Tenant issue

Accidentally letting a bath overflow ONCE is not breach of contract or grounds to evict someone 🙄 If you can prove that they did let the bath overflow, you can charge them (or, hopefully, their insurance) the cost of repairs.

I have had 3 similar mysterious leaks in 3 different properties that several plumbers have been unable to find the cause of before finding it on the 2nd or 3rd visit.

1. The bath had moved slightly so when the bath was filled with water, the weight opened up the seal between the bath and plug hole.
2. A nail in a pipe causing a tiny leak that pooled elsewhere and eventually came through the ceiling when it had built up after about a year!
3. One I can’t remember 😂 but 2 plumbers from the insurance company swore there was no leak until we hired our own plumber who found it.

My plumbers also said there were no sealant issues initially. But the next day the people upstairs used their bath again and within seconds water reappeared on my ceiling. Plumbers then came back (despite it being the weekend) and I agree they could drill a hole in my ceiling and they tested what happened when they poured water in various places upstairs so the sealant culprit was finally identified. It took quite a few weeks for the whole thing to be sorted. We didn’t go through insurance as the upstairs neighbour paid for everything (to be frank, I should bloody think so given the nightmare they caused for me and the flat downstairs). It was a super stressful time. Ages for the ceiling etc to dry out. I had to replace all my bathroom electrics (and obviously couldn’t use the old ones for a good 10 days or so as they were too wet and dangerous). And then we had to wait for repairs, decorators etc. The inconvenience caused (and time off work!) was an absolute pain, and as you can probably tell, I’m still pissed off with my neighbour. But I also appreciate that they paid for it all to be sorted rather than us having to battle through insurance claims and get multiple quotes from tradespeople etc.

Water will trickle along a pipe or beam then find the nearest , lowest weak spot to pass through . If they take up the flooring surely the staining will match the ceiling below? Sounds as if the plumbers cba. Is the overflow and bath plug surround properly sealed(ours wasn’t , clearly no previous occupant took deep baths).

Insurance may not pay to identify and put right the leak itself, just the consequential damage. There should be some evidence of residual damp, staining damp or swollen wood of the leak was recent. Has tenant admitted to taking a deep bath or perhaps overflowing it?

Hang on a minute, the plumber’s saying it’s “not unusual” for a floor to remain both undamaged and dry after a bath overflowing onto/through it?? Sounds extremely unusual to me.

Regardless of the cause why are you describing it as a tenant issue? Accidents happen. If the tenants have been ok so far I wouldn't be looking to apportion blame, I would just concentrate on making sure you don't have leaky pipes. Also is the bath overflow correctly plumbed? Where does it overflow to?

In my house i had a leak and the insurance paid to trace the leak. To trace the leak they had to rip out the shower cubicle as it was under there. So i paid the excess of a few hundred and got a nice new shower. All sorted quite quickly

I had similar happen in a previous flat. Plumber initially couldn’t find any reason for it but came out the next day and investigated more and turned out the bath pipes were installed incorrectly and the leak had built up over time.

Not impared or not wet?

If there was a leak it will be wet.

I think you need a new plumber

This is true. My flat was on the receiving end of a monster leak from the flat above due to the sealing around their bath being insufficient. They were oblivious but the water ingress built up and up until a small leaking spot appeared in my ceiling. When I removed my ceiling light, water came pouring through (so obviously couldn’t use any electrics for days and days). It then turned out that it also affected the flat below mine too. The water leak was building up between the lower floors/ceilings for ages and finally came bursting through into our two lower flats. The top floor flat causing all this was unaware. The plumbers finally identified the source and fixed it, and we had to wait for everything to dry out for ages before they could repair our two lower flats. The upstairs owner paid for everything but even now, when I hear their bath running it makes me very nervous indeed.

We once had a similar issue to this, although it was our own downstairs we flooded rather than someone else's flat. It turns out that the pipe around the bath plughole had slipped so, while it appeared the bath was draining normally, some of it was going out via the pipes and the rest was going into the floorspace and then down through the ceiling.

You need to get a plumber out to investigate.

My kids once overflowed the bath, the floorboards were ruined. It doesnt sound like the bath overflowed in this case especially with the damage to the other flats? Id believe your tenant.

Agree with this likely flooring below the bath has been affected of the overflow is at fault. Any sealant or tiles broken/missing? Otherwise suspect it might be heating or water pipes running under the floor. Have you contacted your insurer?

The immediate next step would be to get the plumber(s) back to investigate the cause of the leak. Surely that’s obvious?

That's a very good point

Are there flats either side? Water can travel, so it could have made its way along as well as down?