Leaseholder upstairs confirms his bath leaked into mine, refuses to pay repair costs

Farrella

I would have thought it's a smart long-term business decision to at least offer the £80 or so to split the repair cost, considering this is a flat gets over £80 a day and I am an owner occupier (i.e. neighbour and leaseholder) who is friends with other leaseholders in a small building...

scd3scd4

Well............I would probably put it down to experience but he would be sorry in the long run.


I have a neighbour who is similar. I never helped again, never took deliveries in. Would complain when I had a legal cause. I remember a few years back the communal drains were blocked. Normally I would pay no questions asked. I never and told him to take me to court.............they blocked a few years later........again I would not pay. Over the years I had them cleaned with a British Gas drain cover.

moneyistooshorttomention

Farrella wrote: »

I would have thought it's a smart long-term business decision to at least offer the £80 or so to split the repair cost, considering this is a flat gets over £80 a day and I am an owner occupier (i.e. neighbour and leaseholder) who is friends with other leaseholders in a small building...

Well yes indeed - he has gone in for very short-term thinking by the sound of it.

It does sound like you're stuffed as regards getting the law to help you make him fulfil what are clearly his moral responsibilities.

But it looks like you'll have to think "Revenge is a dish best served cold". Sounds like all you can do for now is make sure everyone knows what he is like.

In his position - I imagine (hope...) that most of us would accept it was "our fault" if not "our doing" and pay up for it. I've certainly paid up no quibble in similar circumstances before now - where I hadnt done the damage, but it was down to me. I didnt even wait to be asked - I just got on and dealt with it.

Good luck with this.

Davesnave

Farrella wrote: »

I won't forget this in a hurry.

Harbouring resentment, especially against someone non-resident and inacessible could be pointless and self-destructive.

Your time may come, or it may not. The main thing here is that the law is clear, so you can move on, knowing there is probably nothing more you can do, without a protracted battle with the landlord and/or his plumber.

eddddy

I think I'd disagree with some of the other posts. This sounds like negligence to me:

Farrella wrote: »

...the leak was caused by a loose drain pipe in his newly refurbished bathroom (presumably it's his plumber's fault).

You seem to be saying that the plumber incorrectly installed a waste pipe (and presumably didn't test it) and it leaked. I'd say that's negligent.


I would agree that if the waste pipe had worked fine for, say, 5 years and then unexpectedly started leaking, there may be no negligence - but this case is very different.

Farrella wrote: »

Your legal advisors should have advised you that you have to prove malicious intent of the leak. You'll find the law is clear on that.

FWIW, that would be a definition used for criminal damage (not for negligence) - i.e. a criminal offence. If he had done it with malicious intent, you would be reporting him to the police.

GrumpyDil

Yup agree about negligence and that given the time frames you could make a case. But it's not cut and dried as the onus would be on you to prove negligence and quite frankly for the amounts you are talking about life is far too short.

Farrella

Yes, in case I didn't make this clear, the reason I thought he should pay something is because this came right after his new bathroom refurb. His plumber didn't install the drain pipe properly. This is not a 5 year old pipe that suddenly started leaking.

Logically I thought it's negligence, but most of you guys seem to suggest it is not (legally speaking)...

economic

6 days is a long time to fix a known leak. but question is can you prove it?

maybe you should "accidentally" damage his flat's front door....

G_M

eddddy wrote: »

I think I'd disagree with some of the other posts. This sounds like negligence to me:

You seem to be saying that the plumber incorrectly installed a waste pipe (and presumably didn't test it) and it leaked. I'd say that's negligent.

I would agree that if the waste pipe had worked fine for, say, 5 years and then unexpectedly started leaking, there may be no negligence - but this case is very different.

On reflection, yes.

Plumber was negligent. Plumber was employed by leaseholder who is responsible. Claim could be made by OP against the upstairs leaseholder.

Upstairs leaseholder would then have a claim against the plumber.

Davesnave

Amended my post somewhat too.

The problem is that the landlord has taken a stance, so it will most likely be difficult to get the details of the plumber.

Even if one could be sure of a win in the small claims court, that still doesn't guarantee payment either.