Leasehold - roof water escaped significantly into my property today causing damage

CookwiththeE

 Here is what he out 

user1977

That’s about remediating dodgy cladding. Is that relevant to your current problems?

loubel

You've attached the wrong page. 

Unfortunately you aren't going to get an electrician to reconnect your flat while the water leak is ongoing. This would be the same if you had bought a house and the roof started leaking leaving dangerous electrics.

You have informed the managing agents and it sounds like they are taking action, albeit slower than you would like. They have booked for someone to come and look at the roof/gutters.

CookwiththeE

loubel said:

You've attached the wrong page. 

Unfortunately you aren't going to get an electrician to reconnect your flat while the water leak is ongoing. This would be the same if you had bought a house and the roof started leaking leaving dangerous electrics.

You have informed the managing agents and it sounds like they are taking action, albeit slower than you would like. They have booked for someone to come and look at the roof/gutters.

An electrician is coming out today to isolate the living room where the leak is.

CookwiththeE

user1977 said:

That’s about remediating dodgy cladding. Is that relevant to your current problems?

Is a roof not covered under building safety due the fact if it leaks it causes a flood? I can't see anywhere else it says about repairs.

user1977

CookwiththeE said:

user1977 said:

That’s about remediating dodgy cladding. Is that relevant to your current problems?

Is a roof not covered under building safety due the fact if it leaks it causes a flood? I can't see anywhere else it says about repairs.

No, it's all about Grenfell-related stuff. I suspect there isn't a relevant question about past repairs.

EssexHebridean

Jellynailer said:

I agree that most of my suggestions are well open to criticism including I should have said lease and not deeds.  

Whatever the document is, it is poorly drafted and my fuzzy brain (awake since 1 a.m. due to my own leak) now understands that the reference to decorating external walls applies to the inner side of external walls.

there really is nothing unclear or poorly drafted about that clause - it’s a pretty standard lease clause to be honest.

However, the OP.s flat is under another flat which also should have similar problems to the OP if the cause is a roof problem - which is why I suggest the problem is due to a blocked down pipe where the OP said it has come adrift from the wall.

the OP says they are a second floor flat in a three storey block. If this is correct then they will not have a flat above them - I would assume this is why they are getting the worst of the issues from the roof.

I wish to further suggest that I believe all leaseholders shoud have a right to copies of, or at least to view, the records of the Management Company which should show the date and specification of works to the outside of the building(s).

These documents will have been provided as part of the sales/management lack as part of the conveyancing process. They will have been sent to the OP to go through - that again is standard in conveyancing transactions. If the costs of the individual repairs were not explained, this information could have been asked for in enquiries. 

Finally, re the comments on insurance, I sympathise with the OP who had no reason to suspect that this would be needed ony two weeks after moving in.  Also many policies do not cover the first month or so.  I also ended up without insurance because, 30 years before I moved in, the cowboy developer had registered all 13 dwellings  (5 flats & 8 houses) as flats so my insurance application was refused.  It sems that all 8 house owners at least had never had insurance.  End of this subect I hope - stable door & all that..

I have never seen a contents insurance policy which doesn’t cover the first month - that would be a nonsense. I also suspect it is incredibly unlikely that 8 other home owners had been without insurance - not least as they would mostly have had mortgages and so would have had to not only have buildings insurance (which would also be affected by an address issue) but also to produce roof of this prior to mortgage funds being released, in most cases. I suspect your issue was a one-off,or could have been sorted by chatting with your neighbours to see how they resolved things! 

OP - back to your issues. Well done for getting things in writing. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but for the future you will obviously know that with your management Co you need to back up immediately in writing, copied to the freeholder also. Hopefully you will get at least a temporary repair carried out this afternoon, with works to repair the internal damage and a full roof repair to follow. You may well need to pursue those things vigorously once the urgency has faded. Although the electrics will probably be fine after a few days drying out, I agree that the ideal is to get them checked properly. As said above, you may need to arrange repairs internally yourself via a claim on the freeholders buildings insurance - your freeholder or the management Co will advise if this is the case. 

