Water leak from the flat above me: should I call my Home Insurance?

AirBerry

Hello everyone!

I own my flat as a leaseholder. Above my property is a flat owned by a housing association. They have their tenants living there. From that property, I had to endure major water leaks in the past few years.

Whenever these leaks happen, I had to call housing association to send their plumbers to stop the leaks.

Last month, there was a major leak from the flat above me. It carried on for four straight days. A lot of damage has been done to two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and other places. Now, water is leaking from three different spots on the ceiling. This started in late November. These are droplets of water that keep falling every 15 to 20 seconds. One bedroom has become unusable because of this. The house has become more damp with problems of condensation.

I need some advice. The housing association's surveyor and repair team visited the affected area in my flat. They said they have to get access to the flat above me to re-investigate the problem. They should carry out the repairs. In the mean time, should I inform my Home Insurance company about this? What could they do? Also, should I leave it to the housing association to sort this?

Have you had this type of problem with properties owned by housing associations? I would really appreciate your advice. Thank you.

Quentin

If your property has been damaged and it is worthwhile claiming then you should inform your insurer asap

csgohan4

does the freeholder have building insurance cover? could you claim off them ?

AirBerry

csgohan4 wrote: »

does the freeholder have building insurance cover? could you claim off them ?

Thanks for that reply. I am the leaseholder of this flat. The flat above me is owned by a housing association. So, by 'freeholder', do you mean the housing association?

I just spoke to the housing association's surveyor. She said I have to claim it from my own Home Insurance. Could this be correct advice? After all, it is the housing association's property that caused all this damage and inconvenience.

Anyone in this forum had a similar problem with a housing association?

AirBerry

Quentin wrote: »

If your property has been damaged and it is worthwhile claiming then you should inform your insurer asap

Thanks Quentin for this reply. The property has been damaged. I phoned my Home Insurance company. I was told "Wait until your housing association to repair it. If you don't get far with them, then, let us know."

I asked "Don't you want to make a note of this call, about the fact that this incident?" The Home Insurance guy said: "No. We''ll deal with it if you are making a claim."

What do you think? Shall I leave it at this? The Home Insurance company comes through a major UK building society. So, I am tempted to follow their advice.

ben999

There was some very heavy driving rain a few weeks ago that caused rain to come in to my flat from the bay of the flat above. If I had not caught the rain in a bucket then it would have dripped down in to the flat below me.

Fortunately the problem was fixed before any more heavy rain fell. But it is easy to see how complicated these matters can be. Where is the water coming from? Is it rain coming from the roof, a bay or somewhere else, or are there leaks from within the flat itself?

Your own insurance seem to be suggesting you wait until the problem is fixed by the HA so the final sum of the damage can be assessed.

Seems sensible. Seeing as how complicated these things can be (sometimes even ground floor flat occupiers have some responsibility for roof and building repairs) then, like you, I would be making sure my own insurance company were up to speed with the situation.

Finst

I've been through this situation from the other side (my boiler burst and flooded the flat below).


The owners of the flat above are liable to you for any damage IF AND ONLY IF the cause of the leak was negligence on the part of the owner or occupier.


Negligence could include leaving the taps on, or refusing to fix a known fault. If the leak was down to anything other than negligence, they are not liable to repair the damage. You say that you've had many leaks over the last few years - you might be able to claim negligence, but equally you may not.


In a leasehold block of flats, there is usually a common buildings insurance policy that all leaseholders contribute to. That will cover building repairs, and you should speak to the building's management company/freeholder.


As for contents (which usually includes carpets, flooring etc), you will need to either claim off your own policy, or claim the housing association was negligent and should compensate you (that won't be easy)