Bathroom leak in purpose built leasehold flat - liable for neighbour wall damage?

New_home_buyer

I bought a leasehold flat in Jul, moved in in Aug, I have a long post here before. Now i'm experiencing the joy of being a home ownership!

There was a leak in my bathroom/ shower mixer/ valve behind the tile. The leak has traveled through the ceiling into my neighbour's below my flat & has damaged the wall which needed to redecorate & repaint. Initially there was no sign of leak in my flat. Building management got someone to trace the leak, found out where was the leak came from. There is no isolation device to stop the leak, i have to switch off the stopcock most of the time & discontinue to use the shower. Apparently, there were lots of known problems with the quality of workmanship in fitting out the bathrooms in the building.

Now the neighbour doesn’t want to pay for the £500 access to make a claim on the building insurance but wanted me to do so. Insurance company said will not pay out for the repair of the leak but may pay-out for the remedial work and any trace & access works & insist its my responsibility to make the claim & get it fix. However i disagreed with the insurance as the caused of the leak was not due to a negligent behaviour.

The Insurance company/ management seems make things very difficult for a claim, there were few quotes has been rejected many times, i'm still looking for 2 quotes as requested. Hence, its has been delay for nearly a month still no sight of getting it fix.

Now I’m considering not go through the building insurance, but to get a contractor to do it sooner & pay it myself since the insurance basically just covered the neighbour’s wall or retiling after repair i guess. The cost would probably within £1k that i have to pay with or without insurance claim i think.

I wanted to know here what my right is on the building insurance, am I liable to fix my neighbour's wall & their claim legally? Does anyone has the same experience here & know the cost claim back from the insurance in the end? Does it really worth to pay £500 excess for the building insurance? Many thanks in advance. x

huckster

Your responsibility is only your flat and making sure any plumbing repair is done, to stop water from leaking again.

If the plumbing in a new build is faulty, then you have rights under the warranties issued. The Building company who sold the flat to you is responsible for paying the repair costs to plumbing, tiling etc. If they fail to carry out the works or pay for the works, then issue a Court claim against them, after sending a letter before action.

It is up to your neighbours to resolve any subsequent issues in their flat and that includes them paying any excess themselves. This is not your responsibility, as you were not negligent.

sal_III

If there is no evidence of negligence on your part (like you knew about the leak, but left it going unfixed) you are not liable for the damage to your neighbour property. So don't get suckered/guilted into paying for it, insurance or not.

In a leasehold property you don't wont he building and the building insurance is handled by the Freeholder/ManCo. You would have only content insurance.

eddddy

New_home_buyer wrote: »

Apparently, there were lots of known problems with the quality of workmanship in fitting out the bathrooms in the building.

It's best not to mention that to the insurers. Most policies exclude damage as a result of poor workmanship.

New_home_buyer wrote: »

Now the neighbour doesn’t want to pay for the £500 access to make a claim on the building insurance but wanted me to do so. Insurance company said will not pay out for the repair of the leak but may pay-out for the remedial work and any trace & access works & insist its my responsibility to make the claim & get it fix. However i disagreed with the insurance as the caused of the leak was not due to a negligent behaviour.

The excess isn't related to negligence. An excess has to be paid on an insurance claim, whether or not anyone was negligent.

(It's like car insurance. If a tree falls on your car, and you make an insurance claim for the repairs. You haven't been negligent, but you still have to pay the excess.)

The argument here is who has to pay the excess - you or the neighbour.

Typically, with a block of flats, it's the person who benefits from the insurance claim who pays the excess.

It sounds like you benefit - because a leak in your flat is tracked and traced. And it sounds like your neighbour benefits - because they get their wall repaired.

So maybe you should pay half the excess each.

New_home_buyer wrote: »

I wanted to know here what my right is on the building insurance, am I liable to fix my neighbour's wall & their claim legally?

You haven't been negligent, so you don't have to pay for your neighbours wall.

New_home_buyer

eddddy wrote: »

It sounds like you benefit - because a leak in your flat is tracked and traced. And it sounds like your neighbour benefits - because they get their wall repaired. So maybe you should pay half the excess each.

The insurance said the quotation should only be for the damages caused to the property by the leak.
The insurers will not issue settlement for leak repair and it would be for you as the leaseholder to arrange for the leak to be repaired at your own cost. Should your contractor have to locate the leak (trace and access) then this element may be recoverable.
I require the following from you:

The leak repair invoice – As proof that the leak has been stopped
The trace and access invoice – Should this have been required
2x quotations for the remedial works required to the damage caused to your property following the leak.

So i guess what's really cover to my flat was only the retiling which is - after the repair & the call-out charge/ labour cost of the plumber that arranged by the management to trace for the leak? To replace a new valve/ mixer + labour cost & material has to be paid by myself?

I did suggest to the neighbour to split the access but they said to lent me the money & pay them back by monthly installment.