EssexHebridean

user1977 said:

CookwiththeE said:

user1977 said:

That’s about remediating dodgy cladding. Is that relevant to your current problems?

Is a roof not covered under building safety due the fact if it leaks it causes a flood? I can't see anywhere else it says about repairs.

No, it's all about Grenfell-related stuff. I suspect there isn't a relevant question about past repairs.

I agree - there is a question on the TA6 about flooding but this is environmental rather than internal. Unless a direct question was asked - in pre contract enquiries for example, then I can’t imagine that there would have been any reason for the seller to have even mentioned it. Of course, there should have been a reference in the sales pack to the repair. Whether the OP might have comeback on that if there wasn’t I have no idea, but if they did then this would be down to the freeholder or management Co, not the seller. 

CookwiththeE

I was not sent correspondence about repairs.EssexHebridean said:

Jellynailer said:

I agree that most of my suggestions are well open to criticism including I should have said lease and not deeds.  

Whatever the document is, it is poorly drafted and my fuzzy brain (awake since 1 a.m. due to my own leak) now understands that the reference to decorating external walls applies to the inner side of external walls.

there really is nothing unclear or poorly drafted about that clause - it’s a pretty standard lease clause to be honest.

However, the OP.s flat is under another flat which also should have similar problems to the OP if the cause is a roof problem - which is why I suggest the problem is due to a blocked down pipe where the OP said it has come adrift from the wall.

the OP says they are a second floor flat in a three storey block. If this is correct then they will not have a flat above them - I would assume this is why they are getting the worst of the issues from the roof.

I wish to further suggest that I believe all leaseholders shoud have a right to copies of, or at least to view, the records of the Management Company which should show the date and specification of works to the outside of the building(s).

These documents will have been provided as part of the sales/management lack as part of the conveyancing process. They will have been sent to the OP to go through - that again is standard in conveyancing transactions. If the costs of the individual repairs were not explained, this information could have been asked for in enquiries. 

Finally, re the comments on insurance, I sympathise with the OP who had no reason to suspect that this would be needed ony two weeks after moving in.  Also many policies do not cover the first month or so.  I also ended up without insurance because, 30 years before I moved in, the cowboy developer had registered all 13 dwellings  (5 flats & 8 houses) as flats so my insurance application was refused.  It sems that all 8 house owners at least had never had insurance.  End of this subect I hope - stable door & all that..

I have never seen a contents insurance policy which doesn’t cover the first month - that would be a nonsense. I also suspect it is incredibly unlikely that 8 other home owners had been without insurance - not least as they would mostly have had mortgages and so would have had to not only have buildings insurance (which would also be affected by an address issue) but also to produce roof of this prior to mortgage funds being released, in most cases. I suspect your issue was a one-off,or could have been sorted by chatting with your neighbours to see how they resolved things! 

OP - back to your issues. Well done for getting things in writing. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but for the future you will obviously know that with your management Co you need to back up immediately in writing, copied to the freeholder also. Hopefully you will get at least a temporary repair carried out this afternoon, with works to repair the internal damage and a full roof repair to follow. You may well need to pursue those things vigorously once the urgency has faded. Although the electrics will probably be fine after a few days drying out, I agree that the ideal is to get them checked properly. As said above, you may need to arrange repairs internally yourself via a claim on the freeholders buildings insurance - your freeholder or the management Co will advise if this is the case. 

I was not sent correspondence about repairs prior by the management co, I think I see a lengthy court case looming. No reference, he only thing mentioned was that the roof needs repairing at some point, no mention of past works.

Also, there is a flat above me, it's like a conversion so one side is a flat roof and one is a sloped surface, that's the leaking side. We had to go into her annex or whatever its called to put a bucket in there last night (fire service). 

[Deleted User]

We're experiencing on of the wettest Septembers on record, buildings all over the country are experiencing water ingress.
This stuff happens, it doesn't mean that anyone's been negligent....

The agent has done well to arrange a visit so quickly.
Unless the fault is simply a gutter outlet that needs unblocking, repairs are unlikely to happen quickly.
There's simply not enough workers to meet the ongoing demand, not even close.

OP might be a bit disappointed on how this plays out...