leasehold building insurance question

WLMJ

Hi all,

We live in a leasehold block of flats. Our upstairs neighbor has a leak from their bath which started dripping on to our ceiling. luckly enough we managed to inform the upstairs tenants and they have switched off their water supply to the bath until their landlord gets out a plumber to fixes the problem.

Our whole block of flats have the same building insurance taken out by freeholder. So we can claim ceiling damage from that policy.

My question is can my upstairs neighbor claim plumber costs from this building insurance or they have to pay themselves? If not, what additional insurance they will need to cover the plumber cost?

thanks

G_M

You say the upstairs occupants are 'tenants'. Do you mean in the sense that they bought a leasehold flat, or they rent the flat from the leaseholder on a 6 monthly/yearly/whatever basis?

If the latter, then they should contact their landlord who is responsible (unless they caused the 'leak' ).

If the former, well - it depends on the insurance policy! You (they) will have to read it!

If not, too late now to cover the plumbing costs, but for the future you'll need buildings and contents policies (to cover water damage to contents like sofa, carpets etc) including Accidental Damage cover. But as with any policy, read the small print before buying in case there are eclusion clauses ('excludes leaks from baths' for example!)

WLMJ

Many thanks for your reply. Upstairs neighbors are tenants who rent from the landlord.

Our block of flats building insurance does not cover plumbing costs. I am interested to know do homeowners in general have plumbing costs covered by building insurance or they need to take out a separate insurance to cover the plumbing costs?

thanks

Fire_Fox

Part of owning your own property is taking financial and personal responsibility for repairs and maintenance including plumbing. You cannot insure against a maintenance issue - which arguably this is - you can only insure against water damage caused by outside forces: either an 'Act of God' (flood/ storm) or leak from an adjacent property or accidental damage (bath forgotten and overflows).Heating systems may have insurance of a sort in the form of a service contract but not household plumbing in general. As your neighbour is a landlord he can offset any maintenance costs in his next income tax return.

G_M

I am interested to know do homeowners in general have plumbing costs covered by building insurance or they need to take out a separate insurance to cover the plumbing costs?

You can take out policies against plumbing problems. British Gas now do it as an extension of their boiler breakdown cover. As do others. But it will not cover the damage, only the plumbing repairs. Some Buildings insurance might cover the damage est if you have accidental damage.

Some homeowners take out such policies, some don't. End of the day you can insure against all sorts of things but where do you stop?