water leaked into downstairs flat- Liabilities?

Euphoria1z

Hi

Hope this is the right place to put this post.

The people downstairs have complained that the ceiling has leaked water into 2 of their bathrooms and a bedroom and ruined there ceiling/walls, flooring etc etc. Ive not seen the damage yet but just been informed by the landlord who has been informed by the letting agent who has been informed by the tenants of the downstairs property. the way it was described was that theres water every where and everything is ruined.

Ive got people going to view the damage tomorow as im currently living elsewhere.

The landlord will be claiming from the insurance> i dont actually have insurance. its a block of flats managed by a factoring agent in scotland so i pay the yearly Buildings insurance. (hopefully this will count!!!)

If its a burst pipe internally, will the buildings insurance cover this?

If its a leak in my shower or something will the buildings insurance cover this?

just because my flat is above theirs, does it automatically mean its my liability? it could be any ones burst pipe?

do i have to pay for his contents that are damaged or does he claim from his insurance? (bearing in mind i dont have insurance, just the building insurance i have to pay to my factor)?

he mentioned specifically his flooring (wood/laminate) is ruined and will need replacing. is this part of contents? am i liable?

im calling the factors tomorow to see what the situation is, i mean if my shower/bathtub is leaking them fine i will arrange for things to be fixed but who will check whos liability it is?

whos liability is a burst pipe?

Thanks and apologies for the long post.

keystone

He claims against his insurance (which will be the same block insurance as yours in this case) for accidental damage to his property. If you had separate insurance then his insurer would argue with yours and come to an arrangement. As its the same policy then they will have to argue with themselves.

Keep your head down, say nothing apart from reporting it to your insurer, admit nothing, let the insurance sort it out.

Cheers

saversfriend

I know not all policies are the same, but in my block, the insurance covers things like burst pipes, but not mistakes such as overflowing bath, nor poorly connected washing machine spliter (as in my case, thanks to my pumbler).

I believe that the law is that the owners of the affected flat are responsible for the cost of damage. If it's due to your negligence they can try and sue you for the money back, but if it's just an unfortunate hapening, it's their concern legally to sort the cost of the damage (and their contents insurance should cover this if they have any).

I think when people first see water in their flat it comes as a shock and seems worse than it really is - often once it's dried out it's only a matter of some stain block and paint to put things back to normal.

I had another leak which was due to various things, I blame my plumber for this too but would have no legal way to prove it. Buildings insurance did not cover as it was due to a pipe overflowing, not bursting. In this case I sorted the damage with my own wallet (cost about £100 - not leagally needed as said above but I felt it was right me footing the bill as the leak came from my flat rather than the couple downstairs who I knew were not very well of).

vaio

liability flows from negligence, just having an unexpected leak isn't negligent so basically unless you knew about the leak and didn't take steps to repair/prevent it then there is no liability

Euphoria1z

if the damage is caused due to a leak that is visible in the bathroom but not reported by the occupants ( as they didnt think it was serious and kept mopping up the water till the complaint from downstairs yesterday) will the insurance still fix the downstairs flat? or will it no longer be an accident and i will have to pay up all the costs?

can the downstairs owner still claim via the buildings insurance?

hugoshavez

Euphoria1z wrote: »

if the damage is caused due to a leak that is visible in the bathroom but not reported by the occupants ( as they didnt think it was serious and kept mopping up the water till the complaint from downstairs yesterday) will the insurance still fix the downstairs flat? or will it no longer be an accident and i will have to pay up all the costs?

can the downstairs owner still claim via the buildings insurance?

They can, but you have still not been negligent.

Have you a tenancy agreement in place with the "occupants?" If so it should place a responsibility on them to advise you of such occurences. If not, you might have a fight on your hands...

Euphoria1z

thanks all...i contacted the factors and there sending out a plumber to have a look at my property. (though i would have though theyd be more interested in the flat downstairs that has been ruined?)

assuming they payout and arrange for the ruined flat to be put right, will they fix his flooring? or does flooring come under contents insurance.? just trying to ascertain what the building insurance will fix (ceiling, walls??)

carefullycautious

I have just been through this as I live in a GF flat

I had to claim from my contents insurance for carpets and lampshade (anything moveable comes under contents )

unfortunately I did not have decoration insurance so could not claim for that.

As it was a burst radiator we could not claim any negligence and neither should we. Thankfully it did not fetch the ceilings down

The upheaval it has caused has made us even more determined to move I dont think I could cope with another flood.

loracan1

I've had laminate floor replaced under both contents and building insurance (second required some decorating work too) so it's not necessarily cut and dried what they'll be claiming under