Upstairs flat causing damage

JCR

Does anyone have any advice please.

We rent out a property and the tenant has informed us that there is water coming in through the walls. She thinks it is coming from the balcony that is attached to the flat upstairs window (water gathering and seeping through). She first became aware of this 6 months ago, but didn't inform us. The walls are now damaged with damp patches.

The upstairs flat is now empty and has a for sale sign outside. I contacted the EA to see if they could asked the vendor to contact me regarding this problem. They say that they are not marketing the property.

Firstly, can anyone suggest any other way to contact the owner of the upstairs flat, and also will she be liable to pay for any rectifiying that requires doing.

Thanks

irnbru_2

JCR wrote: »

Firstly, can anyone suggest any other way to contact the owner of the upstairs flat, and also will she be liable to pay for any rectifiying that requires doing.

Have you contacted your building insurer?

cattie

Wouldn't it be wise to get somebody to take a look at the damp inside your flat to ascertain that the damp is actually being caused by water collecting on the other flats balcony before you actually make contact with the owner?

Is the flat in a block? If it is & it's an external maintenance/repair issue then you need to either get the managing agents or freeholder to get it checked out.

JCR

We are sure the water is coming from the balcony above but the only way to check for absolute certain would be to enter the flat above which means contacting the owner. She will need to be involved in some way or another to share the insurance claim and she should be made aware that the balcony attached to her property is causing damage and as she is selling the property it would be a good idea to make it sound before she does.

nollag2006

Have you spoken with the managing agents / building freeholder?

silvercar

The balcony is part of the fabric of the building. If there is a problem it would be the insurance of the building that would handle a claim. This is generally arranged by the landlord or managing agent.

JCR

Thanks for those responses, but there is no managing agent as such, the freeholder currently lives abroad and asks the person in the ground floor flat to collect ground rent. The buildings insurance is paid to a broker, who are not the managing agent and have no further dealings with the property. So in order to gain access to the flat ergo the balcony the owner of this flat needs to be contacted. The insurance company will want to access the balcony area via her flat, so it is imperative that this is done before further damage is caused to our flat.

silvercar

If the damage is seen as wear and tear it won't be accepted as an insurance claim.

Depending how your lease are written, either the leaseholders together will have to stump up the maintenance costs of repairing the balcony or the flat owner would have to pay.

The damage caused by the leak should be covered by the insurance, so you will need to make a claim on the building insurance policy. It seems like you will need to do this directly or through the broker.

Dozey_Mare_2

Agree with all the others who say contact your insurer. If there is an issue with getting access, they ought to deal with it - either directly with the freeholder or the managing agents.

martinman3

As silvercar said you should check the lease concerning service charges and how they are calculated/apportioned. You only mention ground rent and insurance premium. If it either does not mention collecting money for a maintenance reserve fund or it does but it is not being collected as there is no managing agent you will be expected to pay large maintenance bills at little or no notice. Consider this as a wakeup call to what can happen if no maintenance is carried out.