To say upstairs neighbour should pay?

[Leakingtoilet]

Looking for advice for anyone with knowledge about the law here. Daughter lives in a flat and 2 days ago the upstairs neighbours toilet flooded and came through the ceiling. Vague reason given was too much paper blocked the toilet and caused it to overflow. They have no lights because of this and need an emergency electrician due to fire risk.

Upstairs neighbour is refusing to pay and says they are not insured. Downstairs neighbour has told daughter that she shouldn't pay as she won't be able to get the money back.

Upstairs neighbour should definitely be paying imo but is there anything daughter and her partner can do to make neighbour pay?

Both flats are owned

AIBU to say neighbour should pay?

Just to add I have always rented so not in best position to advise her on this.

Can't she claim on her insurance and let them sort it out?

Does DD have insurance? She can ask the insurance company the best course of action?

I would claim on the building insurance, if there is a management company they will have details of it.

I've suggested asking her insurance company and hopefully she's doing that. I don't she why she should have to claim on her insurance just because neighbour has chosen not to get it, but I guess it may well come to that.

Yep, as has been said, your daughter should claim on her insurance and leave it to them to recover the losses from the neighbour upstairs.

Apparently downstairs neighbour who has lived there a long time says this isn't covered by the buildings insurance as that only covers communal areas and pipes. My research so far seems to back that up

I had a similar thing happen recently - I'm in a rented flat. The impression I got from my landlady (who has had this issue a few times in different properties) is that it's down to the owner and their insurance to sort out the issue, even when the problem started elsewhere.

She should claim on her insurance and if they are interested, they will get the money back from the guilty party. We had a similar thing when our car was rear ended and the guy admitted to having no insurance.

Three years later, we had the price of the hire car and our lost excess back!

But your dd should have insurance of her own?

Otherwise she can only pay for it and take the upstairs neighbour to the small claims. And if they've no money she won't get anything in actuality.

Let the insurance company sort it out no other option tbh

Leave to insurance to sort it out.

She needs to tell her buildings insurer. They will sort it

Ah yes, ours was due to pipes. I do wonder though if the electrics are unsafe whether it becomes the buildings problem.

She needs to contact her insurance company and ask for their advice.

I would think that she claims from her insurance and the insurance company goes after payment from the apartment upstairs.

She or her Insurers will be able to claim from the neighbour if it can be shown they were negligent. It doesn’t really sound like they were unless they ignored a problem with the toilet or caused it in some way.

Her own insurance might include legal costs of chasing the upstairs owner

Is the building leasehold to freehold? If it’s leasehold, the freeholder is required to sort out the buildings insurance, which will cover this. If it’s freehold, it’ll be managed by someone on the building and everyone will be paying money towards the management of the building. I would suggest using that money to pay for the damage if that’s the case.

@Leakingtoilet If it's not covered on the communal buildings insurance then she could try her home contents insurance, which is probably a separate policy?

I’m not in England so don’t entirely know the leasehold/freehold position but it’s likely there would be a communal buildings policy that covers common areas and each flat owner insures their own property or one policy that covers everything which your daughter probably pays towards.
Her contents policy would cover damaged contents like carpets but not say light fittings, damaged plaster and paintwork, that’s building insurance.

I had to get a separate policy (in addition to buildings insurange) to cover for damage caused if the neighbouring properties aren't insured. My solicitor wouldn't proceed with the sale without it. I got one for about £250 that lasts for 25 years or something, I can't remember exactly but those are rough numbers.

This exact thing happened to us - overflow toilet flooded our flat. The damage was worth about £15 grand as we had to have the full bathroom striped out and left to dry before rebuilding. We most definitely claimed on our own insurance and they most definitely paid out!

The circumstances are important. Buildings insurance won't cover it when it was caused by the neighbour blocking their toilet with too much paper.

She needs to make a claim with her contents insurer and let them decide if they want to go after the neighbour to get costs back. Usually with a leak from a neighbouring flat, the 'owner' of the leak isn't held financially responsible as long as they dealt with it promptly (rather than ignoring it for days). However, if the neighbour has admitted responsibility, the insurer may have a case against them but let the insurer worry about that. I'd suggest you ask the neighbour to put any excess on her claim and if the neighbour refuses, I'd consider going down the Small Claims route (depending on the amount of the excess).

Buildings insurance covers this, including inside demised areas, it's for the structure of the building and services. They may try and recover it from the at-fault flat, but it is 100% covered. It will not cover your daughter's possessions however - she needs to claim on her own contents insurance for those.

*billy1966 ·

I would think that she claims from her insurance and the insurance company goes after payment from the apartment upstairs.

Yes, that will be the case, if her insurers think that it's worth the effort.

As mentioned, we were rear ended, it was a guy on a trade plate. It turned out later that he wasn't insured. I think that either he was using it as a runaround, or his boss said, "I'm not claiming 8 grand, you can pay."

Because of policy clauses, the rental company and insurance company wouldn't pay up. I had to lodge about £6,000 with the rental company, for the temporary car.

I also had to provide credit card details and statements of income, to prove that I couldn't afford it. I mean, I had savings to cover it, but couldn't afford it. It took 3 years to get MIB to cover the cost and get the money back, along with scads of bank statements, emails and legal declarations.

The strain was awful.

The solicitor told me that it was so that they could sue him for costs.

Our car was a Passat, which they paid £4,500 for. They rented us an Audi A4 at £220 daily. I kept asking for something more sedate, not least because of how damned thirsty it was.

This happened to me a few years ago

You just contact your insurance and they sort it all out regardless

The sooner she calls them the better as they need to assess and take photos etc etc