Problem with stopcock?/Leaking toilet

[SUllah]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice.

I live in a shared ownership flat and have a problem with a leaking toilet. The toilet is one of the compact versions and is fairly new (about 3 yrs old). It hadn't been working properly for several months. About once in every 3 flushes the cistern was not filling completely and we had to lift the lid and pull the lever up for the cistern to refill properly to be able to flush the toilet. This was inconvenient, but not too much of a problem for us.

Our property is now vacant as I am heavily pregnant and cannot climb the stairs to our flat. When we returned to the flat we found that the toilet is now running constantly and is bringing down what looks like very small grains of black sediment into the toilet with it, making the toilet filthy and using lots of water at the same time (we are on a meter so this is really not good!)

As we are not currently living in the property we decided to switch the water off at the stopcock which is located in the communal hall as a temporary measure until we had time to get a plumber to come and look at the toilet. When we went to switch the water off we found that the stopcock is not leaking, but it is turning round and round and not having any effect on the water at all - it feels like maybe the thread has gone in the tap?

Our landlord has told us that we will have to foot the bill for the stopcock being repaired ourselves. We were quite annoyed about this as we purchased the flat as a newly renovated property 3 years ago and have not used the stopcock once, so it was obviously faulty when we moved in, it is also located in a communal area.

Can anyone please offer me advice on the following:

- what could be causing the problem with our toilet and how can we fix it? Any estimates on how much it would cost a plumber to fix it would be great as well (I am heavily pregnant so don't really want to be messing around fixing toilets!)

- what could be causing the problem with the stopcock and how can we fix it? Any estimates on how much it would cost a plumber to fix it would be great as well

- if anyone knows whether I am liable or the landlord is liable for the cost of repair to the stopcock I would also be very grateful!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bigtoemid]

the toilet problem is almost certanly cused by the stop tap failing depending on if you can turn the water off from the street to your flat you will either have to repace the innerds of the stop tap or replace it completely

it is difficult to say how much this would be as it depends on what material is feeding your property i.e lead ,copper or plastic etc the black debris could be parts of the stop tap washer coming through to the toilet as this had been disturbed when the tap was turned off also when this was turned off sedement can come through due to pressure from the main.

the land lord really should be liable for this as this is not down to missuse in theory they are both related by the sound of things,to price this is difficult but ring around and get a good price most good plumbers offer free quotes but make sure they see whats required before getting them in,as you could get extra costs incurred by extra works involved..

..good luck & gl with the baby ....tony

 

[Nige F]

Sounds like a Private Landlord OR a Housing assn. who should know better. S/Ownership used to mean you had a Full Repairing Lease on the property But that doesn`t apply to common parts of a block of flats - they -and associated plant/ equiptment etc. should be paid for by landlord and a service charge levied = to all the leaseholders in the block . Bloody Minefield