Scottish Water found unsafe levels of lead present in our drinking water in October 2024. Unfortunately, the affected pipes were on our side of the property boundary, which makes it the property owners’ responsibility to replace any lead pipes – in our case our landlord, the other flat owners, and the building factor.
Our letting agency was initially quite helpful and corresponded with the factor on our behalf as they needed consent from all the flat owners in the building to do any major pipe-replacement works. However, after a few months, we stopped hearing from either of them on any progress made, and it eventually turned out that the factor hadn’t got the consent to do the work and so wasn’t going to do anything, but they failed to tell us about that.
In the meantime, we were able to get a meagre rent reduction from the landlord for the increased financial and physical cost of having to buy our own bottled water for drinking and cooking, and filling up empty bottles from taps that we knew were safe, which was also quite mentally draining because our home didn’t feel safe anymore.
After a year of inaction from the landlord, agency, and factor, we were exhausted and at a loss of what to do, so we finally joined Living Rent. They helped us confront the landlord and letting agency about the lack of progress in getting safe drinking water for our home.
We finally got a filter installed on our drinking water tap which significantly reduced the lead levels and made it safe for consumption. With the help of Living Rent, we also managed to get a further £1000 as compensation for the exposure to lead, as well as their failure to fix it in a timely manner.
We wouldn’t have had the strength to stand up to our landlord without our fellow Living Rent members.
