Neighbour Claiming

Jillywig

Had a leaking pipe under the bath back in March of last year. Fixed within a day of discovering and insurance details passed on to downstairs neighbour since they'd been absent and discovered after damage was done to the ceiling etc.

Didn't hear anything until January 2011 when I received a claim for nearly £3000 from his solicitor!!

Have passed this on to my insurance company however I'm concerned that because the incident was 10 months prior to this claim being made that they won't cover and we'll be liable to pay.

Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated.

vaio

You are only liable for water damage to downstairs if you were negligent. An unexpected leak which was promptly repaired is not negligent.

If you’d had the leak before and bodged up a crap repair with string & sticky tape which had then failed you might be liable but then only for the second instance.

They are trying it on so leave it to your insurance company to deal with, the time difference won’t affect it.

huckster

Jillywig wrote: »

Had a leaking pipe under the bath back in March of last year. Fixed within a day of discovering and insurance details passed on to downstairs neighbour since they'd been absent and discovered after damage was done to the ceiling etc.

Didn't hear anything until January 2011 when I received a claim for nearly £3000 from his solicitor!!

Have passed this on to my insurance company however I'm concerned that because the incident was 10 months prior to this claim being made that they won't cover and we'll be liable to pay.

Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated.

I just hope that you did not admit liability and say your Insurers would pay for it. This would be against the terms of your policy.

You are not liable for the leak if you were not negligent. It is up to your neighbour to claim off their own Insurance.

But as vaio says, pass the letter to your Insurers.

magpiecottage

Compensation Act 2006, S2: "An apology, an offer of treatment or other redress, shall not of itself amount to an admission of negligence or breach of statutory duty."

Jillywig

I didn't admit negligence - old property and old plumbing. He seemed happy enough at the time when I passed on my insurance details however I'm beginning to think that perhaps he wasn't covered by his own insurance - hence the solicitors letter after 10 months.
Oh well - time will tell.

Thanks for all your replies