Hi everyone. I'm in a UR apartment and the water overflowed from the drain in the washing machine area and leaked down to the apartment below. The lady came up from downstairs and she told me that it was leaking. I later saw and it was dripping through the ceiling.
Later on the UR man came and he looked at the drain and he tried to remove a metal part but he couldn't so he went to his car and got some special spanners and stuff and then he came back and was able to remove the metal cap part with effort and then take out some gunk from the drain and after doing that then the drain could flow better. I didn't know that you had to clean the drain by removing a very-hard-to-remove metal part – I was just using regular drain cleaner.
Edit: Housing Guide indicates that this is a part that they are meant to maintain and the dome trap is corroded with rust, which explains why he couldn't remove it.
I'm quite confused about is that the UR man he couldn't tell me how much it would cost. He said to speak to the neighbor downstairs first and, depending on what they want to have replaced, then I have to pay for it.
Edit: I'm realizing this wasn't an official survey. They are hoping I will just accept liability – from the 1st phone call (when the downstairs tenant brought me the phone), before they knew the source of the leak or a repairman had visited the property, staff on the phone were first asking my name, then next, telling me I would have to pay for it. Because I'm a foreigner, it must be my fault is the logic.
I said, should I take pictures as well and he said no that's their private space and then I said well you've taken pictures based on what you see, how much do you reckon it'll cost? He said it may take a while for the damage to show. I said, when will the damage show, based on what happens usually in this situation? He couldn't tell me. He said just speak to the people downstairs and depending on what they want replaced, replace it. I thought the point of having a UR repairman come to the apartment is to look and assess the damages and be able to tell people what will need to be replaced rather than the tenant deciding what needs to be replaced? I asked, if I have any more questions, can I ask the UR office? He pretty much said they can't help me and it's based on what the downstairs tenant says they want replaced. I'm just trying to understand how much this is going to cost and if I'm liable considering that the part he removed didn't look like something tenants are supposed to mess with.
Edit: It's not my fault and, after looking into it, denying liability despite being responsible for the maintenance of the pipes in this old a** building is the UR knee jerk reaction. Anyone else have experience and helpful information with dealing with UR and leaks? Would be much appreciated.
by Blessedbee123