Home Insurance Question - Please Help

pacmed

Good Morning,

I'd welcome any views on the following situation I've tried to make as brief and clear as possible.

I own a ground floor flat.The council own the lease on the flat (125 years or so).

The flat above me is still fully owned by the council, and inhabited by a council tennant (suffice to say an unusual character).

While I was away travelling in December 2011, the decrepit boiler in the flat above leaked. A friend who was looking in on the property for me discovered water coming through the ceiling, and had it stopped from upstairs. It transpires that the tennant above had known he had a leak for several days, but rather than contact the council tried to make do with his own devised water catchment system, which failed.

The end result of this is that I have damage to the ceiling and walls, as well as property within the flat. The water leaked into the kitchen, and damaged food and electrical item.

I have asked the council to repair the damage cause by their tennant. Their response is that I must claim through my buidlings and contents insurance policies.

My response is that I do not wish to make 2 claims which will be subject to excess and doubtless result in an increase in the premiums next year.

Simply put, I would like them to repair the damage caused by their tennant, and do not see why I should be the one claiming.
　
　

kingstreet

The repairs are your responsibility unless you can prove negligence on the part of the owner/tenant of the upstairs flat.

You may feel the tenant was negligent, but proving that legally may cost you more than you save.

As a matter of interest, why do you have buildings insurance? Isn't their block cover for the building?

pacmed

The council accept that it was negligence on the part of the tennant above, but still insist on an insurance claim. The council turned up to turn the water off supplying the boiler, and stop the leak.

There is another aspect to this - reading the buildings insurance policy (it is applied to the block) it appears the property must have been occupied for 30 days. I was abroad for the 30 days leading up to the discovery of the water by a friend tasked with checking up on the house.

I suspect the same is true for the contents insurance (my own policy)

pacmed

Morning, any other thoughts on this?

Quentin

You don't have to use your insurer! (What if you weren't insured?)

If they have agreed they are liable, then send them a quote for the repairs and take this from their reply.

vaio

Quentin wrote: »

.....If they have agreed they are liable, then send them a quote for the repairs and take this from their reply.

It looks like they have agreed the tenant was negligent but how much legal weight this has and whether the council are responsible for the negligence of tenant I'm not sure (and as a council tax payer I hope not!).

It would be a wholly different story if the tenant had reported the leak and the council hadn't fixed it, then they would be liable.

If the council aren't responsible for the tenants negligence then it becomes a matter of does the tenant have insurance or assets to pay?