We live in a Victorian conversion, ground floor flat. I was surprised, when we bought, there wasn't a joint insurance policy but were told the vendor was insured fine as a single flat. We've had insurance since moving in - nearly five years ago. We made a claim due to a blocked drain which was repaired, this was in the first year, our neighbour was liable as it was a joint drain but he admitted he'd messed up and accidentally didn't have buildings insurance. I don't know if he was pursued on the occasion, nor another where we had the drains lined when we assumed he had sorted the insurance issue.
We now have a leak, suspected to be their waste pipe which runs through our bathroom behind a cabinet and MDF panels. He's admitted he has no insurance, our insurance won't cover it except for the repairs to the walls if needed, they will chase him for this expense too. I'm not sure whether they have the money. Their property isn't in great condition from what we can see and we have already paid for structural repairs for which we are owed several hundred pounds. They certainly aren't keeping to the lease agreement in this regard nor to the requirement for buildings insurance. We've suggested taking out a joint freeholder policy instead but can we enforce this? What would happen if a fire destroyed the entire house and only downstairs was covered? We also need to extend the lease if we want to sell - we have two small kids so we hope to in future - but again they don't want to spend any money. They also ignored my request to get someone to clear the gutters - not doing so caused their property to leak and the wanted us to pay, until we asked to go via insurance of course. Any advice please.