Neighbour's bathroom water leaked into my kitchen!

vincent.lee

Hi.
I'm in a bit of a sticky situation, and I need some advice.
Last night, my upstairs neighbour's daughter overfilled the bath and left it on. As such, it over spilled, seeped into the floor and through my kitchen ceiling. The water came down like a small waterfall through my light fixture, cut out my lightbulb, cracked open my ceiling wallpaper and drenched my coving and walls.

I went up to tell my neighbour to turn off the water, at which point they noticed that the bath was overspilling, so they mopped it up using towels. My ceiling was still dripping for a few hours after...
It's the next day now, and there are some a few stains on my ceiling, the ceiling paper is damaged and cracked in places, the coving is stained with the dirty water, I've yet to turn the kitchen light on (i'll need to get it tested), and my light shade is ruined (I really liked my light shade... I took months finding the perfect one...).

I phoned my admiral home insurance claims team, and they told me that they could sort it out, but there would be a £450 excess.
I spoke to my neighbour, and she says that she won't pay anything, and that they'll get the landlord to pay for it. If it's their negligence, how can they get their landlord to pay for it?
Now my question is where do I go from here?
Money is really tight at the moment, and I'm afraid I can't afford to pay £450 excess, which the repairs could easily come to. I'll have to:

Have the light fitting/electricals tested.
Inspect the ceiling for integral damage.
Clean/repaint/redecorate the ceiling, coving and walls.

This will easily exceed £450. I spoke to admiral insurance again, and they said that because the neighbour noticed the issue very quickly, and put means in to prevent further damage, it's unlikely that they could recover the £450 excess..

How on earth can I be responsible for paying £450 for an issue I didn't cause?!

What can I do? What should I do?

Mr.Generous

You wont need the light tested, once its dried out it will be fine.
The coving & ceiling will need painting with a solvent based stain stop such as Polycel stain stop (Ronseal is water based it doesn't work) or Zinsser

If the plasterboard doesn't collapse in a couple of days it will be fine, 1 water escape doesn't normally knacker a ceiling.
Ask your neighbour to contribute £100 and get it sorted.

vincent.lee

Mr.Generous wrote: »

You wont need the light tested, once its dried out it will be fine.
The coving & ceiling will need painting with a solvent based stain stop such as Polycel stain stop (Ronseal is water based it doesn't work) or Zinsser

If the plasterboard doesn't collapse in a couple of days it will be fine, 1 water escape doesn't normally knacker a ceiling.
Ask your neighbour to contribute £100 and get it sorted.

I don't have to get the light tested?

What if the wiring is damaged from the inflow of water? The light was on when the water was coming down, and it blew out the light bulb. Doesn't this need to be checked?

My ceiling is 4m high, and the ceiling paper is cracked from where the water seeped out from the ends of the paper. Surely stain stop won't solve this? I would need new ceiling paper Also, the coving has intricate ornamental design, which will need workmen with a high reaching ladder and/or a paint spray in.

Surely all of this would cost into the hundreds of pounds.

Is my neighbour liable to pay for this? I found out this evening that she rents her flat - is it usual for landlord insurance to cover this?

stator

The landlord won't cover it. You'd have to take her (the tenant) to small claims court and risk losing. I doubt you'll have problems with the electrics, the MCB will have triggers as soon as the short circuit occurred. If your lighting is all mains powered there isn't anything to be damaged, just cables and connectors, not electrical components. If you have low voltage down lighters with a transformer in the ceiling then I guess you need to get that checked / replaced.

vincent.lee

stator wrote: »

The landlord won't cover it. You'd have to take her (the tenant) to small claims court and risk losing. I doubt you'll have problems with the electrics, the MCB will have triggers as soon as the short circuit occurred. If your lighting is all mains powered there isn't anything to be damaged, just cables and connectors, not electrical components. If you have low voltage down lighters with a transformer in the ceiling then I guess you need to get that checked / replaced.

Thankfully, I don't have low voltage down lighters with a transformer in the ceiling.

I've never been to a small claims court, but how would I lose if I did? The neighbour admitted it was due to the negligence of her daughter, who overfilled the bathtub.

ilikewatch

vincent.lee wrote: »

I've never been to a small claims court, but how would I lose if I did? The neighbour admitted it was due to the negligence of her daughter, who overfilled the bathtub.

Well, assuming that it is the daughter who you take to court, then it won't really matter what her mum has said - the decision will be made according to what the daughter tells the court, and who they believe.

Even if you went to court and won, are you confident that the there is money available to compensate you?