I hope somebody can help me, as whenever I try to explain the problem to my landlord and plumbers here, they treat me like an idiot as I live abroad and am not fluent in the language yet.

Sorry this is quite a long tale! I moved into my appartement a year ago. The boiler is above the toilet and had been covered by a piece of material I suppose for aesthetic purposes! About a month ago, water started dripping with the boiler, and when I removed the material, I saw the connections to the pipes were really old and had rotted away, and someone had covered them with Scotch tape. So we phoned the landloard and tried to cut off the water to the boiler, but in trying to do this, turned the wrong valve at first which started emptying the boiler. And unfortunately, all the pipes are so old, it was stuck in this position, and we had to go buy pliers to shut it again. After this, my neighbour came upstairs to say water was pouring into her flat. But it turns out there is a huge hole in her ceiling, so it has obviously been damaged over a long time, but she said this was the first time it poured. So I cut off my water supply until the boiler was replaced. I didn't think that the boiler was the cause of the problem downstairs as there was only water the day I called my landlord, and it fell straight into the toilet and the pipes and the wall were dry. But the boilerman assured me it would be the boiler.

When I returned to my flat after the boiler had been replaced, I noticed I could hear water running, and noticed the toilet was leaking (filling in the tank above the overflow tube, so water is continuously flowing through the toilet). But actually, I think the toilet has been leaky since before I arrived in the flat and I just got used to the noise and didn't notice because I was used to it (ok, maybe the plumbers are right to think I am an idiot!) as I knew the girl who lived there before me, and I do remember being kept up at night because of noises in the bathroom when I came to stay a night with her. So anyway, I emailed the landlord because I find it hard to understand him over the phone and he told me I could email him with problems, but I had to go abroad with my work for a couple of weeks. When I returned, I saw he hadn't been to fix the toilet, but then I finally received a reply telling me to cut off the supply to the toilet to avoid wasting water and he would come see it when he was next in town (He lived quite far away.)
So, I started closing the toilet when it wasn't being used, but the next day, my boyfriend was staying and we went out early in the morning. When we returned, we found the bathroom window had been smashed and a note from my neighbour to say the that the water had started pouring again and she had to call the firebrigade to come stop. They cut off my water supply, and the leaking stopped, and they told my neighbout my toilet was the cause. (My boyfriend is unsure if he switched off the supply to the toilet beofre we went out or not. I guess not. But the firemen switched off all the water supply to stop the leak)

But, we don't understand, as the toilet has been leaking for a long time, and my neghbour said there hadn't been any leaking since the first time she came upstairs when my boiler was leaking. And whenever I use the toilet, the neighbour doesn't see any leaking. It just those two times it started pouring. But it looks like a lot of damage has been done before.

So now it is a big mess, as the landlord is really angry at me for not getting the toilet fixed sooner (even though I have to wait for him, I can't do any repairs myself) and he is really angry the firemand had to come. And I'm not sure if my own house insurance will cover the cost of the broken window. And I am a student living in Paris with reeeaally not much money to spare.

Sorry I told this in quite a complicated manner, I'm not sure what are the imprtant points because I don't really understand the leak!

Any advice would be much appreciated.

If u are not allowed to do the repair that is needed, send email to landlord stating if problem is not taken care of in a timely manner u will hire a plumber to fix the leak and deduct the cost from the rent. A week should be more then enough time for him to get somebody over there to do the repair.

Also tell him that this has been going on for some time as u informed him previously.

After the time has expired get plumber to do repair. Send copy of bill to landlord with balance of rent do.

Be sure to keep a copy of any emails u send him.

Good luck

Chuck