Have flooded house below me

HappySam

Last week my neighbour alerted me to a dripping that was coming from my flat and leaking through his bathroom ceiling.

We identified the leak (behind the shower) and fixed it.

Later that night I put the sink on and a pipe behind the sink burst and started pouring out water. This lasted for all of 30 seconds. In this time I turned off the water at the mains. By this point the house below me again was flooded. The reason for this was that the plumber had failed to put an olive on one of the pipes and it blew.

I have 2 types of building insurance (factors and company)

My problem is that the guy below me is now beginning to hassle me to 'get things done' about it. He is also Chinese and is claiming that his English is so bad that I have to arrange an estimate for him. I am under the impression that he should be doing this himself yet he is almost creating the impression that I have to pay for this.

Can anyone please let me know where I stand on this matter and what course of action I should be taking?

Thanks

mattymoo

Report the matter to your insurers, give him their details and let him deal with them directly. Its down to him to sort matters out in this situation and your insurers will insist you stay out of matters.

There is also a possibility of involving the plumbers - your insurer will look into this.

dacouch

Do you own the freehold? and if so is there one policy covering the whole block?

Had the plumber been working on the shower?

I'm confued by the "I have 2 types of building insurance (factors and company)" what do you mean.

With regard to the "Olive" this sounds like it is the plumbers fault so you could possibly pass this over to the plumber. You will find the plumber will try his best to avoid admitting this (Especially as he will have an excess of between £250 and £500 to pay towards it). Its likely he will not give you details of his Insurance Cover (If he has any). A good tip for the future if you have tradesmen in is to ask to see their Insurance and make a note of the name of the Insurer and the policy number. This helps you establish they actually have insurance, makes it easier for you to claim off them and not having Insurance is often an indicator of a bad tradesman

I would avoid getting an estimate for him as this may be used against you at a later date as an indication that the claim was your fault.

HappySam

dacouch wrote: »

Do you own the freehold? and if so is there one policy covering the whole block?

It's an flat we bought from our local housing association last year. I believe there is a policy covering the whole block as we pay a factors fee monthly

dacouch wrote: »

Had the plumber been working on the shower?

The plumber had worked on the shower. It was a brief job correcting the actual problem however he had to go through the sink to get there. This is where the 2nd problem was located.

dacouch wrote: »

I'm confued by the "I have 2 types of building insurance (factors and company)" what do you mean.

We have building insurance with the housing association through our factors and we also have building insurance with Direct Line.

dacouch wrote: »

With regard to the "Olive" this sounds like it is the plumbers fault so you could possibly pass this over to the plumber. You will find the plumber will try his best to avoid admitting this (Especially as he will have an excess of between £250 and £500 to pay towards it). Its likely he will not give you details of his Insurance Cover (If he has any). A good tip for the future if you have tradesmen in is to ask to see their Insurance and make a note of the name of the Insurer and the policy number. This helps you establish they actually have insurance, makes it easier for you to claim off them and not having Insurance is often an indicator of a bad tradesman

I don't think the guy was an insured proble. It was more or less an odd job man who we hired to try and get the problem sorted ASAP

dacouch wrote: »

I would avoid getting an estimate for him as this may be used against you at a later date as an indication that the claim was your fault.

Definitely. We agreed to get try and get him an estimate as a good will gesture however after speaking with the housing association they told us to 'keep him at arms length'.

Another thing that is bugging me is that he rents the property out to students during term so he can have 3 - 4 adults staying in that flat at anyone time. When I brought this up with the housing association they told me they were under the impression that he stayed there himself. I believe you need to a license to operate a multi occupany tenancy (I saty in Scotland). This leads me to believe he is rather unsavoury. Could this be affecting his insurance claim?

dacouch

The amount of people in the flat would not affect him claiming against you if he had a case against you as if you are liable you are liable.

If you have building insurance through the Housing Association and through Direct Line you are wasting your money on the Direct Line policy. I would suggest you check their is cover with the Housing Association and then ask Direct Line to refund you their premium for all of the time you have had their policy running and the Housing Association policy running.

From what you said eg an odd job man doing the work I think you will be best following Matty Moo's advice and reporting it to your Insurers / Housing Association to deal with. Do not admit liability to the other flat owner, advise him to claim through his own Insurance or to contact your Insurers.

If you need any plumbing work done in future try and use someone who is competent and check their Insurance. Plumbers pay a lot of money for Insurance as they are quite high risk (They have a habbit of causing floods or starting fires) and when they cause a claim it normally costs many thousands to make good the damage they cause

mattymoo

Leave the legalities of his tenancy to the housing association. I'm sure they'll act if something is wrong.

Could the Direct Line policy be for contents only? That would be the correct way, leaving the housing association to insure the building. I suspect the claim will be dealt with by the contents insurers third party liability covers - this covers you for your acts as an occupier.

BritRael

HappySam wrote: »

...The reason for this was that the plumber had failed to put an olive on one of the pipes and it blew. ...

What makes you think there was no olive? Is it simply because you cannot find one? Maybe it has been propelled away from the area?

The reason I ask, is because an olive (the seal) is a critical part of a compression joint. If omitted, I'm sure as soon as the full mains pressure was turned on, the joint would immediately fail. Also, when making any joint, it is vital to inspect it for leaks after turning on the mains. Even joints with an olive can have tear-drop leaks if not fully tightened, and would require re-tightening, but no olive??

Good luck with your insurance claim. I hope it gets sorted quickly.