Assistance with legal questions about renovation problems
Questioner
I had my bathroom renovated by a handyman. Not an official handyman company. When the radiator had to be replaced, he couldn't close the main valves of the heating system (I live in an apartment building with block heating). I then called the housing association and were told to have a heating engineer come. The engineer used pliers to close both valves, while it should have been possible to do it manually. So there is something wrong with the material. After this, my handyman installed the radiator. To save the heating engineer a trip, the handyman opened both valves again. In the process, a spindle broke off. I contacted the housing association and the installation company again. The installation company first wanted to know if they were allowed to do this and asked the housing association. The housing association, Zayaz, now wants to recover all the costs from me. Last week, an engineer came to see which valve had to be ordered. It is so old that the same one is no longer for sale. So a different type of valve was ordered. That valve was supposed to be installed today. The fitter tried to freeze the pipe in order to replace the tap afterwards, but that didn't work. I'm now sitting in the cold and the fitter will be back on Tuesday, together with a colleague. Then they will first drain the pipe in the entire building, then replace my tap, refill the entire system after which all the radiators in each apartment will have to be bled separately. That's going to be a huge bill for me. Zayaz also said that everything was checked by Immens last year and that nothing had to be replaced in my case. But in a year's time, a tap like that can't get so stuck that it can no longer be operated manually. In my opinion, the material is very outdated, and I'm now in danger of becoming the victim. If the fitter had turned the tap back on with pliers, the spindle would probably have broken off too. I have a very careful handyman, and I even received compliments from the heating engineer that it had been renovated so neatly. The handyman is not exactly a pushover. My question: is it right that Zayaz is going to present the bill to me? How can I contest this? I do not have liability insurance. My handyman does, but with a deductible of € 1000,-.Lawyer
The question is, who broke the spindle..? And is it allowed to use pliers to open a manual tap..? It is also important that you immediately object to the costs of the housing association, because it seems that the heating engineer acted carelessly by using heavy tools to close the taps, which are made for manual use. If you wish, you may contact me directly for further information.Neem de volgende stap
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