Bathroom Ceiling about to fall down

Pingu1

Latest update in my ceiling saga. I have been quoted £1800 to replace the entire ceiling, necessary as most of it will be damp. Apparently, a form of one piece cladding will be cheaper than the plasterboard I have, and should the problem happen again, is unlikely to collapse. My neighbour has replaced his toilet, now waiting for him to do the shower.

Pingu1

Said neighbour has stated he will pay for the damage.

ThisIsWeird

Good result, Pingu1.

ThisIsWeird

eddddy said:

@Pingu1  Unfortunately, there is some very dodgy info posted in this thread. The situation is as follows:

• Almost all flat leases will say that the leaseholder (i.e. the flat owner) is responsible for maintaining and repairing (and paying for) their ceiling. Yes, you need to maintain the interior of your own property, and if the plaster fell off due to age, then, yes, you'd be liable to have it sorted. But this isn't wear and tear or a lack of maintenance - this is a water leak that had nothing to do with the flatowner.
  

• The suggestion that this is a "communal buildings issue" is a fantasy that somebody has made up. No such concept exists in the real world. Fantasy? It is surely either 'buildings' or 'contents' - I am not aware of anything else. And I'm pretty sure it isn't 'contents'.
  

• The suggestion that the management company has a duty to help you with this is almost certainly wrong. The management company only has a duty to do things stipulated in the lease - which will surely include sorting out any buildings/structural issue, and claim?
  

(But the management company might come and look because they are interested, and/or they are worried that the structure of the building might be damaged. And they might offer their opinion on things.)

I really hope you are wrong, Eddddy, and the very few examples I've come across in real life suggests that you are.

A ceiling is not 'contents', so Pingu's own contents policy is highly unlikely to cover this (unless there is a variation on such a 'contents' policy for flats? I don't know.)

So, who else pays to fix this?

The FH has to look after the fabric of the building, and cannot allow such incidences to risk causing harm. They must, surely, be included under 'buildings'.

When a pipe under the floor of my bro's flat developed a spontaneous leak, it brought down a patch of ceiling in the flat below. The FH arranged for the pipe and the ceiling to be repaired. (I think the flat below also made a claim off their own insurance too, as some items were damaged.)

Pingu1

I thought I would give an update to this. My bathroom ceiling has been replaced, the neighbour upstairs has admitted responsibility as the leaks came from their bathroom. The cost of replacing was £1800. The neighbour has paid £1000, but now radio silence the job is complete and balance due. I do have email evidence that I spotted brown water marks on my ceiling back in October, and emailed the upstairs neighbour mentioning it. No action was taken. So its now looking like a court case.

Pingu1

Update to an update. My hall ceiling now has brown marks which have got worse. I can see some cracks too. Its the same neighbour too. His shower is next to where the marks are. He retiled the shower himself so I think he did a bodge job. How much is it likely to cost and will the ceiling come down like before?

Pingu1

My hall ceiling now has brown marks which have got worse. I can see some cracks too. Its the same neighbour as before (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6501946/bathroom-ceiling-about-to-fall-down/p1). His shower is next to where the marks are. He retiled the shower himself so I think he did a bodge job. How much is it likely to cost and will the ceiling come down like before?

HampshireH

You have posted this on both threads. Best to stick to one.

HampshireH

So what sits above your hall? Water pipes?/ Or part of the bathroom? (You say the shower so could be the pipework?)

Water will track to the lowest point however it seems odd you don't have evidence of this in the same place as before or did you use the cladding you mentioned which means you just can't see it in the bathroom anymore (which means this could be far worse in there).

But same as before. If might fall and it  might cost a similar amount of not dealt with swiftly. Looks like it didn't appear overnight.

You need to report it to your neighbour
 Send the evidence and request they arrange for a plumber to investigate ASAP to prevent a reoccurrence of last time.

Don't speculate about their tiling capabilities when doing so as you'll just get their back up

WIAWSNB

The ceiling is a fair way off from coming down, and could be sorted quite easily - cosmetically - if nipped in t'bud, although the texture will be a little tricky to replicate.
Left to continue, tho', the p'board will likely be beyond repair and will need patching.
The Q is - what are you doing about this? 
Have you put the neighb on notice? If he DIYed the shower and it's leaking as a result, then he's directly liable, and should cover the cost of repair.