What information does a landlord need before a block of flats leak survey

Full transcript

George and Dave in conversation. Every word of the episode, exactly as recorded.

George

Welcome back. I'm here with Dave from ADI Leak Detection, the UK's leading leak detection company, who's here to answer your questions and provide expert leak detection advice. Today's question comes from a landlord who owns a block of flats and wants to commission a leak detection survey, and honestly, Dave, I think a lot of landlords are caught off guard by how much preparation is actually involved before anyone even turns up on site.

Dave

Yeah, it's one of those things that catches people out every time. A block of flats isn't like a single house, there are multiple occupiers, shared pipework running between units, and the leak source is often in a completely different flat to the one showing the damage. So the information a landlord pulls together beforehand genuinely determines how smoothly the whole job runs.

George

So let's start at the top. If a landlord rings ADI tomorrow, what's the first thing you'd ask them for?

Dave

Floor plans, without a doubt. ADI's engineers use floor plans to map where the pipework runs between units, supply pipes, waste runs, the lot. Without them we're working blind, and that adds time to the survey because we have to piece together the building's layout as we go. Even rough drawings are better than nothing, but anything from the original build or a recent survey is ideal.

George

And what else? Because I imagine floor plans are just the start of it.

Dave

They are. We'd also want to know the total number of flats, which ones are occupied, and crucially, which ones the landlord or managing agent can actually get access to on the day. Access is probably the single biggest practical headache in a block survey. If a flat is tenanted, the tenant needs to be notified in advance, we can't just show up. And if we can't get into a flat that's directly above the reported leak, we might not be able to complete the survey properly.

George

That's a really important point. So it's not just about getting into the flat that's leaking, you might need access to flats that aren't showing any signs of a problem at all?

Dave

Exactly right. Say there's water coming through a ceiling in flat four. The source could be the bathroom waste pipe in flat six, two floors up, or it could be a supply pipe running horizontally through flat five next door. Acoustic leak detection traces sound from escaping water through the building fabric, and thermal imaging identifies temperature differences caused by water migration, but both methods need the engineer to be in the right position relative to the pipe. That often means entering flats that aren't directly involved in the visible damage.

George

So the landlord needs to have all of that access sorted before ADI arrives, not on the morning?

Dave

Ideally well before. We'd recommend the landlord gives tenants at least a few days' notice in writing, that gives people time to arrange to be home or to give the managing agent permission to enter. If a surveyor turns up and three out of five flats are locked, the survey either can't be completed or we have to return, and that costs everyone more time and money. ADI's engineers plan the visit around confirmed access, so the more a landlord can lock down beforehand, the more efficient the day will be.

George

What about the leak history itself? Does that matter to you before you start?

Dave

It matters a lot, actually. If the landlord can tell us when the leak started, whether it's intermittent or constant, and whether any previous repair work has been attempted, that information shapes how ADI approaches the survey. An intermittent leak that only appears after heavy rain behaves completely differently to a constant drip from a pressurised supply pipe. Knowing the history means the engineer arrives with the right equipment loaded and a working hypothesis to test, rather than starting from scratch on site.

George

Is there anything specific about the building's services that's useful to know, like where the stopcock is, or how the hot water system is set up?

Dave

Definitely. The location of the main stopcock and any flat-level isolation valves is important because tracer gas leak detection requires the water supply to be isolated before the gas is introduced into the pipework. If a landlord doesn't know where the isolation points are, or if the valves are seized, that can hold up the survey significantly. Details of the hot water system, whether it's a communal boiler or individual combination boilers in each flat, also help because the pipework layout follows the system type.

George

I hadn't thought about the managing agent angle. If there's a separate managing agent for the block, how does that change things?

Dave

It adds a layer of coordination that the landlord needs to handle before we arrive. The managing agent often holds the access authority for common areas, roof spaces, and plant rooms, whereas individual tenants control access to their own flats. ADI needs both. So the landlord has to make sure the managing agent is briefed, has confirmed attendance or key-holding access on the day, and knows that the survey team will need to move through communal areas as well as private units.

George

That's a really clear picture. So to pull it together, floor plans, occupancy details, confirmed access for every flat that might be relevant, the leak history, isolation valve locations, and the managing agent on board. Get all of that sorted and the survey runs properly. Don't get it sorted and you're probably paying for a second visit.

Dave

That's it in a nutshell. The preparation a landlord does in the week before the survey is what determines whether ADI's engineers find the leak on day one. It's not glamorous admin, but it's the difference between a resolved problem and an ongoing one.

George

Dave, that's been genuinely useful, thank you. And if you're a landlord or managing agent dealing with a suspected leak in a block of flats, ADI Leak Detection is among the most experienced specialist teams in the UK for exactly this kind of multi-occupancy survey. We'll see you on the next episode.

How this episode was made. This episode was produced using AI-generated voices and script, based on real leak detection questions and the working knowledge of ADI Leak Detection engineers. More about how the podcast is made.