Liable ? Water damage ?

Nisha1234

Hi all - would really like to get some advice. I own and live In a top floor flat, our shower head starting leaking to in our bathtub so within a week I booked in a plumber to come look at it. 2 days before they were booked, our porter and a accompanying plumber (we have a management company that looks after the communal areas of the building and pay a service charge twice a year to cover this) knocked and said a flat on the lower floor had reported some water leaking In to their flat. They agreed that it was our showerhead causing the leak. I agreed to pay the plumber to sort out the problem there and then. They put in a temporary measure and ordered a part to be fitted a few days later. This was all done and they checked that it was not causing any more leaks. 3 days after this we had another plumber and porter knock and they told us the flat had reported more water leaking, so they asked us to leave the shower on for 10mins to see if this was causing it and they wanted to check on it downstairs. They agreed it was the shower that was still leaking and started telling me we will be liable to pay for the downstairs flat Water damage. Is this true ? I'm really worried as we don't have household insurance to cover this and they mentioned something about billing the management company who would probably pass the bill on to us. Are we liable ?

missile

IMHO you would only be liable if you had deliberately caused damage or through your negligence.

I believe your management contractor is responsible for insuring the communal property i.e. the structure of the building. He has a legal obligation to provide each owner / display a copy of the certificate of insurance.

In my property when a similar issue occurred with a leaking pipe, our neighbour tried to hold me responsible. We pointed out, the owner is responsible for repairs and the insurer is responsible for consequential damage.

You should not need buildings insurance, but I do hope you have contents insurance?

shaun_from_Africa

Nisha1234 wrote: »

Hi all - would really like to get some advice. I own and live In a top floor flat, our shower head starting leaking to in our bathtub so within a week I booked in a plumber to come look at it. 2 days before they were booked, our porter and a accompanying plumber (we have a management company that looks after the communal areas of the building and pay a service charge twice a year to cover this) knocked and said a flat on the lower floor had reported some water leaking In to their flat. They agreed that it was our showerhead causing the leak.

That doesn't make sense to me.
If a shower head was leaking or even if it had water pouring from it, provided that the water was going into the bathtub as you state was the case then the cause of the water in the flat below couldn't be the leaking showerhead but must be the pipework from the bath to the outside of the property.

bris

If it's confirmed your flat is to blame then yes you are liable, this is why you buy insurance.
Building insurance covers this, you must surely have building insurance, no?

However as above I am also confused as to why water leaking into your bath is escaping to the downstairs flats.

martinsurrey

bris wrote: »

If it's confirmed your flat is to blame then yes you are liable, this is why you buy insurance.
Building insurance covers this, you must surely have building insurance, no?

However as above I am also confused as to why water leaking into your bath is escaping to the downstairs flats.

NO,

OP is only liable if they were negligent.

OP lives in a flat, they dont buy building insurance, its paid for out of the service charge...

but I agree I am also confused as to why water leaking into your bath is escaping to the downstairs flats.

GrumpyDil

Agree with Martin. OP if you Google for liability from water in upstairs flat then you will find numerous articles about this emphasising that you would need to be shown to be negligent to be liable.

Also I'm a little confused as I don't see how the damage could be due to a leaking shower head if it was leaking into your bath tub.