Flat Water Leak question

Django x2

Django x2

Django x2

Soldato
Joined
28 Sep 2008
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14,183
Location
Britain
Hi all,

I had a leak in my flat from below the sink. It was where the blue plastic feed comes into the flat to the stopvalve. This hose had split at the connection to the stopvalve and flooded my floor (although under pressure, the actual split was small).

I just mopped up the spill (hard floor), and repaired the pipe and replaced the stopvalve. There was no other damage to my property.

However, my below neighbour, who I get on with, rang me to say that water had come through her ceiling and caused damage to:

Ceiling
Sofa

As we are in flats, buildings insurance is taken care of with our annual maintenance and home contents is sorted out by ourselves.

I rang my home contents and advised them of the leak. They were only interested in damage to my flat. When I asked about the ceiling below I was told that was for the flat below to sort out from their home contents. Most of what I've read on the Google machine seems to clarify that position, although it does seem unfair.

However, our buildings insurance has an excess of £500 which they are saying I am responsible for paying if the claim is put through them. (actually, the management company are saying I am responsible for paying the excess).

I don't remember signing up to a buildings insurance with such a high excess.

So, where do I stand? I have offered to pay halves with the flat below if the issue is not resolved (her quotes are around £200 from independent builders).

TL;DR
Flood in my flat does no damage to my flat but causes damage to ceiling in flat below. Who pays out?
 
I would have thought that being the issue was the other side of the stop **** (snigger), then it would be an issue with the management company. Where is the line between your property and the management firm when it comes to utilities?
 
From a legal point of view, I guess that your neighbour is liable for her own repairs. From a morale point of view, the damage was caused due to a fault in your flat. To keep the neighbours happy, pay for all of it.
 
Gilly said:
Ceiling and sofa?

I would expect you to pay out. I agree with you that it doesn't seem fair they are affected by your problem and the onus is on them to resolve the issue.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the water dripped through the ceiling and has caused discoloration on her sofa (leather). As I say, almost all cases of this online say that the damage to the other flat is (should be) covered under her contents insurance, including the ceiling.
 
It's like car insurance. Even if you're not to blame, you claim on your insurance for damage to your property. The block insurance is to cover the structure of the building and communal areas/utilities, not the individual flats.

There's plenty of room for disputes though. Flats are a never ending minefield of potential hassle. :-)

Edit: as others have said, if I'd caused a problem I'd certainly offer to pay for things to be put right unless the other person started to extract the urine. If they use it as an excuse for a full redecoration or totally new sofa I might dig my heels in though.

Of course if the split in the pipe was before the main supply stopcock (highly unusual if it hasn't been messed with), there may be an argument for involving the buildings insurance. That £500 excess is there to stop trivial claims, which can soon push up premiums... which are high enough already for a decent sized block!
 
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I work for a few management company's and I hear a lot of stories like this, and I've repaired a lot of the damage.

But I've never heard of any excess being paid. That's just as joke, how much do you pay a month? About 80 quid? And you have to pay a excess, I've would refuse to pay the fee until you have the money back
 
Interestingly, it seems that there should be no excess on this policy and that if there is (chosen by the management company) the shortfall in insurance (ie, the excess) is service chargeable.
 
I'm going through exactly the same problem at my flat, but it is my bathroom ceiling that has been damaged.
My management agents were frankly not that helpful and we have been left with the £500 excess charge. They said we would have to take it up with our upstairs neighbour to try to get them to pay. Eventually they agreed to write them a letter saying that they should pay but after an initial conversation with her things have gone very quiet..
I am of the opinion that at the very least she should pay half the excess if not all but from what I've read online if she chose to not pay I'd have a tough time legally.

Out of interest would you guys recommend getting a builder in to replace the ceiling or a decorator type?
 
It's odd. I can understand your frustration, but equally, if the person above was not negligent and just had a burst pipe, it's a tough cookie for them to swallow too. I've read from the LVT website that if you are charged an excess (which you shouldn't be) then it is best to withhold that amount from your next service charge payable. In theory, if your management company have had to opt for an excess, then that is there problem and should be covered within the service agreement.
 
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