Leak from my flat damaged flat below

Limey100

Last week my neighbours alerted me to a leak coming into their flat from mine. I found out it was a very shoddily fitted waste pipe behind boxing in my bathroom, thus out of sight to me. I got the leak repaired within 10 hours but now the letting agent is chasing me to pay and contacting me through the managment company. When I mentioned to the managment company that I believed it should come out of the building insurance they were adamant that it does not.

I own my flat but do not have any insurance cover for leaks other than contents insurance.

Now I have both parties pushing for me to pay up for what I believe to be excessive repairs. Where do I stand with this?

Thanks

Peter999_2

I had a similar thing happen to my flat (I was the flat the it leaked into).    When looking into it, it seems that unless you have been negligent you are not liable for the damages and it should be claimed from the buildings insurance and the contents insurance of the person whose flat was leaked into.   This is about 8 years ago but I don't think anything has changed.

It seemed a bit unfair to me, however, fortunately the owner of the flat above was great and paid for everything to be repaired to a good standard.   They even paid to replace some things that had been ruined.

kimwp

How is a letting agent involved? Is this because the flat below yours is rented?

subjecttocontract

You are only liable if you have been negligent. Clearly you haven't been so are therefore not liable for repairs. You can t be held responsible for gravity. It should definitely not be paid from The service charge account. Its up to your neighbour to claim on their insurance. There is nothing to stop you offering something towards the cost but you are not legally required to do so.

Limey100

kimwp said:

How is a letting agent involved? Is this because the flat below yours is rented?

It is, yes.

Limey100

subjecttocontract said:

You are only liable if you have been negligent. Clearly you haven't been so are therefore not liable for repairs. You can t be held responsible for gravity. It should definitely not be paid from The service charge account. Its up to your neighbour to claim on their insurance. There is nothing to stop you offering something towards the cost but you are not legally required to do so.

That is what I have read online, however I'm a little confused as to what is the best way to go about communicating this with them since they have been quiet agressive with trying to get me to pay.

kinger101

subjecttocontract said:

You are only liable if you have been negligent. Clearly you haven't been so are therefore not liable for repairs. You can t be held responsible for gravity. It should definitely not be paid from The service charge account. Its up to your neighbour to claim on their insurance. There is nothing to stop you offering something towards the cost but you are not legally required to do so.

If you are not liable, don't offer.

If you do, make it very clear in writing that it is a goodwill payment made without prejudice and you accept no liability.

But just don't offer.  That's what insurance is for.

kimwp

Limey100 said:

subjecttocontract said:

You are only liable if you have been negligent. Clearly you haven't been so are therefore not liable for repairs. You can t be held responsible for gravity. It should definitely not be paid from The service charge account. Its up to your neighbour to claim on their insurance. There is nothing to stop you offering something towards the cost but you are not legally required to do so.

That is what I have read online, however I'm a little confused as to what is the best way to go about communicating this with them since they have been quiet agressive with trying to get me to pay.

They are being aggressive because they have no legal standpoint and don't want to pay. Maybe email them to say you are not liable for the costs as the leak was not due to negligence and any further demands for payment will be considered harassment?

outtatune

You are not liable. They know that. They're just investing a bit of aggression just in case it pays out with free money.

Don't pay. You don't need to tell them why you aren't paying, because they already know. Don't communicate with them at all. Don't explain. Ignore their emails and texts. Don't answer their calls.

Simply don't pay. 

subjecttocontract

........and the lesson to learn here is always buy a top floor flat then nobody can leak into yours.