Help - don't know what to do

pennypusher

I bought a flat as an investment for my retirement - well that was the idea anyway. It's a long way from my home so I don't visit it but have an agent with full management of it. The overflow from the toilet has been overflowing for a long time without my knowledge and now the inner walls are wet in the flat below. The owner didn't do anything and now he wants me to pay for repairs circa £12,000. The Insurance company say he left it too long so they won't pay out for him or me.

The structure is wooden with bricks on the outside and all sorts of filling in between - all of which is soaking wet and I'm concerned the structure of the building might be affected. Does anyone have any ideas? If the problem had been sorted out early on it would only
have cost £40 but now it's a nightmare! Obviously I don't have that sort of money and if the structure is affected I don't know where I stand financially.

Please help me with my nightmare!!!!

huckster

In your management agreement does it state anything about regular inspection? If so you might have some comeback on the people concerned, as they appear to have failed to meet part of the contract terms. You could check this with a view to taking legal advice. If you have legal cover with the landlords Buildings Insurance, see whether they would look at this for you.

In regard to the damage to the neighbours property, the neighbour would have to prove on the balance of probabilities that you were negligent in not maintaining your property and this led to the damage occuring. The neighbour in not reporting the leak, has probably not helped their cause in pursuing this legally. If this went to court they would have to explain why they had not reported it. Did the neighbour know who to contact ? If they did not know who to contact, there was not much they could do. They could hardly break into your flat. When a neighbour next door to me had a leak, I contacted the local water authority to turn their water off. They were away at the time and I did not have their contact details.

You say your Buildings Insurance won't pay out, but has the neighbour contacted their own Insurers or are you both with the same company? If the neighbour has separate cover, they should contact their own Insurers.

This may have to go to court to decide this. If you want the Insurers to potentially pay for this under the liability cover under your policy, you will have to send the neighbours correspondence to them. You CANNOT get involved in correspondence or conversations with the neighbour about this. You should simply state that you do NOT admit any liability for this, but will pass on details to your Insurers. Leave it to your Insurers to respond as they see fit.

pennypusher

Hi Huckster, thank you for your advice, unfortunately I have heard back today from my Insurance company who have insured the contents and also the Insurers of the building and they won't give me legal cover. The neighbour also has the same Insurance company for the building and they won't pay out for either of us. I'm going back to my solicitor but need to settle as cheaply as possible as I don't earn very much. The neighbour found out he should contact me when he wanted money from me but didn't bother to claim from the Insurers when he knew there was a problem, nor did he both to try to contact me then. All this could have earil been sorted for £50 but now is a financial mess. Thanks again for your help.