Owning your own home

This is an awful situation and this is perhaps not really the point, but is it normal for the toilet to overflow just because it's lost power?

only if the pump was currently in use... if someone was showering/shitting a lot etc. the system is only active when water/waste is entering it

it is odd though; because if there was a power cut you would probably stop doing those things....

yeah so the flat below me power the hall light on that floor. But completely agree with what you all have said, thanks

From the flat below to the garden flat:

the reason for the overflow in October was due to interruption in the power supply to the Sani-flo which prevented drainage of the bath. This loss in power was a result of damage to the hallway lights/circuit incurred through repairs made in Bobble’s flat, which have now been corrected

What's even more unlucky is the flat below me (above the basement damaged flat) get their sani flo serviced and look after it from what I can see in their emails.

Top floor flat has one and 100% does not do that.

I think the power trip was at like 11PM and caused a full bath of water to run and overflow

so essentially they tried to drain a bath and the waste water was entering the saniflo which didnt activate as it had no power. in turn overflowing.... fun fun fun

Top floor flat has one

does every flat have one then?

This sounds like bollox.

Saniflo or not, how does water escape from a bath, without the tap being left on and unattended?
If the Saniflo wasn't working, they'd pull the bath plug and the water wouldn't drain, which shouldn't be a huge drama unless they tried to fix it

just top floor (flat 5) and ground floor (flat 2). Essentially all the plumbing is on the RHS of the building as you face it and everyone has a bathroom that side I believe. Those 2 flats carved en suites into a bedroom on the opposite side so needed one (previous owners).

unless they tried to fix it

You do get the sense that someone panicked when the bath wouldn't drain and pulled a hose off...

i agree it does sound a bit fishy but not completely beyond the realms of impossibility. the bath shouldnt just drain if the saniflo is switched off. the water should just stay in the bath...

I didn't think the year long trying to sell/buy debacle could get any worse but it has.
Our solicitor has gone dark on us and not replied to any communication since yesterday afternoon when finally a crucial sentence was amended in a document and we could exchange.
Above mentioned document had some typo's we spotted and a sentence was repeated twice, we outlined those errors and asked if there was anything else to stop the exchange tomorrow (today), there shouldn't be as all 3 parties involved are chomping at the bit.
No reply yesterday and no reply today despite us asking to be updated with what is going on.

I have lost count of the times i have said "we are supposed to exchange tomorrow" but this time i have to add 'if we don't then our buyer will run out of time, a new mortgage deal will be too expensive and our seller will pull the plug and put the flat back to rental'.

Over 6 months to get a simple FTB-seller/buyer-vacant property job done but their abysmal attitude and attention to detail means they have likely killed the move with their unprofessionalism.

At least this time round the frustration/waiting will be over by Monday morning one way or another.

Absolutely livid at the stress they have caused and the £6k+ we will end up paying for that privilege.

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

^ was going to say exactly the same thing

if it goes tit's up it's highly likely we will not pay them, quite happy to collate every email and a long list of errors and the corrections we had to do on their handywork plus huge gaps in activity and hand that to the magistrate as they will probably do a small claims against us.

They have already had 3k of aborted sale/purchase fee's and i have an email from 1st buyer that pulled out stating "the lack of action by your solicitor" as one of the reasons for doing so.
plenty of incriminating evidence from others saying 'but i sent that back in August, why are they asking for that now?' etc etc.

would rather just move though and put this whole episode behind us.

can you name and shame these cunts?

i know this won't help you now but next time I buy I will be going with a local solicitor I can pay a visit to F2F (and shout at) when they are useless. conveyancing fees vary very very little across providers

Not just yet until we are shot of them but it's the solicitor recommended by forum go-to broker Mike. very happy with his services and would recommend him just not the solicitor firm he has links with. (posted the same a few weeks back)
He's aware of our opinion of them.

Is it Gorvins?

No.

the bath shouldnt just drain if the saniflo is switched off. the water should just stay in the bath...

Water wants to find its level. Assuming it is all connected to the same waste then the level of the water in the bath will be quite a bit higher than the level of the water in the Saniflo and the toilet.

But that would assume that all of the waste (including the bath) goes through the Saniflo. No sane setup would have that surely...

Basement flat below the sewer needs all waste to be pumped out?

I think of a saniflo as a loo macerator but maybe it’s just a pumped waste system, as you say.

These days such a system needs an alarm to stop failures causing a flood but if it’s an old install who knows what the setup is, especially as it seems the pump is on the same ring as the hall light…

Sounds like a rubbish system, but it worked fine until the builder filled the electrics with levelling compound so if the building insurer could be bothered I’m sure they could pursue the builder for his mistake.

That's who Mike recommended to us. Gorvins should also be avoided..

Mike is BRILLIANT, he's just finished organising my first re-mortgage and would recommend him.

Gorvins Solicitors who worked on our purchase however can get in the bin.

Mike is BRILLIANT, he's just finished organising my first re-mortgage

He's a good pro-active broker. His money making incentives are aligned to what he does. There are plenty like him, however, and some have access to more 'products'. He's good at what he does, but like everyone in the homebuying process, he acts in your interests only when they align with his.

Staying on topic: if any company - broker / estate agent / bank - recommends a solicitor to you, be very, very suspicious. The will be being paid to make that recommendation.

It can just be reciprocal recommendation rather than being paid, but generally yes, be wary. My mate had the worst situation (shared ownership) where the Housing Association pretty much dictated the solicitor he had to use (unsurprisingly they were shit, even managed to get the address of the property wrong).

Reading some of this stuff makes me realise how good my guy (and the other side) were for my sale/purchase. He always answered the phone and progressed stuff quickly and the other side were swift too (probably helped that I was buying off a developer so definitely a valued client for them).