Am I liable for water damage to neighbour's flat?

kinsae112

Following a minor leak in our flat, who'd be liable for the cosmetic repairs to the ceiling/wall of the flat below ours? wld it be us or our downstairs neighbour?

We didn't claim via insurance as the guy who we called to investigate was able to identify the source of the leak and fix it right away for much less than the insurance excess. Just wondered who makes good the water damage to the neighbour's flat. Cant find my copy of the lease

GwylimT

You would need to be negligent, eg knew there was a problem but left it until it became worse. If you were not negligent your neighbour can either pay or claim off their own insurance.

kinsae112

GwylimT wrote: »

You would need to be negligent, eg knew there was a problem but left it until it became worse. If you were not negligent your neighbour can either pay or claim off their own insurance.

That's what I thought. We had no idea until we were alerted of water penetration to the flat below us. As soon as we were told, we arranged for someone to come round and he found a slighy leak from the pipe UNDER our ceramic floor tiles so there's no way we wld have known about it

societys_child

You have your own contents insurance (presumably) but who insures the building?
Would have thought the neighbour in the flat below could claim on the Building Insurance.?

HappyMJ

As the previous reply. The buildings insurance on the whole building should cover any damage in your flat and their flat under the one claim.

Even if you didn't claim the neighbour can claim under that same policy.

McKneff

You say 'cosmetic' repairs, do you mean just new wallpaper hanging, in which case I would be offering to either do it or pay for it.


Not nice for them to be honest, not their fault and not fair that that they have to face higher premiums for something that was not their fault.

carefullycautious

I had to claim on my own insurance for water damage from flat above.

Rowan1946

carefullycautious wrote: »

I had to claim on my own insurance for water damage from flat above.

Why would you do that?

If a 3rd party drove into your car parked in the street, would you just let them away with it & claim of your own insurance.. Off course you wouldn't .,
They caused the damage through either negligence or not keeping up maintenance or just an accident but not the neighbours fault

Certainly not my fault when the neighbours washing machine above kept overflowing litres of water into my flat even when I highlighted to them.
Their insurance paid for the repairs twice

GwylimT

Rowan1946 wrote: »

Why would you do that?

If a 3rd party drove into your car parked in the street, would you just let them away with it & claim of your own insurance.. Off course you wouldn't .,
They caused the damage through either negligence or not keeping up maintenance or just an accident but not the neighbours fault

Certainly not my fault when the neighbours washing machine above kept overflowing litres of water into my flat even when I highlighted to them.
Their insurance paid for the repairs twice

Its a matter of negligence, if I discover and leak and fix it I'm not liable for a neighbors costs, just my own. If I find a leak and leave it and I am now negligent so my neighbours insurance company can claim from my own insurance.

zoob

kinsae112 wrote: »

Following a minor leak in our flat, who'd be liable for the cosmetic repairs to the ceiling/wall of the flat below ours? wld it be us or our downstairs neighbour?

We didn't claim via insurance as the guy who we called to investigate was able to identify the source of the leak and fix it right away for much less than the insurance excess. Just wondered who makes good the water damage to the neighbour's flat. Cant find my copy of the lease

I would say it's your responsibility, the damage in the flat below was caused by a water leek from your property, if you had a flat above you and water from it caused damage in yours, would you not be wanting the flat owner above to make good any damage caused.

kinsae112

McKneff wrote: »

You say 'cosmetic' repairs, do you mean just new wallpaper hanging, in which case I would be offering to either do it or pay for it.


Not nice for them to be honest, not their fault and not fair that that they have to face higher premiums for something that was not their fault.

Repairs wld be drying out the ceiling (so maybe the cost of a dehumidifier) as well ad repainting the affected wall & ceiling. They are lovely neighbours and my instinct is to offer to pay but we'll own this flat for a long while, I'm trying to avoid setting precedent and taking on something that I probably aren't legally responsible for