Water damage to flat below...who pays for damage?

GaleSF63

How is the buildings insurance arranged/paid for and who does it?

I have a freehold flat in Scotland and our buildings insurance is one policy for all the flats. When this happened to me (leak from flat above) it was the buildings insurance that paid for it. 

gscott34

GaleSF63 said:

How is the buildings insurance arranged/paid for and who does it?

I have a freehold flat in Scotland and our buildings insurance is one policy for all the flats. When this happened to me (leak from flat above) it was the buildings insurance that paid for it. 

There isn’t a common buildings insurance policy and I didn’t have cover for this in my own insurance

GaleSF63

gscott34 said:

GaleSF63 said:

How is the buildings insurance arranged/paid for and who does it?

I have a freehold flat in Scotland and our buildings insurance is one policy for all the flats. When this happened to me (leak from flat above) it was the buildings insurance that paid for it. 

There isn’t a common buildings insurance policy and I didn’t have cover for this in my own insurance

For what? The leaking pipe or the other flat's ceiling. Or both.

Is each flat is responsible for its own buildings insurance? 

gscott34

GaleSF63 said:

For what? The leaking pipe or the other flat's ceiling. Or both.

Is each flat is responsible for its own buildings insurance? 

Yeah both. Yes each flat responsible for their own 

NSG666

Seems an odd arrangement. What if the building burns down and one or more of the owners doesn't have insurance to cover their part of the re-build cost?
If yours is the 2nd floor and the ground and 1st floor don't have insurance you are a bit stuffed?

Torry_Quine

I lived in a tenement in Scotland and had my own insurance. Part of the ceiling above the stairs came down and another owner contacted their insurance. The insurance company contacted all the other flats and the cost was split between them. 

theoretica

NSG666 said:

Seems an odd arrangement. What if the building burns down and one or more of the owners doesn't have insurance to cover their part of the re-build cost?
If yours is the 2nd floor and the ground and 1st floor don't have insurance you are a bit stuffed?

I am sure it could be worked out - rather than rebuilding, perhaps the insured person gets the sale price of the home (like a car write off) and the insurance company becomes part owner with the uninsured people of a development plot.

macman

There must be precedent for this. How otherwise could you get a mortgage for a shared freehold property in Scotland, unless there was adequate buildings insurance in place? No one would lend without such cover in place.

carefullycautious

I was flooded from ff flat and had to claim on my own insurance. 

kdotdotdotdot

macman said:

There must be precedent for this. How otherwise could you get a mortgage for a shared freehold property in Scotland, unless there was adequate buildings insurance in place? No one would lend without such cover in place.

I would assume the OP does have buildings insurance, but not an in-depth policy that covers damage to anther person's property?  

We're kind of taking the OP's word for it that they didn't know about the leak AND that they're somehow not insured to cover the resulting damage.  It's the OP's responsibility that their plumbing caused damage to the flat downstairs.  It's a bit cheeky of the OP now saying that the people downstairs have to claim for the damage that wasn't caused by them and couldn't have been prevented by them.