Leak into party wall

Wixie99

We live in a link-detached bungalow. On one side used to live an old lady, and a leak in her pitched roof (above her bathroom and bedroom) came down the party wall and under the felt roof of our garage. We didn't like to pester her, and waited patiently for months until she found some cheap builders to effect a repair. This cured the problem for a couple of years, during which time she passed over and left the property to her grand-daughter.

Being unable to sell the property for top-dollar (prices had just started falling), she eventually let it.

Last December, we noticed water was again coming into our garage from the same spot. We tried to contact the grand-daughter, but the tenants did not have a contact address for her, so we remembered who the letting agents had been (they only found the tenants, do not manage the letting) and they agreed to forward a letter to her.

She did not respond, so as we have legal protection on our house insurance policy, we contacted them, explaining that we had no way of contacting the landlady.

We were sent from pillar to post by the insurance brokers, a Loss Adjuster came out and told us (as we already knew) that our house insurance wouldn't cover the repair. Yes, we said, but we are claiming on the legal cover. We had obtained (at the request of the insurance company) a quote from a local builder, who quoted just under £1000 for the repair, but of course this was subject to what he could see at the time, and of being given permission in writing to remove some tiles from the roof next door to replace the felting etc.

Eventually we were put in touch with some solicitors, who informed us that as the cost of repair was much lower than their fees would be to sort out the matter, our claim was likely to be refused! In the meantime, the tenants next door were given notice to quit, as the landlady is blaming them for the mould on the bathroom and bedroom ceilings, which is most likely coming from the leaking roof. However, for the first time we had her address (she now lives about 250 miles away). We forwarded this to the solicitors, who did write her a letter, but as she has not replied within the 14 days specified, they have today informed us that they will not proceed with the claim, because of the fees outweighing the repair.

I thought the whole purpose of legal insurance was to obtain legal help in disputes with neighbours. As it is, we (a) cannot afford £1000 for the repair and (b) we could not effect the repair without her permission, and she refuses to communicate with us at all.

Does anybody have any idea of where we can go from here?

Counting_Pennies_2

I would have thought a small claims court? Not sure though, best to find out from others.

hth

magpiecottage

Two possible options:

Complain to your legal expenses insurers (subject to whether your policy conditions allow this particular getout and whether it was explained to you when the policy was taken out).

Complain to the environmental protection unit at the council for statutory nuisance.

I don't know if either will work but they might be worth investigating.

Wixie99

Thank you, magpie cottage, I think we will have a go about the legal cover exclusions - I have just looked at their Keyfacts sheet, and nowhere in the Exclusions is mentioned the cost of fees outweighing the claim.

When my husband bought his first flat (before we ever knew each other) he insured through his company (a blue chip one) and they have been very good at paying out for theft etc. When we got married and bought a home together, I (naively) thought that it was under the aegis of his employer. However, it is actually run through a broker, and our main house insurance and the legal insurance are with different firms, and we found we were constantly being referred between the three when we intiailly made our claim - and, of course, as none of them copied stuff to each other, we had to keep sending copies of everything to them all - one company, twice! And then there was the solicitors appointed by the legal insurers, who were absolutely useless!

So could anyone advise which of the three we should contact - the legal insurers refer us back to the brokers, etc etc.

The company my husband worked for has been bought out by a foreign company and no longer exists, and because we have been with the insurers for so many years, a lot of information we have from them is old (and maybe out of date).

I wonder if the Small Claims Court is the way to go, as what we need is for the landlady to effect essential repairs on her property and ours where the ingress of water has caused damage. Nothing can be done without her co-operation.

As we are considering retiring abroad next year, we were planning to rent out our house and would need to change the insurance to Landlords, but are wondering if another company would accept us with this going on.

Any more advice gratefully received!