Shared ownership lease / flat leaking into mine

Annoyed25

eddddy said:

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.

I will ask the neighbour to pay the excess costs due to her negligence but I don't believe she will as I think she has been doing repairs to the flat herself but I wanted to know what my options were and court may have to be an option unfortunately once the leak has been fixed.

I may have to contact the Housing association to request their assistance but did not want to as she is already a difficult person. I have given the neighbour until next week to resolve the issue before going down that route.

I just want the leak fixed properly by a professional so that it won't happen again and to get the repairs done.

Thanks for your help 

Annoyed25

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 ?

A leak detection engineer has carried out a survey with access to the neighbours flat and found the source of the leak to be 100% from pipework belonging to the neighbours flat and not communal.

She is responsible for all repairs to pipework in her fault per the leasehold agreement.

Thanks

subjecttocontract

The fact that the leak was found in the neighbours flat doesn't alter things. Normally water supply pipes to each flat are the responsibility of the freeholder. The water supply pipe(s) normally end in a stop tap after which the pipework is the responsibility of the leaseholder. If the leak is from that stop tap on the supply side it's the freeholders responsibility, if it's the other side of the stop tap it's down to the leaseholder. As you can imagine this can lead to disagreements & misunderstandings about who is responsible and also very lengthy delays. Hence my question as to whether the OP is 100% certain that the leak is the upstairs leaseholders responsibility.
Obviously we aren't party to the damage, the leak or the plumbers findings. Many people automatically assume a leak from above is the leaseholders responsibility and I'm just pointing out that isn't always the case.

I always used to try and buy top floor flats so I could avoid being leaked on!

subjecttocontract

With regard to the insurance excess......presumably your lease requires the freeholders to arrange buildings insurance......often called a block insurance policy. However many freeholders arrange insurance cover that includes a large excess for claims in exchange for a reduced premium. The lease doesn't usually say that is acceptable. By providing buildings insurance that has a large excess they are not providing full insurance cover. As a result you should be able to claim the excess (£500) back from the service charge account held by the management company.

Annoyed25

subjecttocontract said:

The fact that the leak was found in the neighbours flat doesn't alter things. Normally water supply pipes to each flat are the responsibility of the freeholder. The water supply pipe(s) normally end in a stop tap after which the pipework is the responsibility of the leaseholder. If the leak is from that stop tap on the supply side it's the freeholders responsibility, if it's the other side of the stop tap it's down to the leaseholder. As you can imagine this can lead to disagreements & misunderstandings about who is responsible and also very lengthy delays. Hence my question as to whether the OP is 100% certain that the leak is the upstairs leaseholders responsibility.
Obviously we aren't party to the damage, the leak or the plumbers findings. Many people automatically assume a leak from above is the leaseholders responsibility and I'm just pointing out that isn't always the case.

I always used to try and buy top floor flats so I could avoid being leaked on!

The plumbers findings were that the leak is definitely the flat owner upstairs responsibility without going into detail.

Leason learned in future to buy a top floor flat or maisonette.

Annoyed25

subjecttocontract said:

With regard to the insurance excess......presumably your lease requires the freeholders to arrange buildings insurance......often called a block insurance policy. However many freeholders arrange insurance cover that includes a large excess for claims in exchange for a reduced premium. The lease doesn't usually say that is acceptable. By providing buildings insurance that has a large excess they are not providing full insurance cover. As a result you should be able to claim the excess (£500) back from the service charge account held by the management company.

Yes housing association arrange the building insurance and paid via service charge.

I will need to look into the lease and see if I can claim the £500 excess back from the service charge.

Thank you for your help.