Neighbour's waste pipe leak suspected, how to manage?

WineDarkSea

Over the Christmas break we noticed paint bubbling on the wall in the kitchen. On the other side of this wall is the bathroom which also had bubbling paint and water dripping down from under the cabinet we have on that wall. We have a panel we can remove next to the toilet and there is also water dripping from there - this panel and the mdf panels up to the ceiling cover a plastic stack, carrying the waste from our upstairs flat (period conversion). I think there is a copper pipe too, presumably carrying fresh water.

The insurance company sent out a plumber who had a look and strongly suspects it is the plastic waste pipe (stack) leaking and it will need replacing. He didn't remove the panels or cabinet to identify the location of the leak. We are covered for tracing water leaks but the insurance company have told us to do this ourselves and will only cover repairs if the walls are damaged. They believe the neighbours will have liability if the leak is the waste pipe and won't cover the trace on that basis. Our toilet's waste pipe joins at the bottom of this stack at ground level, but the leak is definitely in the part used solely for the upstairs flat, so how do we figure out who is liable? The insurance company also suggested they wouldn't cover the damaged pipe and it's replacement anyway as it would be classed as wear and tear - this would be a big job.

We have contacted our solicitor to check the lease and she believes upstairs will be liable and is going to email over any relevant clauses.

The problem we are left with, if we are either jointly or not at all liable, is that our neighbours have been rubbish at maintaining the property and are pleading poverty. They didn't even have buildings insurance when our joint drain was blocked and flooded our bathroom and kitchen with their dirty bath water. They don't clear the gutters and ask for money off us to repair their resulting leak (and refused to go via insurance). I was hoping the insurance company would take it on and do the negotiations with their insurance company like with a car accident. In fact we may have to rely on the neighbours paying for quite an invasive and expensive replacement, if it is wear and tear so not insured, and they already owe us for significant structural repairs and redecoration which should have been done long before we bought our flat. :wall:

And all the while our walls are filling up with what is probably their dirty water.

Anyone able to share knowledge of such things and how best to proceed - next step it is find our own plumber and rip out the mdf covers and cabinet. We don't have another bathroom and have two small people

WineDarkSea

We now know there is no insurance cover, what a mess! Any advice please?

thescouselander

If it is the neighbours pipe leaking can you not claim of their insurance?

dandelionclock30

If they have no insurance then I would go to the CAB or see a solicitor for a free half hour to discuss the way forward.
You may be able to bring about some type of legal action but I'm not sure. That's why you need proper advice.
If its a council property or privately rented you could try contacting the council or landlord.

WineDarkSea

We own the property, the lease is the leasehold agreement but we are also joint freeholders. Not having insurance is against the requirements of the lease so I'm pretty furious, what would happen if the whole house burnt down?

Another chat with insurers has resulted in agreement to cover the trace (which I suspected I could push for), repairs of any damage and to put everything back to how it was. They won't go for the neighbour to pay for the repairs as negligence is unlikely to be found, so we just need the neighbour to cover the pipe repair/replacement which reduces the amount we need to rely on them to pay. I can get quotes now for the work, perhaps even with the option for the waste pipe to be redirected externally :rotfl:

The solicitor should sent over the lease soon maybe with advice. We have a friend who does conveyancing we could ask and we have legal cover with the home insurance. It should be illegal to not have buildings insurance when you live in an attached property.