Leasehold property - who is responsible for repair cost of damage caused by leak?

ella12128

Hello - I'm new to this forum and would really appreciate some advice on the below matter.

The building in question is a victorian parade there's restaurant on the ground floor and three purpose built flats above. I own the lease of the first floor flat.

About a month ago my tenants reported that there was water coming through the light fittings in the bathroom. We worked out that the occupants of the second floor flat were away and that the leak was coinciding with when the occupants of the third floor were showering.

I immediately reported this to the freeholder and the two management agencies responsible for the flats above mine. When the management for the second floor flat came to inspect the property they informed me that the bathroom ceiling had fallen in, which isolated the source of the leak to the third floor flat (as we'd original thought).

It took a lot of phone calls and four days (all the while the leak continued every time the occupants showered) before the management of the third floor flat got the leak fixed. Initially they told me me that I could not prove the leak was from their property and 'everything looks fine', even though they'd been informed that the ceiling below had fallen in. Thankfully the damage to my flat was minimal, just some stains to the ceiling.

The freeholder looked into claiming for the damage against the shared buildings insurance. However apparently it would have meant that the next year's insurance would be more then the cost of the damage, so they decided to just employ a workman to fix the second floor flat's ceiling and repaint the ceiling in mine (I thought this was just out of courtesy).

However I've now been sent an invoice asking me to pay £200 towards the cost of the repairs. This seems grossly unfair as the damage was the result of the management of the third floor flat denying responsibility / not acting quickly enough and is far more then the cost of having the ceiling painted - although I suspect they would have sent me this invoice even if they'd been no damage to my flat.

I'd really appreciate some advice as while £200 is not a huge amount of money it's seems really unfair that I'm expected to pay for damage caused by other's negligence.

[Deleted User]

I have had this issue twice with a flat above mine and both times I have been told that it is my responsibility to repair damage in my flat.

On doing research there are those that say we repair our own property and those who say the flat causing the damage pays so I shall watch this thread with interest.

eddddy

This all sounds very confused. So is the £200 charge for repainting your ceiling?

Your lease almost certainly says that you are responsible for decorating your bathroom ceiling. So why did the freeholder arrange painting the ceiling?

If the freeholder offered to get it done for you, what was said about who would pay for it? (Did you ask who would pay for it?)


If you believe that the damage was caused by somebody's negligence (e.g. 3rd floor tenant, or a managing agent), you might be able to claim the £200 from the negligent party.

eddddy

BBH123 wrote: »

I have had this issue twice with a flat above mine and both times I have been told that it is my responsibility to repair damage in my flat.

On doing research there are those that say we repair our own property and those who say the flat causing the damage pays so I shall watch this thread with interest.

You are responsible for repairs to your flat.

But if somebody else has been negligent, you can claim damages (e.g. the cost of repairs) from them.

For example,
If I turn on the bath taps, go into the other room, and let the bath overflow, I'm almost certainly negligent.

If a pipe leaks in my bathroom, under the floor - I'm probably not negligent. (But if somebody tells me it's leaking, and I do nothing about it - I'm probably negligent.)

ella12128

eddddy wrote: »

This all sounds very confused. So is the £200 charge for repainting your ceiling?

Your lease almost certainly says that you are responsible for decorating your bathroom ceiling. So why did the freeholder arrange painting the ceiling?

If the freeholder offered to get it done for you, what was said about who would pay for it? (Did you ask who would pay for it?)


If you believe that the damage was caused by somebody's negligence (e.g. 3rd floor tenant, or a managing agent), you might be able to claim the £200 from the negligent party.

The £200 is a third of the total repair costs (£600) which has been divided evenly between the three flats in the building. The repairs are replacing and repainting the ceiling of the second floor flat and repainting the ceiling in mine. It seems really unfair that I'm expected to front a third of the damage when my property wasn't the cause of the leak or where the main damage / cost took place.

In terms of how the painting was organised, the freeholder messaged me to say that the second floor flat was having their ceiling repaired and he could ask them to repaint my ceiling if I liked. I thought this was going to be out of courtesy (as the builder was already there he could quickly give the ceiling a lick of paint), but didn't confirm and clearly assumed wrong.

The management of the third floor flat were informed on Monday morning of the leak. It wasn't fixed until Thursday. Does that count as negligence?

eddddy

ella12128 wrote: »

The £200 is a third of the total repair costs (£600) which has been divided evenly between the three flats in the building. The repairs are replacing and repainting the ceiling of the second floor flat and repainting the ceiling in mine.

You need to read your lease - but I suspect you are not responsible for this cost.

I suspect the leases say that the second floor flat is responsible for their bathroom ceiling (and you are responsible for your bathroom ceiling).

It sounds like the freeholder is trying to make up random "rules" as they go along - but they can't.


But when somebody offered to repaint your ceiling, you assumed that they were offering to do it for free and said 'yes'. I'm not sure whether that's a reasonable assumption or not.

(If you want, I guess you could offer to make whatever you see as a fair payment for painting your bathroom ceiling.)

ella12128 wrote: »

The management of the third floor flat were informed on Monday morning of the leak. It wasn't fixed until Thursday. Does that count as negligence?

It's hard to say.

But at most, the "management" would probably only be responsible for any extra damage caused between Monday and Thursday.

Hoploz

My understanding is that tracing a leak in the bathroom would be covered by the buildings insurance. But damage to each flat would be covered by their separate contents insurances.

If no insurance used then it sounds as if the freeholder has arranged the repairs in the same way as other repairs to the property would be charged - shared equally between all the leaseholders.

Sounds a bit unfair that the decision was made not to go through insurance, but I suspect in reality it wouldn't have covered all the repairs anyway and so maybe the decision was right. Unfortunately you didn't really get a chance to just say, 'don't worry I'll take care of it myself' and the other flat owners sort themselves out as well with help of their own insurances if necessary.

ella12128

I've just got off the phone with a specialist from the Leasehold Advisory Service.

She said that legally they don't have the right to ask for this money and if an insurance claim is not being made then the party that caused the damage should pay for the repairs.

So I'm going to go back with that line and see what happens.

eddddy

ella12128 wrote: »

...the party that caused the damage should pay for the repairs.

Only if they are negligent.