Please help me see the silver lining- collapsed ceiling

[whataboutbob]

I could have posted this in relationships maybe. It’s my brother’s home. Long backstory, but he lives alone in our late parents’ home. Dad died two years ago after five years with dementia during which he repeatedly flooded the bathroom. Brother has just texted me to say that the ceiling in the downstairs cloakroom has collapsed. It diD start to bow after dad’s repeated overflowing baths and I didn’t do anything about it. Brother has long term mental illness and also did nothing, he is not proactive and doesn’t do normal home maintenance. We have spoken on the phone and I advised him to get a plumber out tomorrow to have a look as there is some dripping water coming into the cloakroom. I guess he’ll also need a carpenter and a plasterer to fix the ceiling/ upstairs bathroom floor. I have given him some numbers for plumbers which I found on Which? Trusted traders.
Any other suggestions? Any other tradesmen we should be contacting? Unfortunately I can’t go over to his ( it’s a whole day job getting there and back) as I work full time and we are off on holiday on Saturday.
Thanks for any advice.

I'd be thinking possibly an electrician if there is dripping water going through the ceiling

the good news is that you don't have to worry about it falling down any more

Yes, there is pretty sure to be at least a ceiling lamp that has got wet, and it may have run down the walls into switches and sockets.

Laminate flooring will be ruined. Chipboard flooring will be ruined.

kitchen cabinets are usually made of coated chipboard and will be ruined.
how old is the house?

All the old ceiling needs taking down, and a new one put up. Simple job for a couple of plasterers. I prefer two layers of plasterboard plus a skim. This will cut noise tranmission.

I notice some household insurance policies no longer cover water damage where taps have been left running. In my own house the main bathroom is above the kitchen and I have sometimes considered drilling a one-inch hole in the kitchen ceiling above the sink so any floods can drain through minimising damage.

Thank you both for taking the time to post and sorry I have been absent for nearly a week. Well, the full picture. There is no insurance, there hasn’t been for years ( something that obviously needs addressing). The cause of the leak appears to be the toilet. Brother actually got a plumber out to put in a new toilet. The previous plumber who attended said “ I need to pop out to buy something “ and he never came back. Part of the problem is that brother is a hoarder, and does not inhabit a house normally and as a result it looks beyond horrid and people don’t want to be there. Hence getting tradesmen is difficult. Brother knows people think that about his home, and he is very touchy about it. Obviously, most people would think the obvious answer is to do a tidy and dispose of a load of junk, but he just doesn’t think that way.
Sorry to divert away from strict diy onto emotional issues, but in his case the 2 are intricately linked.
Someone quoted him £250 to fix the ceiling, which to me sounds very low. Am I right in thinking that if it’s just the plastering that needs fixing, it’s a reasonable price, but if floorboards have to be replaced that is too low? Thank you for reading.

I should add that the house was built in the late 60s/70s. The main bathroom is above the downstairs cloakroom.

£250 seems very low indeed. Our insurer valued the repair at nearer £1k after a similar issue.

Was the ceiling artex? It may need testing for asbestos if so

The living room ceiling is indeed aertex. Not sure about the cloakroom. Oh dear, something else to think about.

Apart from anything else (I had a hoarder brother, so I know what it's like) You should really sort out some insurance. When you say no insurance, do you mean the structure isn't actually insured, or just the contents? If the structure isn't insured I'm sure I don't need to point out the pitfalls, especially with a hoarder and the associated fire risk.

Yes longeared, nothing at all is insured. This is a wake up call. I’m on holiday but will be sorting it out when I get back. Did your brother have insurance? Is it difficult to get standard insurance if the house is full of stuff? Do you think you have to declare the way it’s inhabited eg unsanitary kitchen, accumulation of books and newspapers? He’s not at the worst end of the hoarding spectrum eg you can move from room to room without difficulty, but there’s definitely a load of junk ( probably significant possessions to him) around.

Fortunately my brother lived in an HA place, so the building was covered by them, but I did get him contents insurance (for piles of 'precious' junk). He was a heavy smoker and would regularly singe things, and he had form for leaving taps on and wandering off. Good job he was ground floor. We never need to claim though, but fire was my biggest worry.
Do you have a poa for your brother? I organised his insurance online - very easy. It's very handy to have one because I could organise everything he couldn't do himself, like mobile phone contract, rent , pay bills, etc. If you don't have a poa these companies won't generally speak to you unless the person you are helping speaks to them first, (and then hands the phone to you) which is nigh on impossible unless you live close by - and I was an hour's drive away.
My brother had mental illness as well, so I know how stressful and difficult it is.

Just to add, insurers aren't concerned about the condition of the house. For buildings they just want to know how many rooms etc, not how clean it is. (afaik).Contents was just for the minimum sum. I think it would only be a problem if you had a large claim, and they then might refuse to re-insure if household conditions had caused the problem.

Thanks longeared. I don’t have POA and have assumed brother would be reluctant to grant it as he is quite private and likes to maintain that he is managing his own affairs. Also, to be honest, I am not sure I want to be managing him that closely. But I might discuss it with him and see what he says. Going to his home and trouble shooting is usually a whole day affair, which I do about once a month.
It’s good to hear that insurance companies don’t usually care about the level of home maintenance.