Third party compensation Flood damage

charleyfarley123

Fifteen months ago the flat above my partner had a massive flood the owner was away and he had to contact the water board to turn the water off He has been trying to claim a very modest £1500 for his losses His flat is council owned and repairs are still ongoing Her insurers insist they are not liable and he does not have any insurance cover They have stated that as the water escape was not caused by by negligence or intent they do not forsee making him any offer Any advice will be much appreciated

dmg24

Welcome to MSE!

Do you know what the actual cause of the leak was?

mattymoo

Fraid they could be right. When you make a claim against a third party like this you are effectively sueing under the Tort of Negligence.

You need to prove that
1) They owed you a duty of care (yes, we owe neighbours a duty)
2) By negligent act or omission they breached this duty of care.
3) You suffered as a result of this (easy enough to prove).

The sticking point is 2, proving that they were negligent. If somebody leaves a bath to overflow then it is obvious they were negligent.
If a plumbing fitting failed due to a manufacturing defect the flat owner could not have foreseen, you will find negligence hard to prove.

Things to consider:-
1) any problems in the past that might point to a poorly maintained system.
2) was the owner of the flat above away for a long period - e.g. more than a month. If so, they should have turned the water off at stopcock and drained it down.
3) Have the other persons insurers told your partner what caused the damage and does it tally with his view.

charleyfarley123

The owner of the upstairs flat had moved out five weeks previously returning regularly to switch on the washing machine on the night of the flood the machine had been running for several hours but the insurerer says the escape of water was traced to a 'sudden pipe failure' The flat owners brother was the plumber who traced the leak obviously it is impossible to prove otherwise even though when the new owners moved in and switched the machine on there was an immediate leak (They were in the property and they had the problem attended to immediately no claim made against them)
Any ideas how negligence can be proven Thanks