The rule
The BC government's guide to repairs and maintenance puts major repairs, including plumbing, and damage from normal wear and tear on the landlord. It puts damage caused by the tenant, their guests or their pets on the tenant.
| Usually the landlord's | Tree roots in the sewer line. A sagging, cracked or collapsed pipe. Grease and scale that built up over years and several tenancies. A clog in a line shared with other units. A failed sump or a blocked perimeter drain. |
|---|---|
| Usually the tenant's | Wipes, paper towel, toys, hygiene products or food flushed or washed down during the tenancy. Hair in a tub or shower drain that was never cleaned out. Grease poured down a sink that was clear when the tenant moved in. |
| Harder to call | A slow kitchen line in a long tenancy, where old build-up and recent grease are both there. A toilet that blocks often and turns out to be a poor old low-flush model. These are the ones that end up in front of the Residential Tenancy Branch. |
This page describes the general rule. It is not legal advice, and the Residential Tenancy Branch decides disputes on their own facts.
If you are the tenant
- Tell your landlord in writing: an email or a text is enough. Say what is blocked, since when, and whether water is backing up.
- Do not hire a plumber and send the landlord the bill without the landlord's written agreement. Outside a real emergency, the government's guide says a tenant may not do that.
- If the landlord does nothing, you can apply to the Residential Tenancy Branch for a repair order.
- Do not pour chemical drain cleaner in while you wait. It rarely clears the clog and it makes the pipe dangerous to open. See why.
When it is an emergency
Sewage coming up through a floor drain or a toilet is not something to wait on. Under BC's rules a repair is an emergency when it is urgent, it is needed for the health or safety of people or to protect the property, and it is for one of a short list of things. Damaged or blocked water or sewer pipes and plumbing fixtures are on that list.
- Phone the landlord or the emergency contact they gave you.
- If nobody answers, try the emergency contact number twice and give each try a reasonable time. Keep a note of when you called.
- Only then can you arrange the repair yourself, at a reasonable cost.
- Send the landlord every receipt and a short written account of what happened. The landlord must pay you back, and if they do not, the guide says you may deduct the cost from rent. Read it before you do, because a landlord who disagrees can dispute it.
A landlord can argue that the cost was too high, the repair was not needed, or the tenant caused the problem. That is why the next section matters.
Call a plumber now if
- Sewage is coming up through a drain or toilet
- Every drain in the unit is backing up at once
- Water is reaching the floor, a ceiling below or an electrical outlet
Call 1-800-604-0631, any hour.
If you are the landlord
- Give every tenant an emergency contact number that is answered. If a tenant cannot reach you after two tries, they can hire whoever they find and you pay.
- Ask the plumber to write down what was blocking the pipe and where. "Wipes at the toilet bend" and "roots at 40 feet" lead to different people paying.
- For anything past a simple fixture clog, have the line inspected by camera and keep the recording. It shows the state of the pipe, which is the landlord's, apart from what was put down it.
- A line that blocks again and again with nothing unusual in it is a pipe problem, not a tenant problem. Clearing it every few months costs more than finding out why.
What we can tell you, and what we cannot
We can tell you what was in the pipe, where it was, and what condition the pipe is in, and we put that in writing on the invoice. With a camera inspection you get the video as well.
We cannot tell you who has to pay. We bill whoever booked the job, and what happens between landlord and tenant after that is for the two of you or the Residential Tenancy Branch.
A clog at one fixture is a flat price: toilet $269, sink $329, and a main sewer line $769.
Questions people ask
My landlord says every clog is the tenant's problem. Is that right?
Not as a blanket rule. In BC the landlord is responsible for the plumbing and for normal wear and tear. A tenant pays for damage they, their guests or their pets caused. A lease cannot move the landlord's legal duties onto the tenant.
Can I take the plumber's bill off my rent?
Only for a real emergency repair, only after you tried the landlord's emergency contact twice and waited a reasonable time, and only after you sent the receipts and a written account and were not paid back. For anything else, apply to the Residential Tenancy Branch.
Who pays for a clog in a condo I rent out?
Between you and your tenant the same rule applies. Between you and the strata it depends on whether the blocked pipe serves only your unit or is common property. See strata and commercial.
Will you bill my landlord directly?
We bill the person who books. If your landlord is paying, the simplest way is for the landlord to book it and give us your number for access.