pigsrings said:
I am a renter. My last rental property I had bathroom plumbing problems and was threatened by the owners corporation that the costs of plumbing repairs were going to be charged to the owner of the premises because I kept a dog on the premises without permission (another issue all together). I challenged how they were going to prove the hair in the pipes were dog hair …
How hairy are you or your dog?
Seriously, I think the owner needs to get the drain unblocked, and see if there are tree roots or other problems outside your place, especially if the drain was backing up in the first couple of months you were there.
If there are no roots or cracked or misplaced pipes, the plumber can show you what they found in the sewer. More likely, residents in the building have flushed all manner of objects, not what is supposed to be flushed, and more probably there could be baby and/or sanitary napkins, pet litter, paper towels, other garbage that should not be flushed.
If a person did block the sewer by flushing objects that are not meant to be flushed, then I think they should have to pay the cost of getting the objects out of the sewer.
If there are pipe problems, or tree roots inside the property then the Owners Corp should pay. If outside the property ????
I work in an old building in Surry Hills that has a huge plane tree on the front footpath. The roots of the tree cracked the sewer pipe and pushed it up causing sewerage to build up. Our organisation had to pay a plumber to re-line our pipe, excavate under the footpath, under the road and then replace the pipes under the tree roots under the street.