leak damage from flat above I have no contents or buildings insurance what can I do

Snoopdog88

I own a property which is a downstairs flat conversion , the property above is suffering from a non funtioning kitchen for over 5 months its owned by a private owner who has landlord insurance and rent the property to a Housing Association their tenant has an ongoing disrepair claim as the pipework is blocked and keeps flooding my flat , how can i claim for damages to my ceiling and lighting etc walls can I do it myself by contacting their insurance , the owner says my insurance has to contact his I dont have any can I appoint someone myself a loss assessor the claim is quite straightforward as there are clear records of the disrepair and leaks suffered. 

user1977

You claim against whoever is responsible for the damage (not clear from your post whether that's the landlord or the tenant), and if they have insurance then they pass it on to their insurer to deal with. You don't need to have insurance to do that.

Tucosalamanca

No insurance at all? 

Since you keep getting flooded, why have you not taken out insurance?

What would you do in the event of a fire, are you happy to chance losing it all and more?

Snoopdog88

thanks I intended to renew insurance and forgot due to bereavement and significant personal issue domestic violence so am currently without insurance , I do know however that the upstairs landlord owner has insurance and its clear that the disrepair is there and acknowleged the HA has sent multiple plumbers and not resolved it hence the tenant has her own disrepair claim 

Snoopdog88

thanks how would I best send my claim to the owner of the flat and the housing association in just a letter with quotes for damages? its documented the amount of plumbers who have been out last one being today who just said again the pipes are all blocked to the kitchen above and as a result the kitchen is flooding my ceiling , it flooded early this week before and yet the tenant is still using the washing machine and kitchen no one is fixing it my ceiling is likely to collapse 

Snoopdog88

i have moved my belongings out of the rooms so I do not want to claim for belongings just my ceilings and lighting 

Brie

wouldn't this come at least partly under the terms of the building insurance the housing association has for the entire building?  Or if not the HA then whomever has the freehold??

Snoopdog88

its joint freehold between me and the owner of upstairs but he has only taken insurance on his property as he has not communicated about insurance the HA does not have any as they do not own the building 

eddddy

So it sounds like you need to claim against the upstairs owner. The upstairs owner can pass your claim to their insurers if they want to.

But just to be clear - you need to show that the upstairs owner was negligent.

If a pipe unexpectedly started leaking in the upstairs flat - that doesn't make the upstairs owner negligent.

But, for example, the upstairs owner would have been negligent, if something like this happened...

• You noticed water leaking into your flat and told the upstairs owner that it was damaging your flat
• The upstairs owner didn't take reasonable steps to deal with the leak and to stop further damage to your flat
• And as a result, your flat suffered additional damage

In that case, the upstairs owner's negligence resulted in additional damage, so you can claim the cost of the additional damage from the upstairs owner.

DullGreyGuy

Its not abundantly who is responsible, you say the HA is sending plumbs which would suggest they at least don't think its the leaseholders responsibility. The fact plumbers have attended can also go against you at it sounds like they have made reasonable attempts at repair and so may not be negligent and therefore not liable.

What does your lease say about the purchase of insurance?
You say you have share of freehold, is that via a company or directly? What does you agreements say about responsibility for buying insurance etc.