Scottish social housing, damage to neighbour not my fault but will I have to pay?

dekaspace1

Had neighbour at my door yesterday irate as water was coming into his bathroom light from my shower literally as I was coming out of it, and said to me "I hope you have insurance"

HA sent out plumber who couldn't work out issue, seal was ok, pipes were dry and the only possibility is that as its a wetroom shower there may be a small gap in the shower (as its by the door) and the water got under the door and into a gap and went downstairs.

Spoke to neighbour this morning who was saying the HA would likely bill me as it would be negligence on my end as I wasn't using shower curtain right and neighbour also wanted me to install a shower screen at my expense into my bathroom to stop it happening again.

Now the damage wasn't my fault as if I was using shower curtain and theres a gap its not due to my error and I shouldn't have to pay out of pocket to put an addition onto the wall.

Just checking my rights in this situation.

propertyrental

You're a HA tenant or Right To Buy owner?

Neighbour likewise?

'Negligence' in law applies where you knowingly cause damage. ie if you knew of the leak, did nothig about it, and caused further damage.

Wait and see what the HA says.

dekaspace1

Both HA renters,

Though as per other threads had a lot of issues with this neighbour, they are nosy and act like they own the whole building, gossip about others and have reported me to the HA for tiny things like when I was getting a fence put up they claimed it was dangerous and phoned HA who didn't think so (but I stopped just in case) HA didn't think it was dangerous and next morning all of a sudden literally as they came back from town the fence "blew down" as they witnessed it and therefore it confirmed it was "dangerous" and they were back on phone to HA, or how they were phoning HA saying I wasn't cutting the grass when it was about a inch long etc.

_Penny_Dreadful

dekaspace1 said:

Had neighbour at my door yesterday irate as water was coming into his bathroom light from my shower literally as I was coming out of it, and said to me "I hope you have insurance"

HA sent out plumber who couldn't work out issue, seal was ok, pipes were dry and the only possibility is that as its a wetroom shower there may be a small gap in the shower (as its by the door) and the water got under the door and into a gap and went downstairs.

Spoke to neighbour this morning who was saying the HA would likely bill me as it would be negligence on my end as I wasn't using shower curtain right and neighbour also wanted me to install a shower screen at my expense into my bathroom to stop it happening again.

Now the damage wasn't my fault as if I was using shower curtain and theres a gap its not due to my error and I shouldn't have to pay out of pocket to put an addition onto the wall.

Just checking my rights in this situation.

It might be helpful to state that you're in Scotland, if memory serves.

You're neighbour sounds like a fruit loop.  Have you been logging all these incidents with your neighbour in case you want to make a harassment claim?

You are only responsible for any damage to his flat due to the leak if you have been negligent.  Your landlord, the HA, has sent a plumber out and they couldn't find any issue with the pipework and has suggested the issue is due to a gap in the door.  I don't think at this stage you are negligent unless you continue showering whilst knowing there is a gap which is causing a leak downstairs.

Who installed the wet room?  You or the HA?

dekaspace1

_Penny_Dreadful said:

dekaspace1 said:

Had neighbour at my door yesterday irate as water was coming into his bathroom light from my shower literally as I was coming out of it, and said to me "I hope you have insurance"

HA sent out plumber who couldn't work out issue, seal was ok, pipes were dry and the only possibility is that as its a wetroom shower there may be a small gap in the shower (as its by the door) and the water got under the door and into a gap and went downstairs.

Spoke to neighbour this morning who was saying the HA would likely bill me as it would be negligence on my end as I wasn't using shower curtain right and neighbour also wanted me to install a shower screen at my expense into my bathroom to stop it happening again.

Now the damage wasn't my fault as if I was using shower curtain and theres a gap its not due to my error and I shouldn't have to pay out of pocket to put an addition onto the wall.

Just checking my rights in this situation.

It might be helpful to state that you're in Scotland, if memory serves.

You're neighbour sounds like a fruit loop.  Have you been logging all these incidents with your neighbour in case you want to make a harassment claim?

You are only responsible for any damage to his flat due to the leak if you have been negligent.  Your landlord, the HA, has sent a plumber out and they couldn't find any issue with the pipework and has suggested the issue is due to a gap in the door.  I don't think at this stage you are negligent unless you continue showering whilst knowing there is a gap which is causing a leak downstairs.

Who installed the wet room?  You or the HA?

I wrote Scotland in the title lol

The wetroom was installed by HA before I moved in as previous tenant had disabilities,

What I suggested to the HA and neighbour as a temporary solution is to pin the curtain to the wall as that way there is no gap except at base which is a millimeter or two so lessens a chance of water reaching the door, also when the plumber was out he adjusted the bar under door and now its tighter, there was a small gap before under it.

I have reported neighbour before and mentioned to HA to just log it but not act on it yet in case it gets worse as at that point we can take it further,

Herzlos

I'd just tell the neighbour to deal with the HA directly, and you need to keep on at them to solve the water leaking issue before it causes any real damage.

If it's a bad join somewhere between panels, then nothing you do to a shower curtain will fix it.

TBagpuss

propertyrental said:

You're a HA tenant or Right To Buy owner?

Neighbour likewise?

'Negligence' in law applies where you knowingly cause damage. ie if you knew of the leak, did nothing about it, and caused further damage.

Wait and see what the HA says.

YEs, although 'knowingly' generally means 'knew or ought reasonably to have known'

However, assuming that you were using the shower normally then you wouldn't fall into that category, the HA is likely to be responsible for fixing any damage to the property as they own both properties, if your neighbour suffered any damage to their personal belongings then they would need to make a claim on their contents insurance and their insurers might seek to recover from the HA . Either way I don't think you would have any personal liability,  unless your neighbour had previously told you there was a leak and you ignored them, in which case you might be seen as being negligent or causing a nuisance. 

I agree that you should just tell the neighbour, if they approach you again, that they need to speak to the HA, not to you. 

dekaspace1

Well, relations with neighbour have hit another snag, the day after they started an argument with me over something petty again (basically believe I have been talking about them to others) and it ended up with them claiming I am a dirty person who never cleans myself or my home and the plumber told them the leak was my fault (lies as the LL phoned me right after the plumber reported back and confirmed it wasn't me)

Anyway also landlord is sending out someone to do something to the door to stop any future leaks.

Haven't seen neighbour since but have heard them bad mouth me to anyone and everyone they can.

deannagone

Do you have a peep hole in your door?  Can you avoid/ignore contact with them (and perhaps lodge a harrassment complaint with the council).  I'd contact them every time your neighbour tries to contact you.  Perhaps buy a second hand go pro camera/body cam and keep sending footage to council.  You could also contact your councillor or MP.

Or would you consider moving again?