Water damage from neighbour

[Missykay]

hello,

 

I am new on here so not sure whether i am even posting in the right area lol

 

I have had water damage from upstairs people currently occupied by tenants, two landlord one abroad and one here, first started in 2008 the landlord refused to give proof that leakage was fixed but insurance co fixed the damage and unable to recover cost from her as she would not give out her insurance details. Since then sept 2009 happened again insurance company would not fix damage until we actually got the proof she refused to give this and made up so many lies again in mar 2010 water came again insurance co are not doing nothing and left it up to us. I have been to the CAB, got a solicitor who wrote to her and again she just made up stories. This is giving me a headache as i cannot resolve it at all she is happy to make our life a misery, petty person she is. Luckily for us we were in the property at the time when the water came through as it was bucket full of water had we been on holiday the entire place would have been flooded and again unable to claim off her. This is why we cannot even go on holiday as we cannot leave the property unattended. Small claims court was mentioned but how can you claim off someone when they have not given their addresses ? and the one they gave to us is incorrect they purposely gave it to misled so you cannot make any claims against them.

 

Any advice ? gone round in cirlces and not progressed at all.

 

thanks in advance

 

missykay

[unclebulgaria67]

Have you thought about contacting your local authority. Whilst it is a private matter, are there any powers which the local authority hold to intervene in such circumstances. I did read something the other day about local authorities having some powers to help with disputes between neighbours, but I cannot remember the particular law referred to.

 

If not, is there any management company or other body which looks after the flats. Can they help ?

 

Do you know the cause of the leaks? Have they a faulty boiler or other apparartus. If they have a known problem, they need to get it fixed, otherwise they would be liable to pay your repair bills and other losses. Sometimes Insurance companies that could be subject to future losses are willing to write a letter setting out the position, that they will pursue anyone they consider liable for damage to any property they Insure, through the courts. If they could provide such a letter you could pass this on to the flats owner.

 

There are other tactics which are a bit naughty, but sometimes we are driven to these in desperation. Have you thought about turning the neighbours water off at the stockcock outside of the property. They might get a plumber in to look at what the problem is. What about reporting the neighbours for possible tax evasion, benefit fraud or other offences. Someone I know had a vague suspicion on the neighbours having a liking for herbal cigarettes. This was not the problem, it was loud music being played at all hours. Anyway after phoning crimestoppers about drugs possibly being dealt with from the property, the Police raided the place and they obviously found something, as the tenants were arrested and taken way, never to return.

[Mossycat]

Since then sept 2009 happened again insurance company would not fix damage until we actually got the proof she refused to give this and made up so many lies again in mar 2010 water came again insurance co are not doing nothing and left it up to us. I have been to the CAB, got a solicitor who wrote to her and again she just made up stories.

 

missykay

 

I'm having trouble with that

 

Are you saying that your insurers will not repair the damage unless you find out who the insurers of the upstairs property are?

 

That's total rubbish.

 

Your insurers have a duty (if it is an insured peril) to sort out the damage and then they seek reimbursement (if possible).

 

Their involvement is NOT determined on whether or not you know who the insurers of the other party are, they are determined on whether or not you are insured for damage caused in this way.

 

Mossy

[unclebulgaria67]

Mossycat

 

Some Insurers state they won't carry out the repairs until they know the cause of the leak has been repaired. They say there is no point repairing something, which will only be damaged again, if the leak continued.

 

I know this is not really a good way to treat policyholders and they should get on with the claim, doing everything they can to help. But I can see their point. They get so many water claims in the situation, that they have gotten fed up with it. By not doing the repair straightaway, it forces the policyholder to do more in terms of sorting out the problem with the neighbour. So this is a deliberate way some Insurers act.

 

Perhaps the OP should make a complaint to their Insurers and go to the FOS to resolve the claims issue if necessary.

[Mossycat]

Mossycat

 

Some Insurers state they won't carry out the repairs until they know the cause of the leak has been repaired. They say there is no point repairing something, which will only be damaged again, if the leak continued.

 

 

Yes totally agree with that but the OP was suggesting that her insurers would not deal with it until she knew who the other insurers were, and that's what doesn't sit right with me

 

Mossy

[Missykay]

I'm having trouble with that

 

Are you saying that your insurers will not repair the damage unless you find out who the insurers of the upstairs property are?

