Help! Insurance claim after leak from upstairs flat

M22saver

Hi there,

I'm hoping you can help me with some advice. I own my own (ground floor) flat and yesterday noticed water marks on my kitchen walls. I suspected it was the (vacant) upstairs flat but, as a test, turned off my water for a couple of hours. The leak got worse, confirming that it was not my water/pipes causing the problem.

Things continued to get worse throughout the evening and the management company's emergency line could not get hold of their contracted plumbers. Water started to seep through the ceiling so I called the fire brigade who located the upstairs flat's stop tap without breaking into their property (it is located outside their front door but well hidden - I couldn't find it!).

A few minutes after their water was turned off, the leak stopped thankfully. This morning I have phoned my management company who have done two things (1) contacted the owner of the upstairs flat and asked him to rectify the leak asap, (2) opened a buildings insurance claim for me (with Oamps) and told me to take it up with them.

I'm looking for advice on the following:
1. The excess is pretty high - £300. Will I have to pay this or can I pass this cost onto the owners of the flat upstairs?
2. Insurance company needs proof that the upstairs flat owner has fixed the leak before they can do anything (this makes sense of course) but they also need two estimates for the damage before they can take the claim further. Does anyone know what type of contractor is best placed to assess the damage done by the leaked water? For example, I'm sure a decorator would be able to give me a price for painting and maybe even plastering ... but I guess I would need the electrics checking etc. and some kind of survey to check that there is no structural damage beyond mere decoration?

Any advice is most welcome. My buildings insurance, although through Oamps, is something I pay for as part of my monthly service charge that I pay to my management company.

Many thanks!

huckster

1) You will have to pay the excess and then try to claim back off neighbours Insurance company. If this is the same Insurers as for your own flat, I am not sure you will be successful. Also I think you may have difficulty in proving your neighbour was responsible through negligence. You might have to dig a bit, to find out the cause of the leak to see if there is any angle to help assert negligence was a factor. Worth trying but you might find it difficult getting your money back.

2) A general builder will be able to sort out the necessary repairs. With some management companies they may have their own contractors they normally use, but they would have to provide a quote which was competitive.

FlameCloud

Where abouts is the property? If its in England/Wales the block would almost certainly be insured as a whole, thus the upstairs peoples insurers are also your insurers. As such, they would not get involved in apportioning blame as there is almost certainly a subrogation waiver in the policy, assuming its owned under a reasonable portfolio.

M22saver

Thanks for the replies so far.

I didn't think about that to be honest - the fact that the upstairs flat will have the same buildings insurer as me - of course they do. The management company insures the block as a whole.

Would I have any 'leg to stand on' claiming that, by leaving the water on for 6 months in a vacant flat, the landlord of the flat upstairs has been negligent?

They are really nice people (luckily) so I'm hoping that by sheer human decency they will pay my £300 excess. I just need to check my options if they refuse to pay (of course I know they have no obligation to - it's just something I would do myself if a leak on my property had caused damage to one of my neighbours!)

Will a general builder be able to check whether electrics are safe (sockets, washing machine cables) etc.?

Thanks

huckster

Were there any lease or Insurance conditions relating to turning off the water, if the property was to be left empty for a period ? Find out whether the owner of the flat had to take any precautions to prevent the leak. If they did not do so and the leak can be put down as negligence, you have a slim chance. But with the same Insurer dealing this might be difficult.

A general builder may have electrical qualifications or have an electrician available to check/do any works necessary. If not you could arrange this separately. My experience with flats, is that the flats management company will normally employ a large firm of contractors and they always seem to get any claims work.