Money Moral Dilemma: Should we pay for water damage caused by our machine?

morverngirl

My daughter had this happen to her from washing machine in flat upstairs. Her ceiling was permanently wet and dripped onto laminate flooring, she complained to the owner of flat (who rented it out). It was not repaired or wrong reason repaired and eventually ceiling fell through damaging the laminate also. Major work, total new ceiling, which the owner paid for. why should my daughter have had to go through all this and loose no claims bonus for something which was not her fault either

Kirri

Mostly would be damage to ceilings, flooring, electrics etc so would be claimed off the buildings insurance which is arranged centrally for the block by the managing agents (and not by individual flats). There would probably be an excess and the upstairs flat should pay that, it's hardly the fault of the person downstairs!

Each flat could have their own contents insurance but in my experience there's not so much damaged under contents, it mostly all comes under the buildings insurance what gets damaged in these situations.

I've been flooded multiple times by an upstairs flat... :mad:

Tiptaker

If the situation were reversed and you were downstairs flooded by a machine upstairs, how would you feel? I suspect the dilemma then would be 'should I get my neighbour to pay for the damage'.

Of course you should pay, it's not the neighbour's fault why should s/he be saddled with a bill. Of course they may claim on their insurance but would then be hit with an increase in premium in subsequent years. Why doesn't your insurance pay - I'd have thought it wouldn't have paid if it WAS your fault, not if it wasn't?

Gazzer

As this is your machine you should pay. It is your insurers decision that you are not negligent but it is not just a case of negligence. Your machine has caused damage to someone else's property. Your neighbour had no possibility of making your machine cause the damage so it is in no way their fault so they should not be out of pocket. It is an accident but one your neighbour had no way of avoiding and whilst you have not caused the damage deliberately it is your machine not theirs.

Also, why do people assume someone else should have insurance to cover such incidents. Insurance is not compulsory in most circumstances so their decision to claim on their insurance is entirely their choice and it should not be automatically assumed they should.

pippinpuss

Insurance companies should pay out for accidental damage so I'm worried that yours won't. Need to change them at renewal.
She can claim on her insurance & you can pay the excess fee. But then get her insurance company to claim it back from yours.

TBagpuss

Legally, unless you were negligent you are not liable so have no obligation to pay.
Your neighbour should have her own insurance.

However, morally, as it is your machine, it would seem reasonable to pay or contrinute to her excess as a gesture of goodwill and in the interests of good neighbourly relations

AdeDee

As other people have pointed out legally your neighbour doesn't have a leg to stand on. They should have insurance to cover these situations as unfortunate as they may be. The moral issue is whether you should pay their excess. To me this is dependent on how much that is. If they took a ridiculously high excess to make their premium cheaper then a small contribution to that is acceptable. If their excess is low then I would pay it as a gesture of goodwill.

cheerful

pollypenny wrote: »

I don't understand why your insurance company is not paying for the damage.

Because they exist to make as much money as possible by any means they can get away with. They pay clever people large amounts of money to write contracts with loopholes and to find any possible way of refusing a claim.

Patjan

Entirely agree!

Patjan

Sorry! My post above was supposed to relate to the post by 'stmartinsdiver', today at 10.07 a.m.