 

That's total rubbish.

 

Your insurers have a duty (if it is an insured peril) to sort out the damage and then they seek reimbursement (if possible).

 

Their involvement is NOT determined on whether or not you know who the insurers of the other party are, they are determined on whether or not you are insured for damage caused in this way.

 

Mossy

 

The insurers will not fix it until i can provide a copy of the plumbers report for the neighbours to prove that they have fixled the leak.

[Missykay]

The flat are privately owned the cause of leak could be the washing machine or bath tub as the ceiling in the kitchen and bathroom are damaged and their floor plan it identical to us. Also they have stripped the carpet and using orignal floorboards which have massive gaps so any water which falls on their floor will show up on our ceiling...ideally they need to have linen floor in the bathroom and kitchen which we told them about but not bothered. I did contact environmental dept they stated that once the water stops coming into our property they dont get involve and it is a civil matter. The thing is we are freeholders of the whole property and been told by the solicitor that we can go into their property make the repair and charge her for it, this is messy situation as she would not pay and again you would have to take her to court to recover the cost.

[unclebulgaria67]

If you pay a maintenance charge to a management company, let them sort the matter out. A relative of mine had a flat where one of the neighbours was charged extra on their maintenance charge, to cover the cost of works which were forced on them by the management company.

 

As Mossycat has advised, the Insurers cannot really dictate to you that you sort out the problem with the neighbour. It is up to them to deal with your claim. Threaten to contact the FOS, if they don't sort out the repair work.

[Missykay]

If you pay a maintenance charge to a management company, let them sort the matter out. A relative of mine had a flat where one of the neighbours was charged extra on their maintenance charge, to cover the cost of works which were forced on them by the management company.

 

As Mossycat has advised, the Insurers cannot really dictate to you that you sort out the problem with the neighbour. It is up to them to deal with your claim. Threaten to contact the FOS, if they don't sort out the repair work.

 

Is there a website which i can look up more on Management company ? we own the flat outright would that make any difference ? also we did not have the legal cover with the insurance policy so guessing this is why they wont take our claim any further. she refused to reply to any of the letter they sent and also an investigator came round to track her down but had no leads so that was the end of that. Th estate agent who found the tenants has the address for one of the landlords so surely the insurance company could get court order for them to disclose that information then forcing her to take action !

[unclebulgaria67]

Do you pay any fees related to the maintenance of the outside of the flats and communal areas ? If so, who do you pay the maintenance fee to?

 

Sometimes with flats, where the freehold in owned jointly between all flat owners, the flat owners self manage the flats, collecting the maintenance charge and keeping the money in an account to pay for any maintenance that is required. In other situations, the flat owners arrange for a management company to look after the flats.

 

Do you have regular meetings with other flat owners to discuss issues and to look at the accounts regarding any community maintenance charges.

 

If you live in Scotland, the way things are done is different.

 

If you live in maisonette rather than a flat, again you would not necessarily have maintenance fees or management companies. Flats are usually a block of properties consisting of more than 2 separate units. Maisonettes are usually a property that has been split into 2 properties, upstairs and downstairs.

[Missykay]

no we dont pay any fees for outside, each flat holder is responsible for their own property the maintenance of corridor and front garden is shared cost between the both flat holders as stated in the lease. I think the route of management companies is not something we could take up as we have shared responsibility for various aspect of the property which is shared cost.

[Missykay]

:-xUpdate on this got solicitor involved and she made up such lies by the time all this happened the Insurance co closed their files so now left with two damaged ceiling, the stupid leaseholder now moving in so she can damage it some more. I had a lengthy convo with the council same old crap its legal dispute you sort it out yourself. I cant beleive the crappy council no wonder she is doing this cos she knows she can get away with it, even if we fix the damage ourselves and try to claim it off her she will run up the solicitor bill purposely just to be spiteful so either way i would be out of pocket so dam justice in this world:x. So bloody annoyed and got a headache from dealing with this crap forever now, if only we could get a buyer and get rid of this crappy flat :-x does anyone have any other ideas apart from beating her up with a baseball bat which make me so happy rite now lol ! thanks

 

ps how can u get ure own back with lying, evil, two faced neighbours like her ?