Water damaged ceiling ???

dante.7

Hi Guys
My mother is a joint freeholder of a block of 4 flats and she lives in the basement flat and last week water leaked from flat 2's bathroom into my mums bedroom, The owner of flat 2 has had a plumber out to fix the leak but refused to pay for the damage to my mums ceiling, He said he does not have to pay because he pays a share of the building insurance once a year which is paid by the owners of all 4 flats. Once a year the other joint freeholder renews the building insurance and everyone pays a quarter, Anyone know if that is correct ?
Thanks

FutureGirl

What type of building insurance do they have?

From experience, each flat will have their own building insurance that covers each flat itself (IE the ceilings, walls etc within each individual flat), and there would then be another insurance for the building itself (IE the roof and communal areas).

He would only have to pay for the damage to your mums property if he has been 'negligent' in some way. If there was a leak from his property randomly, and he got it fixed within a reasonable time, then I can't see how he's been negligent. I'm sure the courts would take the same view.

If she claimed on the buildings insurance, she might find she has a big excess, so might not even be worth claiming on the insurance.

dante.7

Thank you for the reply, I will look into what type of insurance it is.
Thanks again.

Quentin

The neighbour is giving your mother the right answer ( that he isn't responsible for paying her repairs) but the wrong reason.

As posted above unless your mother can prove the damage was a result of his negligence she either puts in s claim on her insurance if she has any or pays for the repairs herself.