......please delete.

It's probably in both of your interests really to get rid of them. I'd speak to them directly and suggest to split it.
 
Is the flat leasehold and if so, do you pay a service charge to a amanaging agent or company? If so, it’s their responsibility to sort it.

If not, both of yours.
 
I'd go and have a friendly chat with them and then come to an agreement to both get someone out to sort it and split the bill. Going in all guns blazing with legal jargon then you risk getting the door shut on you. I know I would.
 
Agent likely defaulting to lazy mode and shirking responsibility as a matter of policy :rolleyes:

What's likely to matter more is where they are getting food from as I would assume its mice. In your position I would look around for poo and then set some traps on the paths. You and the neighbour should both be able to get a couple of traps each for a tenner and then just bait them. Call in the professionals and go legal if that doesn't work.
 
I am assuming that the visitors are mice? Just get a pack of Sorexa D and just put it anywhere you think they could get into your flat. If not tell the tenant to get some it costs less than a tenner and just pull up a floorboard and open the sachets and make a few little mounds and they will normally be gone within a month.
 
To be clear for all.

My ground floor flat is mine (home owner via mortgage). The flat above me is rented out. It is their estate agent I would be contacting should I need to.
Is your flat leasehold? Assuming it is, your lease will tell you whose responsibility the "void" is. You can then work out whether it is your responsibility, the landlord of the rented flat or the freehold owner.

Feel free to send/get Wolls to send me a copy of it and I'll have a gander when I get time
 
OK, it sounds to me (and I am 99% sure given your location) that you live in a "Tyneside flat".

These properties, whilst flats, are owned on a "shared" freehold / leasehold basis between the owners of each flat, referred to as a crossover lease.

What is usual in these arrangements is that the crossover lease will either stipulate specific parts of the building which each owner is responsible for, or more commonly, that both owners are responsible for the whole building equally. This usually covers the structure, walls, roof etc. IF it is a pipe within the top floor, then I would suspect the owner of the upstairs would be responsible, as utilities are specific to each property I presume?

You need to see the terms of your crossover lease as to what is covered under joint responsibility.
 
As far as I know, the landlord only needs to have made reasonable efforts to prevent the issue. As mice can fit through tiny holes, it's not reasonable to expect a landlord to find every tiny hold on the outside of a building. In short, you don't have a leg to stand on. That being said, mice can create all sorts of issues that would be your landlords problem, so try that angle.
 
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