insurance question (accidentally flooded downstairs)

knowledgepretender

so due to a frozen waste pipe, the washing machine made a bit of a mess of the downstairs flat

downstairs has been in touch asking about insurance - texted the landlady, she is saying that downstairs needs to claim on their insurance

guess I'm kind of the middleman, can anyone confirm who is supposed to be responsible? don't wanna get involved in any kind of drama due to a disagreement between two people who have never met

can anyone confirm what I need to do? or what I should be saying, for clarity the guy downstairs owns his flat and I am renting

any further info you need to help you help me, just ask

kinger101

The flat owner/resident should contact their insurance company anyway, as these might take action against the landlady/tenant if it's deemed to be their fault. You might be more than the middleman. Why didn't you keep the flat above freezing?

Pixie5740

It's not necessarily going to be the OP who's liable for this. However, it's for the downstairs flat to take up with their insurer or possibly the freeholder.

AlexMac

Downstairs should chill. (not that you should say that to 'em)

Every flat I ever owned has has water penetration; from above or to below. When this happened to us, I just repainted the celing. And when there was a major leak- silly letting Agent's incompetent maintenenc guy left washing machine feed running unsecured for 2 weeks! - in our (shared freehold) block of conversion flats the buildings insurer (i/e the freeholders' insurer) picked up the tab. And that was a massive claim- ceilings down and kitchen units which had to be stripped out.

So your downstairs neighbours are lucky as they are probably only talking about a few quid's redecoration after drying out (not that you should say that to 'em!)

Get the freeholders' buildings insurer and the downstairs' contents insurer to talk to each other... but as you say, it ain't your (or your contents' insurer's) problem... unless you wanna be the smartass expert middleman

kinger101

The freeholder's insurance won't cover contents though, if they've been damaged.

Pixie5740

kinger101 wrote: »

The freeholder's insurance won't cover contents though, if they've been damaged.

No that's for the flat downstairs' contents insurer to sort out.

knowledgepretender

ok, so for the replies so far:

the reason I mention the fact it is a tyneside flat is because the freehold agreement is usually split between both flats so the owner of the building = both parties involved

the waste pipe is outside and above the kitchen window for downstairs, I was in Germany for 4 days over Christmas and had no idea it was consistantly below freezing for 4 days as was around 12 degrees there and the weather doesn't usually differ that much, in fact, due to work I am regularly away for 4 nights a week and have been for a number of years and this has never happened over the 5 years have been here so never really gave any consideration to this... hah, it must have been really cold:money:

ok, also, no issue with contents, just kitchen and bathroom ceiling partly collapsed and some issue with electrics

kinger101

Pixie5740 wrote: »

No that's for the flat downstairs' contents insurer to sort out.

Yes..if the downstair's flat owners insurance company thought upstairs had been negligent, it would be them that pursue it. They'll probably not think it's worth the risk/bother if it's a frozen pipe and just happened once.

kinger101

knowledgepretender wrote: »

the reason I mention the fact it is a tyneside flat

knowledgepretender wrote: »

it was consistantly below freezing for 4 days

T-shirt weather.

knowledgepretender

kinger101 wrote: »

T-shirt weather.

well yeah, if only the pipe had thought to put its jumper on - I am still a little unclear about who's responsible for the damage downstairs but I am eager to avoid being the middle man in this because I don't think either owners are sure either...