How much should I contribute to this repair bill?

[Woody2010]

Hello, looking for some advice please.

Live in a maisonette, downstairs neighbour had water entering their property. Plumber was called out and it was discovered the shared waste pipe was blocked meaning water was backing up and was getting into their home via a redundant pipe within their property not being removed/capped properly when internal renovations were done.

They came to us with an estimate of over £600 for essentially unblocking a pipe. This included lifting some of their decking, putting a new access hatch on waste pipe ( seems original access hatch covered by their decking) and trying to remove blockage. Was on the quote they may not be able to remove blockage and a specialist would have to be brought in.

I told the neighbour I would absolutely contribute 1/2 to the unblocking of the waste pipe however the quote they were given was far to high and I thought the plumber was taking advantage and we should just engage a drain specialist to deal with the problem. It was left they were to deal with the pipe problem in their home and we would get someone in to deal with the blockage and share the cost of this.

Anyway seems neighbour has gone ahead and got the plumber to carry out the work anyway apart from removing the blockage as when we came home there was a new access hatch on the pipe along with a new bit of pip e and repairs to their decking. I already had the drain specialist booked and have just paid them £100.

What do you think is reasonable in this situation. I‘ m thinking paying fully for the drain specialist and offering 1/2 the money for the plumbers original investigation which would be another £80. Husband doesn’t think we should pay anything else as we have resolved the problem and the issue of the water getting into their house was due to poor workmanship. Also if they hadn’t gone ahead with the plumber we would be looking at paying £130 each ( drain unblocking & initial investigation.

I hate this kind of thing and don’t want to cause any ill feeling and want to do what is reasonable but also do feel very frustrated we were dismissed about not going ahead with the plumber. What do you think is fair and reasonable in this situation?

Thanks

What does your lease or freehold say regarding expenses? I would do that.

Hi, thanks for responding. We are home owners and in Scotland. Title deeds show we are to share the cost equally for any communal repairs. We have actually fully carried out the repair ie unblocking the pipe and happy to contribute 1/2 the cost of initially tracing the problem.

I agree with you - pay for the repairs but not for blocking off the pipe that should have been done or anything to do with the decking or changing of the location of the access hatch.

Why aren’t you both claiming on your insurance?

Seems fair as it is. You’ve paid to unblock the drain, the rest is up to them.

Insurance doesn't cover maintenance.

Your husband is right.

Has your neighbour actually asked you to contribute since their initial request?

If not, they may have just decided to do the works themselves.

If they have asked again, I’m with your DH as you have resolved the initial issue. Also wouldn’t feel bad about it - you shared your opinion on the quote and they ignored you. If anything, they are the CFs here.