Scottish - need insurance advice

Agrieved_2 · 15 March 2018 at 9:41PM

I own a flat and we are clearing it and getting it easy to sell.
We have a downstairs neighbour who we have had ongoing issues with - police involved etc - so we are not on speaking terms.

We are also not living in the flat.

In January we received a phone call from the police to say this neighbour was about to force entry to our flat due to a leak.
I got to the flat in 20 mins and found a small drip from a pipe - I switched off water and placed a bucket under the pipe.
No police or neighbour evident when I arrived,

I then had a knock at the door and it was. Man identifying himself as ‘the plumber’ - I explained I did not want him in the house - I had no need of his services and I had already called for assistance myself. After arguing - I let him in (I know!!!) - he started telling me I had to pay for a new kitchen etc.

I managed to get him out.

Long and short is - Citizens Advice and Council advice is that neighbour has to claim on their insurance for damage to their property. The small damp patch was dry by the next morning for us and plumber who came to ours inspected and said nothing more than a bit of residual water in a pipe. He attempted to gain entry to see what neighbours damage was and entry was denied.
Heard no more about it.....
Until a letter was sent to a relatives address in England (?!!!) from an insurance company called Direct group Property Services - demanding we pay £5500 immediately to settle the claim!!!

It’s all very dodgy - as per earlier - all advice online says they need to prove I was negligent - which I don’t believe I was - we are in the property every day and there was no leak - and when it was reported to us - we took immediate action.

Any advice welcome - I do believe it’s differemt in England and Scotland ?

Quentin · 16 March 2018 at 8:44AM

No difference regarding liability between the two countries.

benten69 · 16 March 2018 at 9:15AM

Did you have insurance at the time? If so, pass it onto them and let them deal with it. As long as you were covered at the time of the leak your insurer should deal with it.

Don't bother getting involved yourself that's what you pay insurance for.

agrinnall · 16 March 2018 at 10:02AM

benten69 wrote: »

Did you have insurance at the time? If so, pass it onto them and let them deal with it. As long as you were covered at the time of the leak your insurer should deal with it.

Don't bother getting involved yourself that's what you pay insurance for.

The problem may be that the flat was unoccupied, so it's quite possible that even if the OP had insurance it may have become void.

benten69 · 16 March 2018 at 10:26AM

Good point, guess it depends how long it was empty for. Think most policies allow up to 30 or 60 consecutive days. Need more info from the OP.

Quentin · 16 March 2018 at 10:54AM

benten69 wrote: »

Good point, guess it depends how long it was empty for. Think most policies allow up to 30 or 60 consecutive days. Need more info from the OP.

The OP doesn't need any insurance to be in force over this (it won't be covered anyway, assuming that the op has not been negligent)

Agrieved_2 · 18 March 2018 at 12:38AM

Insurance not an issue as not involving them.

I don!!!8217;t believe I have to pay as don!!!8217;t believe I was negligent.

We had removed an old kitchen on the Sunday. Pipe in kitchen was capped off by plumber(so we thought). We were in house on Monday and working - and no leak or drip evident.
We received a phone call on Tuesday at 4.55 from police advising neighbour was threatening entry due to a leak. We got there in 20 minutes. No police present and found a drip - I switched off water and put a bucket under pipe and called a plumber to check.
In my view - I did not act in a negligent way.

Any others experienced this issue or similar?

Scottish - need insurance advice

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