Insurance claim

RezJila

Hi Guys, 

There has been a water leakage at my flat which is occupied by the tenant. The water leakage has caused damage to my flat as well as the flat below.

The flat is leasehold and there is insurance taken out by the freeholder which I paid the premium back in September. 

The management company sends a letter to the tenant telling them that they are the cause of damage to the building and asking them/their content insurance provider to pay for the damages.

On the insurance summary that was provided, it is said water leakage i.e. escape of water is covered by the insurer and the excess is £500. 

As far as I understand tenant cannot claim such a thing from their content insurance so why management company do this? isn't this obvious? 

Can anyone elaborate on the situation above? 

user1977

What was the cause of the leak?

RezJila

apparently the pipe just start leaking when the tenant left the flat for work - at least that's what the tenant are saying 

eddddy

RezJila said:

The management company sends a letter to the tenant telling them that they are the cause of damage to the building and asking them/their content insurance provider to pay for the damages.

Contents insurance typically includes 'Personal Liability Cover'.

'Personal Liability Cover' typically covers the policyholder and their family if they accidentally damage somebody else's property.


So it seems that the Management Company are suggesting that your tenant accidentally caused the leak.

That might apply if, for example, your tenant accidentally left a tap running, and the bath overflowed etc.

But if a pipe started leaking unexpectedly, that's not typically something that the tenant has caused (accidentally or otherwise).


So maybe you tenant should reply saying that they didn't do anything unreasonable which was likely to cause a leak.

user1977

RezJila said:

apparently the pipe just start leaking when the tenant left the flat for work - at least that's what the tenant are saying 

Well, unless anybody has evidence that something else happened, I'm not sure why the tenant (or you) would be liable?

Hoenir

RezJila said:

apparently the pipe just start leaking when the tenant left the flat for work - at least that's what the tenant are saying 

Which pipe?  

What's the damage to your property?