Shared ownership lease / flat leaking into mine

stressfulmay

Hi all
I have a shared ownership flat. The lease part of the property is via a housing association.  The flat above me is leaking into mine, it's coming from bathroom and is wrecking my bathroom ceiling and has spread into kitchen.  I notified the owner in person twice, then letter with pictures, and thirdly in person, but they have not acted on it.  I have been pleading with the housing association to help and although they have reminded numerous times it is between you as leaseholders, they did send someone out who was let in by upstairs and identified it is leaking pipework in their bathroom.  Still that same day, they caused further damage by running their shower.  The housing association have informed neighbour "firmly" that they must fix it, but still above has not done anything.  I am waiting to find out if HO will take more assertive action against them to get it fixed.  Has anyone else been in this position or can give any advice?.

eddddy

Your argument is with your neighbour - not the housing association.

If you told your neighbour that their leak is damaging your flat, and they did nothing - that probably counts as negligence. So you can claim from the neighbour for any damage caused by their negligence.

Would threatening to claim the cost of repairs from your neighbour make a difference? 

Do you have any idea why the neighbour isn't fixing the problem?  Is it just stubbornness? Or could it be that they are "struggling" in some way? If so, would offering to help them to find a plumber help?

stressfulmay

Hi Eddddy
I have spoken to legal advisor (add on to my contents insurance) and they said it would constitute negligence and nuisance as it is not the first time it's happened, they said could do do a Notice of Action giving 14 days i think it was, but if i do that I am concerned the Housing Association would do nothing further and I have never taken action against someone myself so I am a bit nervous of costs escalating.  The lease says all sorts about not being a nuisance and keeping the flat and everything in it in good working order, so I was hoping they would take the fore in any legal action.  I have told the neighbour i have taken legal advice (put it in a letter). 

I am not sure exactly why the person isn't taking action, I am told second hand they told the HO person they wanted/expected them to fix it.  The last contact (3rd face to face contact i had) they said in not so nice way "leave me alone" and in the first 2 contacts face to face they said it is nothing to do with them, it is the HO's problem.

Annoyed25

Hi Stressful May,

Can I ask if this was resolved and how please. I am in the same situation as you were. My neighbour owns the property and we are both shared ownership leaseholders through a housing association. Thanks

ian1246

Annoyed25 said:

Hi Stressful May,

Can I ask if this was resolved and how please. I am in the same situation as you were. My neighbour owns the property and we are both shared ownership leaseholders through a housing association. Thanks

Surely you need to contact your house insurance & explain the situation? There is a lot of case law around stuff escaping one premise into another - its absolutely on the neighbour to fix the issue. I have no idea why people keep expecting the housing associations to deal with it when your all home owners - a left over mindset from renting maybe? 

Shared ownership normally has a condition that maintainance of the property is 100% the responsibility of the part owner... - check your purchase & lease, since it'll likely be the same for the problem neighbour.

Contact your insurance and notify of the issue - if you don't then subsequently try to claim back damages, they may reject the claim. Use legal cover to force the neighbour to fix the issue.

eddddy

ian1246 said:

Surely you need to contact your house insurance & explain the situation? 

The OP owns a leasehold flat, and it's likely that @Annoyed25 owns a leasehold flat as well (not a house). So it's very likely that the landlord (i.e. the Housing Association) arranges buildings insurance. So it would be a case of notifying them, and asking them to initiate a claim.


But as you suggest, if the leak is from a neighbouring flat - the first step is to contact the neighbour.

@Annoyed25 - have you told the neighbour that there's a leak in their flat that is damaging your flat?

The neighbour should take reasonable steps to stop the leak. If they're a leaseholder, that would include calling out a plumber within a reasonable time.

 

Annoyed25

@ian1246 @eddddy

Yes it is a leasehold flat which I own a percentage and same goes for the neighbour.

The leaseholder upstairs was advised of the leak as soon as it happened and claimed to have a plumber in to repair and  also claimed no leak was found. The leak appeared to have stopped as no further dripping for a few weeks and ceiling started to dry. Leak started again and I put in a claim with the buildings insurance as neighbour already denied the problem was from their flat. An appointment with a leak detection engineer was made and they found the leak in neighbours flat.

The neighbour was advised what needed to be done to fix the leak and has yet to complete the works a few weeks later, I believe they are carrying out the works themselves.

I need to pay the £500 excess which I will do so to get the repairs done in my flat but I don't think I should be responsible for paying this as the substantial damage caused to my flat is down to my neighbours negligence to investigate the problem when it first arose.

Thank you both for your advice

Shelldean

Annoyed25 said:

Hi Stressful May,

Can I ask if this was resolved and how please. I am in the same situation as you were. My neighbour owns the property and we are both shared ownership leaseholders through a housing association. Thanks

StressfulMay, hadn't been on site since Jun 23, 2023

eddddy

Annoyed25 said:

The neighbour was advised what needed to be done to fix the leak and has yet to complete the works a few weeks later, I believe they are carrying out the works themselves.

I need to pay the £500 excess which I will do so to get the repairs done in my flat but I don't think I should be responsible for paying this as the substantial damage caused to my flat is down to my neighbours negligence to investigate the problem when it first arose.

If you believe that you have incurred costs due to your neighbour's negligence, you can ask the neighbour to pay those costs.

If they refuse, probably your only real option is to take them to court with a negligence claim.




But if the neighbour is still allowing the leak to continue, that may be a breach of their lease (i.e. causing annoyance to their neighbour).

So you could tell your landlord (the Housing Association) that your neighbour is breaching their lease, and you want the landlord to take enforcement action. (Realistically, that might start with the Housing Association writing a stern letter to your neighbour.)

But that route won't get you any compensation for your losses.

subjecttocontract

In a block of flats there will usually be communal plumbing that is not the responsibility of individual leaseholders, responsibility rests with the freeholder. It's important to identify where a leak is from so that responsibility can be determined instead of assumed.

Are you 100% certain that the leak is from an area that is the responsibility of the upstairs leaseholder ?

eddddy

subjecttocontract said:

In a block of flats there will usually be communal plumbing that is not the responsibility of individual leaseholders, responsibility rests with the freeholder. It's important to identify where a leak is from so that responsibility can be determined instead of assumed.

Are you 100% certain that the leak is from an area that is the responsibility of the upstairs leaseholder ?

Unfortunately, @Annoyed25 tacked their post onto the end of somebody else's post, so you may have missed @Annoyed25's comment...

Annoyed25 said:

An appointment with a leak detection engineer was made and they found the leak in neighbours flat.