Feb

Flooding – both a landlord’s and a tenant’s nightmare…

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Storms & Floods:

Given the severity
of the bad weather and floods in some areas of the country recently,
the past weeks have been an extremely anxious time for some tenants
and landlords.

Unfortunately it
appears that these worries are not going to go away anytime soon.
Year on year we’ve seen certain locations at risk of flooding and
it could get worse. According to the Environment Agency there are
over 5 million properties in England alone that are at risk of
flooding.

Not only does it
turn lives up-side-down, if not handled sensitively it puts a
tremendous strain on the landlord tenant relationship. Good landlords
will take the view that the situation is devastating for their
tenants and do all they can to help.

This may involve
personally getting involved in the clearing operation and
establishing weather the home is still fit for habitation while the
necessary repairs are carried out.

Sooner or later
thoughts will turn to who is responsible for doing the repairs, the
cost of any temporary accommodation if the place is uninhabitable,
and whom pays for all the repairs and replacements?

In an areas that
have suffered extensive flooding tradespeople are likely to be very
busy, so getting someone to come quickly, even when the insurance
company has assessed the damage and given the go-ahead, could be
problematic and will probably take some time.

First off, the
tenants’ personal possessions are not the landlord’s
responsibility, so unless the tenants have paid for their own
tenant’s contents insurance they will find themselves forking out
for this. If the tenants don’t have contents insurance the local
council might be able to help them with items of necessity through
local charities and their welfare assistance schemes.

Secondly, assuming
the flood was in no way caused by the tenants, the landlord is pretty
much responsible for everything else: any structural damage to the
property, the supply of water, electricity and gas, and re-instating
any damaged appliances, carpets, furniture etc., supplied with the
property. Effectively the landlord must reinstate the property to as
it was before the flood.

Tenants have the
responsibility of minimising flood damage to the property and its
consents as it occurs, within the limits of personal safety, and
informing the landlord and the authorities about the situation
without delay.

If the property is
habitable and the tenant is willing to “work around” or should we
say “live around” the repair work as it progresses, then
negotiations may be entered into regarding some form of proportionate
rent reduction to compensate for the inconvenience.

If agreement can be
met in these circumstances, the onus is then on the landlord to
progress the work as quickly as possible, or at leat within a
reasonable time, given what was mentioned above, that in severely
flooded areas trades skills may be at a premium and trades people
hard to secure.

If the property is
uninhabitable then the situation is much more complicated. The
landlord’s insurance may cover for temporary accommodation for the
tenants, and if the repairs can be carried out within that period,
then all well and good. As the flood was not the fault of the
landlord and everything else being equal, such as the convenience of
the new accommodation, then no further compensation for the tenants
would necessarily be involved.

Where the landlord’s
insurance does not cover for the temporary accommodation, and whether
the remedial work is going to be long-term, than the tenants would
need to contact the local authority for re-housing. There is no
immediate obligation on the landlord to re-house the tenants.

However, if a flood
in the property was caused by the landlord’s neglect, a breach of
Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which states the
property must be kept in a good state of repair, then responsibility
for rehousing the tenants, and paying the costs of rehousing, would
be on the landlord.

The tenants should
be treated as a priority case by the local authority in this sort of
emergency, bearing in mind there could be many others in the same
situation, but it is an emergency. The local council has a legal
responsibility to find the tenants and family suitable temporary
accommodation, and the tenants might have to register as homeless to
get this process moving.

The landlord and
tenant may want to agree a surrender of the tenancy if the repairs
are likely to take a long time, but otherwise where the tenants wish
to return, they should be continuing to pay the rent, albeit at a
mutually agreed reduced rate, given the inconvenience to them.

Alternatively, where
the tenants are prepared to find and pay for temporary accommodation
themselves, then negotiations could be entered into where the
landlord may suspend the rent payments or pay reasonable costs
towards the alternative accommodation.

For those tenants on
housing benefits, they should seek advice as to what payments are
available toward their existing home’s rent, the temporary
accommodation home’s rent, or a contribution towards both.

Landlords should
check their landlord’s Insurance policy to make sure it provides
adequate cover in the event of flooding.

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