to do

When your tenant has a leak or a burst pipe, the first step is theirs: their page tells them to turn the water off at the stopcock if they can, and to keep away from anything electrical that’s wet. Your part is a plumber, keeping your tenant told in writing, and a record with photos. Keeping the installations for water in repair and proper working order is the landlord’s job. This guide gives no number of hours: the work is due within a reasonable time, which depends on the circumstances, and the court decides.

What your tenant’s page tells them

Under Is anyone in danger now?, a tenant who chooses Water you can’t stop, or water near electrics sees these words at once.

Where your house guide gives them, the page adds where the stopcock is, after the first line, and the water company’s emergency number at the end.

In a report about Water and leaks, a tenant who says the water is near anything electrical sees these words as well.

If your tenant rings you instead, give them the same words in the same order.

On your tenant’s page, What’s happened? has a Water Leak or Burst Pipe button. It asks whether they can stop it, and whether it’s near anything electrical. It then shows your house guide’s Stopcock, Isolating valves, Water company’s emergency line and Managing agent or freeholder items, your standing instruction, and Report a Repair. An instruction that names a trade, a phone number or an amount is shown only when the app sorts it as an emergency.

How the app sorts it

The app sorts water your tenant can’t stop, or water near electrics, as an emergency. A leak your tenant says they’ve stopped is urgent. The app sorts, and you decide what happens next.

An emergency is emailed to you at once. It’s an email, not a call, and there’s a daily limit on these emails. For a report made on your tenant’s page, the app emails you again after 15 and 45 minutes until it’s opened. An urgent report is emailed to you at once only if you’ve chosen Emergencies and urgent reports in Repairs settings.

On the repair, a line says what the app told your tenant to do, and when.

Coming from next door or upstairs?

If the water is coming from a neighbour’s home or a flat above, tell them straight away, then in writing. In a block, tell whoever controls that part of the building, in writing.

Where you’ve filled it in, the house guide’s Managing agent or freeholder item gives your tenant their details. It shows when your tenant chooses Water Leak or Burst Pipe.

Get a plumber

When you book, tell the plumber where the water is coming from, whether it has stopped, and send your tenant’s photos. If water has reached the electrics, ask an electrician to check them before they’re used again.

In the app, a report about water goes to the trade you chose for Plumbing under Account › Trades. If your usual plumber can’t come, see finding a good trade when your usual one can’t come. Before you book someone new, see checking a trade.

Whose pipe is it?

Your repair duty covers the installations for water, and the structure and exterior, including drains, gutters and external pipes.

Which pipes outside the property are the water company’s hasn’t been checked for this guide. If the leak is in the street or the pavement outside, it’s worth ringing your water company first. The house guide’s Water company’s emergency line item is there for a burst main or no water in the street.

Insurance

Tell your insurer early, with photos of the damage and of the leak. It helps to ask your insurer before you pay for drying out or redecorating.

Keep a record of each step

While a tenancy is running, each step on the repair goes into its evidence file, dated, and an entry can’t be altered. To add your own photos, choose Add Photos… from the repair’s More button. A call or a visit that happened outside the app goes in with Record Conversation.

The evidence file is your own record, not proof, and the court decides what it shows.

Before winter

Make sure your tenant knows where the stopcock is before they need it. The house guide’s Stopcock item asks where it is, and can take a photo. Isolating valves covers turning off one tap or toilet. If you don’t know, Ask Your Tenant on the house guide asks them.

Many landlords also check that pipes in lofts, garages and outside walls are lagged before the cold comes.

What the law says

In England, the landlord must keep in repair the structure and exterior, including drains, gutters and external pipes. The landlord must also keep in repair and proper working order the installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating and heating water. That doesn’t cover work the tenant should do as a careful tenant, rebuilding after fire, storm or flood, or things the tenant is entitled to remove.

For the tenant’s own home, the landlord isn’t liable for disrepair until they have notice of it. That rule doesn’t normally apply to parts the landlord keeps, such as shared areas. After that, the work is due within a reasonable time, which depends on the circumstances, and the court decides.

For a particular tenancy, and anything this guide leaves open, take advice from a solicitor or Citizens Advice.