Upstairs flat shower leaks into my kitchen who pays for repair to my ceiling

BridLynne

There are 3 flats in our building. We are on the ground floor, the next floor up has a tenant in and the shower  is leaking when in use  through my kitchen ceiling. The landlord says he can't get anyone to come out due to coronavirus and told the tenant just to use her bath. The fact is that my ceiling is looking dodgy and I fear that  it may need someone to repair/whatever.  We share a landlords building insurance which have legal expenses cover, accidental damage cover with excess A  £200 and B £500 (whatever they mean).  The landlord above is self-isolating and not working at the moment so we  need some advice  as tho who is to blame. We have a deed of Covenant also on the property.

[Deleted User]

No one is to blame unless you suspect - and can prove - negligence.

You'll claim it on your insurance,.

eddddy

Here are some things for you to consider:

• To claim damages from somebody (e.g. The upstairs tenant or the upstairs leaseholder), you would have to show that they were negligent. i.e. They did something that a reasonable person would not do.

• For example, if you told the tenant that their shower was leaking through your ceiling and causing damage, but they continued to use it and caused additional damage to your ceiling - that might be be negligent. So you could try claiming from the tenant for the additional damage.

• Your freeholder's (Landlord's) buildings insurance probably has cover for damage to your ceiling caused by escape of water (look for a phrase like "Escape of water" or "Leak" in the policy). You can claim through that. 

• But you would have to pay the excess on the insurance policy, and it would almost certainly increase the premium for next year - of which you probably have to pay 1/3. So it might not be sensible financially to make a claim.

• If any of your belongings have been damaged, your own contents insurance might cover that. But that would be a separate claim, another excess to pay, and another increase in future premiums. So again, it might not be sensible financially to make a claim.

If nobody was negligent, and you don't want to make an insurance claim - it's down to you to pay for getting the damage repaired.


Edit to add...

Also, it's generally not a good idea to contact the insurers to discuss this, unless you are pretty sure that you want to make a claim.

If you don't make a claim, the insurers might still record it as a "loss incident without a claim", which could increase future premiums.