Damaged ceiling due to upstairs leak

jpsartre

I'm in a ground floor flat and my ceiling has water damage due to a broken washing machine in the upstairs flat. I've filed a claim with my insurance company but there's an excess on the policy. Legally, am I stuck paying this? I have no reason to think the upstairs neighbour was negligent and I feel bad asking them to cover it but it also seems unfair that I'll end up out of pocket due to someone else's machine breaking. Both myself and the neighbour are homeowners and I live in Scotland (if that matters).

user1977

Yes, if there's no negligence on the part of upstairs then you bear the risk of gravity happening. You can of course try asking.

jpsartre

Thanks, that's what I suspected.

subjecttocontract

I don't know about Scotland but......in England leases often require the freeholders to affect buildings insurance. Many freeholders or their managing agents take building insurance with large excesses for water leaks in order to keep premiums lower. This is not what is required by the lease. Therefore any excess that a leasehold has to pay should be claimed as a reimbursement from the service charge account. You would need to check if this applies in your Scottish property.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81966861#Comment_81966861

For all intents and purposes there is no leasehold in Scotland.

In some properties the owners appoint a "factoring company" which is a little like a managing agent in England and the factoring firm buys block insurance but traditionally each owner simply insured their own part of the building and dealt with the issues when they find one of their neighbours hasn't been buying insurance

Ms_Chocaholic

How bad is it. Does it need re-plastering or is it just a brown mark which will just need a very thin coat of gloss and then emulsioning.

jpsartre

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81967599#Comment_81967599

It's pretty bad, there's a part where the plastering has become loose. Anyway, the update is that we've received a quote and the insurance company has paid out already.