Water damage to flat ceiling from rented flat above - advice please

southerngirl_2

Hi all,

I haven't been in this situation before and was hoping you knowledgeable people might be able to give me an idea of what the process will be with regards to the situation below. Apologies if this is in the wrong part of the forum but as it's to do with leasehold properties/landlord/management companies/insurance etc I thought this might be the best place to ask.

I arrived home to find water damage to the lounge ceiling of my property which is directly below the bathroom of the flat above. I own my flat, the flat above is rented out and managed by a real estate company. Maintenance men from the real estate company were working on the bathroom the day before the water damage occurred. The source of the water leak was isolated and the ceiling has now dried out however brown water marks (on my previously pristine off white ceilings) still remain. The real estate company have been in contact - I have provided photographic evidence and I'm waiting for their response.

The management company for the building have confirmed that water damage is covered under the buildings insurance but there is an excess of £250.

This is where I'm not sure how the process works or what the options are -

If the real estate company agree to repaint my ceiling do I have any say in who does the painting or do I have to accept whoever they choose?

Or is it better to claim this through the building insurance and I ask the owner of the flat above to pay the excess? (I have no idea what it costs to repaint the ceiling - surface area approx 5 meters x 4 meters in total).

Or the owner of the flat above has the repainting done with out involving insurance companies?

Do you normally have to repaint the whole ceiling entirely or just the stained areas?

I guess my main concern is that the repainting work won't be up to standard and my ceiling may look worse and then where do I stand?

I'd be very grateful for your thoughts

Pthree

The owner of the flat above should pay the excess.

If you have a preferred painter then get a quote and submit it to the management agents but if it is a lot higher (and most management agents have 2nd cousins twice removed who are in maintenance so it may be) you may have to pay something towards it.

Before anything is done though - do you know what caused the leak? Was it clean or dirty water as if it was dirty chances are your ceiling may need to be taken down and disinfected or in a few months you could have mould which if bad enough can cause repository problems and even kill you (always looking on the bright side me!)

Your management agent will almost certainly tell you it was clean even if it was not, as it is cheaper to fix, it may be worth getting someone else to check.

P3

southerngirl_2

Pthree wrote: »

Before anything is done though - do you know what caused the leak? Was it clean or dirty water as if it was dirty chances are your ceiling may need to be taken down and disinfected or in a few months you could have mould which if bad enough can cause repository problems and even kill you (always looking on the bright side me!)

Thanks Pthree The water was from a faulty stopcock which appeared to have been leaking for some time. The water that collected on my window sill was reasonably clear and non scented! I think the faint brown stain is due to the water passing through the floorboards/internal structures first. The workmen were retiling the bathroom and there was a lot of banging the day before so I reckon all the banging dislodged something and made the leak worse.

uk_american

I had a similar situation, but I was the upstars neighbor and it was my washing machine with a slow leak over time. It was made worse by the fact that my neighbor was usually away for work, so missed the early signs of the leak.

Fortunately, she's a very understanding person, and we both own our flats so didn't have to go through landlords, etc.

Our flat management company sent the forms over, it was covered by building insurance and the excess was 250. We found 3 tradesmen to come over and give estimates, all came in between 300-450. Insurance had wanted 3 and would allow her to then choose if they were close enough. The water had come through her bedroom ceiling as well as into her hallway ceiling and down the wall.

A tip from our flat management company: Take a photo every few days for comparison. It will potentially get worse before it gets better, as the water 'dries' its way out. In the main part of the leak, the pasterboard was still a little soft after a week, so the recommendation was to cut that out and replace it with fresh. In the hallway, it was just painted over with special paint, then normal paint. After a few days, on a small leak, it should fade quite a bit.

The expectation is that they return your flat to how it looked before. So if your ceiling was white and they can paint over it so that you cannot tell there was damage, then that is what should happen. In our case, she was a smoker and the magnolia paint was a few years old. They wouldn't be able to match it, so they just painted the whole (small) hallway so that it matched.

A note--in our case, our insurance has stated that the downstairs neighbor should pay the excess, as she is making the insurance claim. Then, it would be up to her to go to court to collect it from me, due to my faulty washing machine causing the issue, if she wanted to chase it. I wouldn't consider not paying or having her go through all that though! :eek:

southerngirl_2

Thanks uk_american

I'm now waiting for a response from the owner of the flat above. I took photos of the water damage on the day it occurred and also a week later (once the ceiling had dried out) showing what staining is still present.

I will arrange some quotes - obviously a painter will do the 'cosmetic' side of the repairs. I was informed that it appears this leak has been going on for some time as the floorboards above my ceiling were blackened - I would like reassurance that the internal structures (below the bathroom and above my ceiling) are in a satisfactory condition and there is no dampness present as I'm concerned that this could then cause problems further down the line resulting in structural weakness/mould etc which could affect my ceiling. Surely this is a reasonable request - can anyone advise who to contact to assess this?

kingstreet

FWIW the upstairs occupant is only liable if they were negligent in some way, perhaps in not dealing with an issue reported to them.

southerngirl_2

kingstreet wrote: »

FWIW the upstairs occupant is only liable if they were negligent in some way, perhaps in not dealing with an issue reported to them.

If it has any bearing - there was a small amount of water damage to my ceiling in the exact same location 5 mths earlier - at that time I emailed photos to the management company who forwarded this on to the owner. At the time the damage was minimal and the water marks faded so I didn't pursue it further.

Kingstreet are you suggesting that the upstairs owner shouldn't be paying the excess? So I'll be 'out of pocket' instead.

kingstreet

southerngirl wrote: »

Kingstreet are you suggesting that the upstairs owner shouldn't be paying the excess? So I'll be 'out of pocket' instead.

I'm suggesting nothing.

The legal position is, as I said.

The upstairs occupant has no liability unless the downstairs occupant can prove legal negligence.

Moral obligation is a completely different issue and one in which I will not add my two penneth as it's pointless to do so. The upstairs occupant will do what the upstairs occupant does.

uk_american

Regarding a tradesman, indeed, you don't need just a painter to deal with the cosmetics.

Looked up our fellow who did the work, according to the invoice his expertise is 'plastering specialist, bricklayer and building contractor', in case that gives you some ideas of what to search for.