Rental property – insurance problems

bitsnbytes

Hi,

I currently rent out a ground floor flat. Recently (in August) the flat upstairs had a water leak which seeped through the ceiling into our bathroom and so the tenants are currently frustrated as I can understand. There is no light and the floor feels very soggy and also the person upstairs reckons there might be a possibility of the ceiling collapsing.

Now my question is who is responsible for the repair to our property? Will it be us or should come from his insurance policy? The management company has been trying to get in touch with him and he is not responding to any form of communication

Also the insurance company I took the policy from (simplelandlordsinsurance) now claim there is a £1000 excess for damages caused by water leaks something they did not tell me at the point of taking out the policy. When I spoke to them about this they just said it was in the policy document and I should have read it. I’ve raised a complaint with them and asked for a manager to call me up.

I’m looking for advice really, I don’t have around £1000 to spend on the repair so if someone can advise it will really help

Where do I stand in all this with the upstairs flat and also with regards to the insurance company

BitterAndTwisted

If damage has been caused to your property originating from a neighbour's you will be making a claim against their insurers, rather than your own. The excess on your own policy has nothing to do with it. At least, that's my understanding.

bitsnbytes

Thanks BitterAndTwisted, that's what I thought. I suspect there is still a leak according to the tenant but the upstairs owner denies it. Also, he hasn't responded to any form of contact. I can't understand the management company either, so far I've seen no benefit in having one all they do is pass on the problems to us with no help whatsoever. Ideally they should know whats to be done in this situation and chase up the upstairs owner for us

moromir

Surely this is covered under block buildings insurance? In which case contact the management company who can advise you of the procedure for making a claim?

I'm not quite sure why you've got your own building insurance policy.

Jamie_Carter

moromir wrote: »

Surely this is covered under block buildings insurance? In which case contact the management company who can advise you of the procedure for making a claim?

I'm not quite sure why you've got your own building insurance policy.

I have to agree. That's exactly how I understand it.

bitsnbytes

Apologies for the confusion, but this is just a converted property with us owning the ground floor. I don't believe there is any block buildings insurance or management company

BitterAndTwisted

If there is still a leak and the landlord is denying it there is going to be more consequential damage along the line. I suggest you speak to the tenant, have them have a read of Shelter's advice on how they could go about having the repair done themselves and deduct the cost from their rent. It is possible to do this but there are very strict procedures they will have to adhere to in order to do that. Being threatened with not receiving the full rent might make the landlord sit up and take notice. Everything depends on what the cause is. Have you tried to establish this when speaking to the tenant?

bitsnbytes

Alas all communication is going through the management company who has been useless in this matter really. I wasn't sure if we were ok to speak with the tenants directly

moromir

bitsnbytes wrote:

Apologies for the confusion, but this is just a converted property with us owning the ground floor. I don't believe there is any block buildings insurance or management company

bitsnbytes wrote:

Alas all communication is going through the management company who has been useless in this matter really. I wasn't sure if we were ok to speak with the tenants directly

I'm so confused... is there a management company or not?

bitsnbytes

The management company is the one we've employed (a letting agent). Not sure if there is another term for them. They take 10% of the rent to handle situations such as this. If I had saved that 10% I could have covered the repairs myself with cash to spare

moromir

Ok I see now.

Can we call them the letting agent from here and the managing agents being the ones who represent the management company/residents association of the whole block.

You say you're not sure if there is a management company, do you not pay service charge to one? If not who pays for communal redecoration, insurance, fire inspections etc, who provides replies to solicitor's enquiries when one's sold?